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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Fixing windows installer not working

Have you ever come up with some problems while using windows installer for installing components ? Here is an issue which is widely seen, when trying to install some application using msi installer you will be shown with a message "The Windows Installer service on Local Computer started and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they have no work to do, for example, the Performance Logs and Alerts service." and installation stops. This may be due to the reason, the Windows Installer files that are on your hard disk are damaged or are missing.

Solution
For fixing this issue you may need to register the Windows installer or reinstall windows installer. For registering Windows installer do the below steps,
1. Take Start->Run
2. In the Run window enter msiexec /unregister and press OK
3. Again in the Run window enter msiexec /regserver and press OK

Now try installing with Windows installer everything will work fine!.

[Utility] 'Over Disk' visualize your disk usage with a Radial map

In my previous post I introduced you a tool SpaceSniffer for visualizing your disk usage. Let me show you one more disk usage visualizer OverDisk, which display the disk usage as a radial map. You can select a drive or directory for analyzing with OverDisk and you will be provided with a radial map showing each items inside the selection. On mouse over the details of the folders will be shown. On further selection on the items displayed you will be traversed to the selected folder's radial map. This Windows tool can download from here.

[Utility] Visualize drive space with 'SpaceSniffer'

SpaceSniffer is drive space visualizer utility for windows user. It is a utility that gives you an idea of how folders and files are structured on your disks. You will have immediate perception of where big folders and files are situated on your devices.
Start a scan process and see the overall situation. Bigger are the elements on the view, bigger are folders and files on your disk. You need more detail on a big folder? Just single click on it. The selected element will be detailed with its content. Start a scan process and see the overall situation. Bigger are the elements on the view, bigger are folders and files on your disk. You need more detail on a big folder? Just single click on it. The selected element will be detailed with its content. You can also filter on file size, file date and combine all filters.



Download SpaceSniffer and give a try.

[Utility] 'Jing' screen/video capture tool

Do you want to try a sophisticated Screen/Video capture tool ? I suggest Jing. I found myself comfortable with this free tool. I was taking snapshots and mark on the same in a traditional way, Prnt Screen -> Paste to mspaint -> Mark there -> Save and use. If everything available in a single easy to use tool then you will opt the same right ?

You can take snapshot, mark, highlight and quote on it. Jing also provides video capture. So go for below steps and make a trial run,

1. Download Jing.

2. Install Jing.

3. Run Jing, you can see a round sun appearing at middle of your screen and set to the top middle screen.

4. Mouse over the yellow sun.

5. Select the capture option.

6. Select the area/window.

7. Press Save button displayed in the button panel shown.

You can run video capture in similar way. Just see a snapshot created/edited with Jing.

Share what you captured to Every one !!!

Just tell Jing where to send the screenshot and—BAM!—it's there and ready to share. When you send to a destination like Screencast.com or Flickr, Jing even places a hyperlink on your clipboard.

Remember, if you are a Windows user, you should have Windows XP or Vista and .NET Framework 3.0 for running Jing. Mac users need Mac OS X 10.4.11, or 10.5.5 or later and QuickTime 7.5.5 or later.