Interesting

How to repair Windows 10: step by step guide

Hello.

Folk wisdom: there are two types of people - those who do not make backups yet, and there are those who already make them.

Needless to say, a backup created on time can save a lot of nerves, time and data. In general, Windows 10 (as far as I managed to get acquainted with it) is a rather "stable" system, at least in comparison with the same Windows XP, and it is much more difficult to "kill" it with your inept actions. But still...

In this article, I want to focus on the most common questions regarding Windows recovery, checkpoints and other issues. The article will be useful both for those who just thought about what to do if Windows "flies" tomorrow, and for those who stopped working (errors and crashes began to appear), and for those who no longer load Windows and he wants to get the computer back to work. So, I will consider all the questions in order.

How to configure the creation of points for system recovery

Important note: I do not know why, but in Windows 10, by default, the function of automatic creation of checkpoints (to which you can roll back Windows) is disabled! Therefore, I believe that the first thing in an article of this kind is to show how to enable this feature. What is strange, before that, in Windows 7, 8 - this function was always enabled!

Actions in order

1) First, open the Windows Control Panel, go to the "System and Security" section, then open the "System" section (see the screen below).

System and Security / Windows 10

2) Next, open the link "System Protection" on the left (see the screen below).

System protection

3) After that, you need to select the system drive (on which Windows is installed - it is marked with the icon ) - usually, this is "local drive C: \ (system)", and click the "Configure" button.

Properties of the system

4) Next, three steps in order:

  1. switch the position of the slider to the "Enable system protection" mode;
  2. move the slider to the right - we determine the place that will be given for the recovery points;
  3. save the settings (clearly shown in the photo below).

System protection for local disk

Now system protection is on, Windows will make backups from time to time. By the way, the more hard disk space you have allocated for backups, the more points you will have. As soon as the space is used up - each new point will overwrite the old one ...

Create a checkpoint manually

By the way, right after turning on the automatic creation of points, I recommend creating a point manually (especially if everything is still working as it should for you :)).

To do this, click the "Create" button, the tab is still the same "System Protection" (by the way, this button has become active (previously it was impossible to click on it)).

Create a restore point (the create button is now active!)

Next, you need to specify the name of the point and click the "Create" button (see screen below).

Create a restore point

After that, Windows will "think" for a minute or two, and the checkpoint will be created (by the way, Windows will notify you about this in a separate window). Actually, this is all about "manual" work ...

Note! I always recommend creating a restore point in manual mode when you are going to change drivers (for example), or perform any actions with the system registry.

Launching recovery from Windows

How to open the recovery window (option 1)

Open the Windows Control Panel at the following address: Control Panel \ System and Security \ System

Then on the left, open the link "System Protection" (see screen below).

Protecting your Windows 10 system

Then, in the window that opens, click the "Restore" button (shown in the screenshot below).

System Properties - Restore

After that, the "System Restore" window should appear.Windows will warn you that this operation will not affect your documents, but drivers and programs installed before creating a restore point will be deleted. Click further ...

Restoration of system files, parameters

After that, a window with points for recovery will appear. Now you need to select the desired point and click on.

Choosing a restore point

By default, Windows picks the most recent (ie, most recent) point and prompts you to agree and click next. Not always the last point - will solve the problem. You need to select the point at which your Windows was working normally. You can navigate by the date of creation of the point and its description.

Note:

  1. some points can be marked as "critical". This is okay, usually, they are created when the system is updated;
  2. if you select a specific point and click the "Search for affected programs" button, you can find out which programs will be changed when you roll back the system. For example, you will find out which programs will not work after a rollback - i.e. they will have to be reinstalled.

Restoring your computer to a previous state

The last step is to agree and confirm to rollback the system to the previously created restore point. The computer will then restart and the changes will take effect.

System Restore: Confirm Rollback

The second way to open the recovery window

There is another faster and easier way to open the recovery window in Windows 10. To do this:

  1. open the search window (the "magnifying glass" icon is next to the START button);
  2. enter the word "recovery" in the search box (most likely, you will not have to enter the entire word);
  3. among the results found, open the one you need (the screenshot below illustrates each step).

