Restore your Windows system

Have you ever caught up with a situation, that you have installed something or did some manual registry edits and result in an unrecoverable situation? This may be due to - registry got corrupted or some other registration errors. In such a situation, most of us may go for some trials to get rid of the issues facing and if found unsuccessful, end up in deciding reinstalling windows. But you have to understand about the System Restore tool (Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools->System Restore) supplied with Windows Accessories from Windows XP and later versions.

System Restore

System Restore helps you restore your computer's system files to an earlier point in time. It's a way to undo system changes to your computer without affecting your personal files, such as e‑mail, documents, or photos.
If the installation of a program or a driver cause an unexpected change to your computer or cause Windows to behave unpredictably. Usually, uninstalling the program or driver corrects the problem. If uninstalling does not fix the problem, you can try restoring your computer's system to an earlier date when everything worked correctly.
System Restore uses a feature called System Protection to regularly create and save restore points on your computer. These restore points contain information about registery settings and other system information that Windows uses. You can also create restore points manually.
System Restore is not intended for backing up personal files, so it cannot help you recover a personal file that has been deleted or damaged. You should regularly back up your personal files and important data using a backup program.

See the below steps in Windows Vista showing Restoring to a previous point

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