Brand New Computer, Need to System Restore

[aperson@yahoo.com]

I just got a new computer two days ago, an Intel Pentium 4 processor,
with Windows XP Pro.

And already I am having problems. I've downloaded a few programs from
online that I've used in the past, added software I already owned, and
burned a few CDs. I had my old records on Zip (Iomega), so I've been
working with that, too.

The problems started for me when I tried to transfer some Zip files to
my Desktop and after they transferred and I tried to do it again, I
got an error message that the shortcut to my E drive no longer exists.

Next I tried playing some music using Media Player. I have played
music over the past few days, so I know this device was working
properly. I got an error message saying that the program could not
find my sound card. I tried playing the CD in Real Player, and got
the same message. Next step, I did a system restore point to
yesterday, and when I got back up and running, the Media Player worked
fine. Of course, some of my downloaded programs were gone, but also
the stored downloads were, too. And a file I had created earlier
today. Does a system restore in XP Pro remove files, too?

My newsgroup reader and email program was gone, so I downloaded them
again and when I started to fill out the forms, found that they
already existed, and after the reinstallation, seem to be fine, with
all the settings as they were before the system restore.

At the moment, everything seems fine, but I thought this was a bit
peculiar. I am new to XP Pro and understand the restore system is
differnet than XP Home, which is the operating system I used before
this one. I am not a computer power user, but upgraded to the Pro
edition on the recommendation of a number of people.

Any comments about what might have happened with my audio card, or
anything else about this strange occurance?

[Michael Stevens]

wrote:
> I just got a new computer two days ago, an Intel Pentium 4 processor,
> with Windows XP Pro.
>
> And already I am having problems. I've downloaded a few programs from
> online that I've used in the past, added software I already owned, and
> burned a few CDs. I had my old records on Zip (Iomega), so I've been
> working with that, too.
>
> The problems started for me when I tried to transfer some Zip files to
> my Desktop and after they transferred and I tried to do it again, I
> got an error message that the shortcut to my E drive no longer exists.
>
> Next I tried playing some music using Media Player. I have played
> music over the past few days, so I know this device was working
> properly. I got an error message saying that the program could not
> find my sound card. I tried playing the CD in Real Player, and got
> the same message. Next step, I did a system restore point to
> yesterday, and when I got back up and running, the Media Player worked
> fine. Of course, some of my downloaded programs were gone, but also
> the stored downloads were, too. And a file I had created earlier
> today. Does a system restore in XP Pro remove files, too?
>
> My newsgroup reader and email program was gone, so I downloaded them
> again and when I started to fill out the forms, found that they
> already existed, and after the reinstallation, seem to be fine, with
> all the settings as they were before the system restore.
>
> At the moment, everything seems fine, but I thought this was a bit
> peculiar. I am new to XP Pro and understand the restore system is
> differnet than XP Home, which is the operating system I used before
> this one. I am not a computer power user, but upgraded to the Pro
> edition on the recommendation of a number of people.
>
> Any comments about what might have happened with my audio card, or
> anything else about this strange occurance?

System restore is the same on Home and Pro. You access System Restore from
Start> All Programs> Accessories> System Tools> System Restore.
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP

http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm

[Ronnie Vernon MVP]

wrote:
> I just got a new computer two days ago, an Intel Pentium 4 processor,
> with Windows XP Pro.
>
> And already I am having problems. I've downloaded a few programs from
> online that I've used in the past, added software I already owned, and
> burned a few CDs. I had my old records on Zip (Iomega), so I've been
> working with that, too.
>
> The problems started for me when I tried to transfer some Zip files to
> my Desktop and after they transferred and I tried to do it again, I
> got an error message that the shortcut to my E drive no longer exists.
>
> Next I tried playing some music using Media Player. I have played
> music over the past few days, so I know this device was working
> properly. I got an error message saying that the program could not
> find my sound card. I tried playing the CD in Real Player, and got
> the same message. Next step, I did a system restore point to
> yesterday, and when I got back up and running, the Media Player worked
> fine. Of course, some of my downloaded programs were gone, but also
> the stored downloads were, too. And a file I had created earlier
> today. Does a system restore in XP Pro remove files, too?
>
> My newsgroup reader and email program was gone, so I downloaded them
> again and when I started to fill out the forms, found that they
> already existed, and after the reinstallation, seem to be fine, with
> all the settings as they were before the system restore.
>
> At the moment, everything seems fine, but I thought this was a bit
> peculiar. I am new to XP Pro and understand the restore system is
> differnet than XP Home, which is the operating system I used before
> this one. I am not a computer power user, but upgraded to the Pro
> edition on the recommendation of a number of people.
>
> Any comments about what might have happened with my audio card, or
> anything else about this strange occurance?