Windows 10 - START: how to open the recovery window

Further, the recovery procedure is similar: you also need to select the point to which the rollback will be made, confirm the operation ...

How to roll back Windows 10 to a restore point if your computer won't boot

It's good when Windows at least boots and you can normally open the control panel, the security section and enable the rollback function. And when is it not loaded? In this case, you need an installation DVD or a USB flash drive. In my article I will focus on the second :). So, first things first ...

Preparing and creating a bootable USB flash drive (if it is not there)

In general, I advise more than once, but it is better with the USB flash drive with which you installed Windows - do nothing, save it and have it in reserve. Such a flash drive will help you out more than once. If your Windows does not boot, and you do not have such a flash drive, you will have to ask for the help of a friend, neighbor (if there is no second PC / laptop).

Remark! In order not to repeat myself (especially since the topic is extensive), I recommend that you read the following article on my website: //ocomp.info/cozdanie-zagruzochnoy-fleshki.html. The article provides all kinds of options for creating bootable flash drives: Windows Xp / 7/8/10, UEFI, multiboot, etc.

BIOS settings. Selecting bootable media (ie "our" flash drive)

To boot from an installation USB flash drive with Windows, you need to configure the BIOS accordingly. In general, there is nothing complicated in setting up the BIOS (in terms of changing the boot sequence) - no. Rather, the problem is more often found in an incorrectly written bootable media.

In general, in my opinion, it is much more convenient to use a special boot menu - Boot Menu (English name). It can be called when the computer / laptop is turned on. The bottom line is that in this menu you can select the device from which to boot the computer (without going into the BIOS at all!).

Each manufacturer has its own hotkeys for entering the Boot Menu, for example, for Acer laptops - F12, for Samsung - Esc. Press them immediately after turning on the computer / laptop. After that, usually, a special menu appears in which we must select our carrier (an example is shown below). An extended list of manufacturers is also available at the link below.

Hot keys (buttons): BIOS boot menu, Boot Menu, Boot Agent, BIOS Setup. Laptops and computers - //ocomp.info/goryachie-klavishi-dlya-vh-bios-boot-menu.html

An example of a Boot Menu is an HP laptop (Boot Option Menu).

Roll back the system using a restore point

If the USB flash drive is recorded correctly, the Bios is configured correctly, then the Windows installation should start. Please note that on the screen on which you will be prompted to install the OS - at the bottom of the window there is a link "System Restore", and you need to click it (see the screenshot below, note: green arrow).

Windows 10 - start installation

Next, a screen with a choice of action should open: you need to open the "Diagnostics (returning the computer to its original state or using additional tools)" section.

Action selection

Then open the link "Advanced options".

Diagnostics

In additional parameters - select the very first tab "System Restore (system restore using a restore point)" (see the screen below).

System Restore / Windows-10

Then a standard window should open with a proposal to roll back the system to the point created in advance.

Recovery start

There is no point in describing all the steps further - everything will be the same as if we launched the program from Windows, and this has already been described in the first part of the article ...

Restore boot records

By the way, it is not always necessary to look for a backup point and roll the computer back to it. When Windows stops (all of a sudden, for no reason) to boot, most often, this is due to corrupted boot records.

To restore them, just select the "Startup Recovery" tab in the "Advanced Settings" section (see the previous step of the article), rather than "System Restore" (see the screenshot below: green arrow under the number 2).

Windows itself will automatically diagnose and try to restore functionality.

Startup recovery

Addition. Even in cases when the OS informs you that the attempt to restore the boot records failed - try restarting the computer, not once in my "practice" (despite this error), after such a procedure, Windows was successfully loaded.

Creating a complete system image

In Windows 10, there is one not bad backup option - creating an image of the entire system on a separate disk or DVD disks (you will need several pieces, in my opinion it is better to use an external hard disk, or a second disk - if you have 2+ of them in the system).

The difference between this method and classic restore points is that this method creates a complete archive with all programs, drivers, user files, settings, shortcuts, etc. that are in the system.

