Paul wrote:
Frank Slootweg wrote:

Microsoft implies that SR doesn't touch user data.

What System Restore does, varies from one OS to the next.

You have to trace down a third-party web page with details.

WinXP for example, should not touch the contents of My Documents,

I've not checked that particular case, but you'll probably find that
SR *does* touch the contents of 'My Documents'. It (probably/hopefully)
will not touch *documents* in 'My Documents', but if the extension of
your 'document' happens to be on SR's Bad Boys list, SR will probably
quite happily clobber your 'document'.

For an example/approximation of SR's Bad Boys list see

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

For example, if your file in 'My Documents' happens to have a .old
extension or you've downloaded a .exe installation package somewhere -
even in Microsofts Sacred Hierarchy (tm) -, SR will most likely happily
clobber it.

but if you don't use the Microsoft structure for your storage
purposes, you could find changes there. For example, using
C:\Frank would be a bad idea on WinXP, if restoring to a
three-month old restore point.

SR has no business fscking up files in directories which have nothing
to do with Microsoft or Microsoft's Sacred Hierarchy.

SR has no excuse for fscking up files with extension .pqr, while *not*
restoring files with extension .xyz.

Your - non-MS - database uses .ini, .idx and .dat files? Bad luck,
because SR will 'restore' - read: clobber - the .ini files, but *not*
the .idx and .dat files, so it happily corrupts your database which was
perfectly fine.

I can't answer for the others, because I don't think I
have a complete set of web pages for them. I might be
able to dig up a WinXP and a Vista. I don't know about
the rest though. Maybe sevenforums.com, eightforums.com,
and/or tenforums.com have the info in one of their
tutorials or something.

Any reference is basically irrelevant, because SR *cannot* work
'correctly', because it *cannot* know which files (not) to restore. I.e.
SR is broken by design.

And then we've not even touched on the fact that the state of a system
is not just defined by the state/contents of files, but also by which
processes, tasks, etc. have (not) run, etc., etc., ad infinitum.

System Restore, just say no!