Yes, it's possible to lose files when you use System Restore. See this
article.

System Restore Removes Files During a Restore Procedure:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=261716


--
Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User

Please reply to the newsgroup so all may benefit.

[aperson@yahoo.com]

On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 22:12:42 -0800, "Ronnie Vernon MVP"
>Yes, it's possible to lose files when you use System Restore. See this
>article.
>
>System Restore Removes Files During a Restore Procedure:
>http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=261716

Thanks Ronnie. Got it!

[Babel17DELANY]

Why do you think Microsoft would deliberately not make documents restorable
unless they were in one particular folder ? It doesn't seem to make sense.

Remove "DELANY" to reply by e-mail.

"Ronnie Vernon MVP" > wrote in message
...
> wrote:
> > I just got a new computer two days ago, an Intel Pentium 4 processor,
> > with Windows XP Pro.
> >
> > And already I am having problems. I've downloaded a few programs from
> > online that I've used in the past, added software I already owned, and
> > burned a few CDs. I had my old records on Zip (Iomega), so I've been
> > working with that, too.
> >
> > The problems started for me when I tried to transfer some Zip files to
> > my Desktop and after they transferred and I tried to do it again, I
> > got an error message that the shortcut to my E drive no longer exists.
> >
> > Next I tried playing some music using Media Player. I have played
> > music over the past few days, so I know this device was working
> > properly. I got an error message saying that the program could not
> > find my sound card. I tried playing the CD in Real Player, and got
> > the same message. Next step, I did a system restore point to
> > yesterday, and when I got back up and running, the Media Player worked
> > fine. Of course, some of my downloaded programs were gone, but also
> > the stored downloads were, too. And a file I had created earlier
> > today. Does a system restore in XP Pro remove files, too?
> >
> > My newsgroup reader and email program was gone, so I downloaded them
> > again and when I started to fill out the forms, found that they
> > already existed, and after the reinstallation, seem to be fine, with
> > all the settings as they were before the system restore.
> >
> > At the moment, everything seems fine, but I thought this was a bit
> > peculiar. I am new to XP Pro and understand the restore system is
> > differnet than XP Home, which is the operating system I used before
> > this one. I am not a computer power user, but upgraded to the Pro
> > edition on the recommendation of a number of people.
> >
> > Any comments about what might have happened with my audio card, or
> > anything else about this strange occurance?
>
> Yes, it's possible to lose files when you use System Restore. See this
> article.
>
> System Restore Removes Files During a Restore Procedure:
> http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=261716
>
>
> --
> Ronnie Vernon
> Microsoft MVP
> Windows Shell/User
>
> Please reply to the newsgroup so all may benefit.
>
>

[Rob]

I understand that Real One Player is incompatible with WindowsXP and can
cause problems with System Restore. I am waiting for this to be resolved
before I install/use Real One Player

