Terry Pinnell wrote:
VanguardLH wrote:
[...]
However, if the OP is saving image backups, why waste the space to save
restore points?

Here are three reasons and I bet there are others:

1. SR is a complementary tool, not an alternative.

2. Simplicity. In a couple of clicks SR can often immediately fix an
accident or obscure issue.

Correction: System Restore *might* 'fix' an issue, but most likely
will - probably quietly - clobber something which it should not touch.

System Restore is broken-by-design. It *pretends* it knows what to
restore and what not, but it *cannot* possibly know that for non-MS
software. It also pretends it doesn't touch user data, but because it
happily clobbers data in folders where it has no business and pretends
it knows what to restore and what not in those folders, it's not just
broken-by-design, but lying as well.

System Restore, just say no!

Some references:

'About System Restore'
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/sr/about-system-restore
lie
"System Restore does not restore user data or documents, so it will not
cause users to lose their files, e-mail, browsing history, or
favorites."
/lie

'Monitored File Name Extensions'
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa378870(v=vs.85).aspx

Some examples of System Restore clobbering *user* data:

- SR will restore/clobber .old and .bk1 but not .bck. It shouldn't touch
any of these in user folders.
I had a Windows Mail folder (looks like "e-mail" doesn't it?) - i.e.
*user* data - called Inbox.old, which SR would happily clobber.
AFAICT, .bk1 is not used by Microsoft, so why restore/clobber it?

- SR will restore/clobber .data, but not .dat. It shouldn't touch either
in user folders.
N.B. .dat is used by Internet Explorer and Windows itself (so
restore), but also by avast! (so don't restore). Did I already say
broken-by-design?

- SR will happily restore/clobber .exe files in *non*-Microsoft (read:
user) directories (such as \home\franks).

- My local News server uses .ini files which contains pointers to .dat
files which contain the data (articles). I.e. a simple database per
newsgroup.
SR happily restores/clobbers the .ini files, but not the .dat files,
causing it to not only to restore user data it says it doesn't touch,
but also happily corrupting the databases, i.e. they are neither old
nor current, but corrupt.

Need I say more?

Bottom line: System Restore *cannot* work correctly, hence it's
broken-by-design.