Note. It makes sense to create such an image when you have everything set up and everything works well. Usually, this time comes after 2-3 days after installing Windows.

Create an image

1) First, open the control panel, then the "System and Security" section, then "Backup and Restore" (an example is shown in the screenshot below).

System and security - backup

2) Next, in the menu on the left, you need to click the link "Create a system image".

System imaging

3) Now you need to specify the medium to which the image will be saved. Usually, they choose an external hard drive (or a "big" 64 GB flash drive, 128 GB, for example).

Where will the archive with the system be stored

4) Here you need to specify which disks you want to archive. Windows, by default, includes the drive on which it is installed and several system partitions. If this is not enough for you, you can enable other local drives as well.

Note. Pay attention to the location that will be needed for archiving. Windows will show you the free space on your media and the required backup space. If you select a few more local disks, the required backup space will grow proportionally to the selected disks.

Selecting disks to be archived

Using the image. When you start having "problems" with Windows 10, you can quickly and easily roll back it completely to its previous state using this image. There are 2 ways to start recovery from such an image:

  1. - use a recovery disk;
  2. - in the Windows setup program, select: Diagnostics / Advanced options / System image recovery.

Addition... By the way, you can make a complete cloning of a hard drive using third-party programs (many of them, frankly, have much more options and are more convenient to use than standard Windows tools). For example, such programs are: Acronis True Image, EASEUS Disk Copy, Paragon Drive Backup Personal, etc.

Fixing performance + cleaning Windows from viruses using AVZ

It's no secret that viruses and adware are often the cause of Windows problems. This is often the reason why many users want to restore their Windows OS. If you start to see advertising banners on your desktop, on sites (where they were not there before), the browser constantly opens tabs (which you did not ask it to open) - most likely you have picked up adware (this "infection" is very popular now).

To get rid of all this "goodness" and restore the computer's performance, I recommend using the utility - AVZ.


AVZ

Developer site: //www.z-oleg.com/secur/avz/download.php

One of the best antivirus utilities, it doesn't need to be installed. Works with all popular versions of Windows: XP, 7, 8, 10. The main tasks solved in it:

  • - Removal of SpyWare and AdWare inserts, modules (more relevant than ever - ads and other "good" constantly pop up in browsers);
  • - Search and elimination of Dialer (Trojan.Dialer);
  • - neutralization of Trojans;
  • - closing holes (BackDoor);
  • - removal of network and mail worms;
  • - neutralization: TrojanSpy, TrojanDownloader, TrojanDropper, etc.

In addition to neutralizing viruses, this program can restore system settings, close some "holes" by setting optimal parameters. Let's get down to business :).


I recommend doing three things in AVZ

1) Check for viruses

This is the first thing to start with AVZ. Even if you have an antivirus installed, it will still not be superfluous to drive the AVZ computer away. The fact is that this antivirus utility "sees" and finds a lot of "good" that ordinary antiviruses miss.

To scan your computer for viruses - run AVZ, select disks (be sure to select the system drive) and click the START button. Fortunately, scanning is fast enough (relative to third-party programs of a similar kind).

Virus check in AVZ

2) Troubleshooting Wizard

The second thing I recommend is to set the optimal parameters (it's no secret that not all default settings in Windows provide the optimal level of security). So, AVZ finds such problem settings and invites you to fix them (the program fixes them itself in automatic mode).

To run such a wizard: go to the "File" menu and select "Troubleshooting Wizard".

Troubleshooting Wizard

3) Restore system settings

Quite often, "problems" with Windows also occur due to the fact that viruses and adware change some system files, edit files, and add "malicious" lines to them. Because of this, for example, you get ads in your browser, even on those sites where they shouldn't be!

You can also restore many system settings in AVZ, if you go to the address: "File / System Restore". The program will offer a whole list of various options for recovery (all options are shown in the screenshot below).

Restoring system settings

Note. If you unknowingly tick off all the items and click restore, then nothing criminal will happen, just the system settings will return to their original form, as if you had just installed Windows.

On the sim, I will round off, a successful and quick fix of Windows!

$config[zx-auto] not found$config[zx-overlay] not found