If you are running Windows XP on your computer, then you have the System Restore facility. If you have a really bad problem with the way your PC is running, you can use this tool to get it back to when it was running perfectly the day before. It does what it says, restores the system to a point of your choosing. I'll explain how to use it later.

Normally your system is set so that System Restore is monitoring all hard drives, so you don't have to worry about it. It does what it calls System Checkpoints periodically, but the problem is, these checks use a lot of disk space. You might be surprised at just how much!

If you want to regain that disk space, here's how to do it.

Open Windows Explorer (Windows Logo key + E) and right click on your drive C

Choose Properties.

Now you see a window that looks like this:

Press the Disk Cleanup button, and then you see this after a few seconds.

This tells you what is available for deleting, but look at the top of the window. Press the More Options tab.

The bottom section of the window is to do with System Restore. Press the Clean up tab, and you will be asked the following question:

What it is saying to you is it will keep the most recent restore point and delete all the rest. If your computer is running well, why bother to use up loads of space with restore points that you will never use?

Press "Yes" and then it will ask you to confirm it..... press OK, and just keep pressing OK until it is finished.

A worthwhile exercise before you do all this is to make a note of your used and free disk space before you do it. If you have had your PC a while and have never done it, you might be in for a shock when you see just how much space has been recovered.

USING SYSTEM RESTORE

If you ever have to restore your PC to an earlier time for one reason or another, here's how to do it.

With all windows closed, go to Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore

Press "Next" to restore your computer to an earlier time.

You see a screen like this:

Dates when a restore point or points are available are bold. Click on one in the calendar and choose one from the right-hand pane, then press Next.

When you see the next screen, do as it suggests. Close all programs and don't touch anything until it has restored, restarted your computer and it's running properly again. You will, hopefully, if it has done its job properly, see a screen that tells you all was successful. If it wasn't, do it again on another date/checkpoint.

A word of warning. If you installed any programs between the date of the chosen restore point and the day you are restoring it, you will need to reinstall those programs again.