Rob


> wrote in message
...
> I just got a new computer two days ago, an Intel Pentium 4 processor,
> with Windows XP Pro.
>
> And already I am having problems. I've downloaded a few programs from
> online that I've used in the past, added software I already owned, and
> burned a few CDs. I had my old records on Zip (Iomega), so I've been
> working with that, too.
>
> The problems started for me when I tried to transfer some Zip files to
> my Desktop and after they transferred and I tried to do it again, I
> got an error message that the shortcut to my E drive no longer exists.
>
> Next I tried playing some music using Media Player. I have played
> music over the past few days, so I know this device was working
> properly. I got an error message saying that the program could not
> find my sound card. I tried playing the CD in Real Player, and got
> the same message. Next step, I did a system restore point to
> yesterday, and when I got back up and running, the Media Player worked
> fine. Of course, some of my downloaded programs were gone, but also
> the stored downloads were, too. And a file I had created earlier
> today. Does a system restore in XP Pro remove files, too?
>
> My newsgroup reader and email program was gone, so I downloaded them
> again and when I started to fill out the forms, found that they
> already existed, and after the reinstallation, seem to be fine, with
> all the settings as they were before the system restore.
>
> At the moment, everything seems fine, but I thought this was a bit
> peculiar. I am new to XP Pro and understand the restore system is
> differnet than XP Home, which is the operating system I used before
> this one. I am not a computer power user, but upgraded to the Pro
> edition on the recommendation of a number of people.
>
> Any comments about what might have happened with my audio card, or
> anything else about this strange occurance?

[aperson@yahoo.com]

On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 11:01:43 -0000, "Rob" > wrote:

>I understand that Real One Player is incompatible with WindowsXP and can
>cause problems with System Restore. I am waiting for this to be resolved
>before I install/use Real One Player
>
>Rob

A little OT, but I'd rather not use RealPlayer, unless they stopped
harvesting information from their users, like they used to a few years
ago.

[Bobbie Harder \(MSFT\)]

System Restore does restore a set of system and critical application files
(not actual user data such as email, docs, etc). It also restores the
registry in full. Sounds like the feature helped restore you to a point
before you had a problem with your sound card and your drive table, but
your restore also undid your installs of email and a newsgroup reader. If
those happened after the point you selected to restore to, that is by
design.
A quick way to see what was impacted by restore is to undo the restore to
see what functionality returns. If your redownloading/installing apps you
might also increase the granularity of what gets restored (and better spot
the trouble-maker) if you create (and name) a manual restore point before
each install, that way you can restore one install at a time vs. all
configuration activity to a day or so, ago. Hope this helps and let me know
Here's a link to a good MSDN paper which tells you more about the features
design and a link to the SR FAQ.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnwxp/html/windowsxpsystemrestore.asp

--
System Restore FAQ:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/itcommunity/Newsgroups/FAQSRWXP.asp

--
This posting is provided "As Is" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

> wrote in message
...
> I just got a new computer two days ago, an Intel Pentium 4 processor,
> with Windows XP Pro.
>
> And already I am having problems. I've downloaded a few programs from
> online that I've used in the past, added software I already owned, and
> burned a few CDs. I had my old records on Zip (Iomega), so I've been
> working with that, too.
>
> The problems started for me when I tried to transfer some Zip files to
> my Desktop and after they transferred and I tried to do it again, I
> got an error message that the shortcut to my E drive no longer exists.
>
> Next I tried playing some music using Media Player. I have played
> music over the past few days, so I know this device was working
> properly. I got an error message saying that the program could not
> find my sound card. I tried playing the CD in Real Player, and got
> the same message. Next step, I did a system restore point to
> yesterday, and when I got back up and running, the Media Player worked
> fine. Of course, some of my downloaded programs were gone, but also
> the stored downloads were, too. And a file I had created earlier
> today. Does a system restore in XP Pro remove files, too?
>
> My newsgroup reader and email program was gone, so I downloaded them
> again and when I started to fill out the forms, found that they
> already existed, and after the reinstallation, seem to be fine, with
> all the settings as they were before the system restore.
>
> At the moment, everything seems fine, but I thought this was a bit
> peculiar. I am new to XP Pro and understand the restore system is
> differnet than XP Home, which is the operating system I used before
> this one. I am not a computer power user, but upgraded to the Pro
> edition on the recommendation of a number of people.
>
> Any comments about what might have happened with my audio card, or
> anything else about this strange occurance?