NWA-PCUG Newsletter Article, May 2004
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Don't Forget System Restore
by Charlie Paschal, PPCC

Viruses are always a threat, but did you know that one can "return" without warning if you don’t turn off one Windows XP feature when cleaning up from a virus?

One of XP’s great features is System Restore that can take your system back to a time when it was running better. I’ve used it countless times to return an ill-acting system back to a healthy time.

What if, though, you get a virus? Because System Restore can contain system settings that will restore the virus itself, it should always be turned off before you remove a virus.

To do that:

Right Click on My Computer and select Properties and left click. Click on the System Restore tab and check the box labeled "Turn Off System Restore on all Drives." Then, clean up the virus and reboot. Don’t forget to turn System Restore back on after cleaning up the virus.

There is no restriction against any non-profit group using this article as long as it is kept in context with proper credit given the author. The Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international organization of which this group is a member, brings this article to you.

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