After wasting hours troubleshooting a failed Windows System Restore, I searched and found this workaround in the Symantec Support Knowledge Base:
Message: "Restoration Incomplete. Your computer cannot be restored . . . " when you run Windows System Restore
"Norton 2006 and later products have a security feature that prevents outside programs from making changes to the Norton product. This security feature can prevent Windows System Restore from changing Norton files, resulting in the "Restoration Incomplete" message.
Temporarily turn off the Norton product protection before you run Windows System Restore."
During Installation, Norton Internet Security 2009 SHOULD have turned OFF Norton Product Tamper Protection, but it doesn't, and doesn't inform me that there WILL be a problem with Windows System Restore causing it to fail. I could not do a system restore because I did not know that NIS 2009 was blocking it.
I was considering not buying NIS 2009 for this reason. Instead I have PERMANENTLY disabled Norton Product Tamper Protection because Windows makes daily AUTOMATIC system restore points and I do NOT want NIS 2009 blocking it. Also it is too much trouble turning Norton Product Tamper Protection ON or OFF each time I want to make a manual system restore point or do a rollback to a previous restore point. I will just pretend I have Windows Vista 64 and can't use Norton Product Tamper Protection. LOL..
I don't care if it's tampered with or not. I have used my PC for years without ANY ACTIVE virus protection software running at all with no problems. I just want to have WINDOWS function normally with System Restore. That is more important to me, because I hate wasting hours tracking down a solution to a problem caused by an improper Installation default setting.
Actually the default setting during installation is for Norton Product Tamper Protection to be "ON".
And just to clarify, Norton Product Tamper Protection should not interfere with the creation of restore points, but as you mentioned, it does have to be turned off in order to revert back to a previous point.
The Norton Product Tamper Protection is a good feature as it protects your Norton Product from being altered by the ever-emerging threats that we all face each day.
I would also Recommed that you Turn this Feature back On as there may be an un-known Internet Threat on your computer and, if this is Off [N.P.T.P.], then it could really mess-up your Norton Product; just an example and I am not trying to scare you.
I have tried a few restores in the past and had the same problem you are explaining. I do not think it is Norton keeping it from completing. What I found out that worked is to do your restore in safe mode. It worked fine for me after not being able to do it in regular mode.
Give that a try and see what it will do for you. If you are a newbie, just reboot your computer and keep pressing the F8 key until the selection screen come up for safe mode booting.
Hope this helps. If I am completely off base on what you are trying to do, please except my apology
Thanks for your quick reply, but I continued to have restoration failure even after I shutdown The Norton Internet Security Service, which leads me to believe that the Restore points made with NIS running were faulty.
And I learned the little trick of disabling the Norton Internet Security Service after I could not get the Windows Update website (actually Microsoft Update) to work correctly.... Error 0x80072EE2.
"You may encounter temporary connection-related errors when you use Windows Update or Microsoft Update to install updates"
It was indeed a frustrating day with Windows and NIS.
If there is another way to run Windows Update without shutting down the NIS service , please let me know.
And I still maintain that NIS should actively warn the user about Windows System Restore failure if Norton Product Tamper Protection is enabled, perhaps with a pop-up box after Installation. The new user has no knowledge of this, and is bound to be frustrated or worse if system restore no longer works.
And I learned the little trick of disabling the Norton Internet Security Service after I could not get the Windows Update website (actually Microsoft Update) to work correctly.... Error 0x80072EE2.
"You may encounter temporary connection-related errors when you use Windows Update or Microsoft Update to install updates"
If there is another way to run Windows Update without shutting down the NIS service , please let me know.
There is something wrong here as you should be able to get to the Windows' Update Web Site without Disabling Norton Internet Security. What do you mean by "disabling"? What did you Disable? And it should not slow your system down. It is Not Recommended to Turn Off your N.I.S. as it will leave you Open to Attack.
Have you un-installed then re-installed your Norton Product? The reason why I ask is because there seems to be something wrong with you using the Windows' Update Web Site.
Seeing as how everyone else have already jumped in with their points, I will merely add a few points of my own:
1. Most of us have no trouble running Microsoft Update or Windows Update with NIS running with all options. If you are experiencing trouble with NIS on but not off, that does not make NIS the culprit, merely the barometer indicating something is wrong with your computer. It doesn't matter that removing NIS makes MSUpdate work for you; it should NOT make a difference; and the fact that it does signals something happening at a lower level in your configurations/structure. Modifying or removing NIS does not fix that fundamental problem and eventually it will probably damage something else, perhaps of greater importance.
2. No one should be relying on Restore Points. At best, they are semireliable possibilities for removing the affects of a very recent installation. The more time that elapses, the less reliable these Restore Points are and the greater the possibility of introducing an instability within your system when you use them. If you want a reliable way to go backwards in time on your computer, find and invest in some good disk imaging software. If you do this, some day you will find yourself blessing me for this advice.
3. I will echo what others have said here. The problem with Restore Points is not in creating them, but in applying them. The restoration process tries to put NIS back in a state where it "knows" it does not now belong. If you turn off the NIS self-protection at the time you are trying to restore an earlier date, that should be sufficient to allow the restoration to occur. And this might explains why Safe Mode is an alternative way to do this (but that's just a guess on my part). Keep in mind what I said in point 2. Restore Points do not work well if there has been too much change to your system's structure, change over which Windows had no control. If some vital exe file has been deleted and a Registry Key points to that file, the impact could be destructive; and it is likely that Windows will refuse to restore to that point. That will have nothing to do with NIS.
Very nice expansion on the Restore Points issue and well deserving of the Kudo I gave.
I do have to agree with timw9000 that Norton Product Tamper Protection preventing a System Restore is not well "publicized" for users who may want to revert to a very recent point.
A while ago I had posted a short tutorial on this for new users, but perhaps a better method of conveying that info should be sought.
"2. No one should be relying on Restore Points. At best, they are semireliable possibilities for removing the affects of a very recent installation. "
I disagree with your opinion. System Restore has been very reliable for me, and is much faster and less hassle than disk imaging. Just because you don't rely on and use it, is not a reason that Symantec shouldn't warn other users that do.
This is not a warning message from Norton. Norton 2009 products have a security feature that prevents outside programs from making changes to the Norton product. When you perform a system restore, Norton will consider it as an attempt to change the Norton files. So Norton will prevent it using the Tamper Protection feature. Which throws the message that you received.
"2. No one should be relying on Restore Points. At best, they are semireliable possibilities for removing the affects of a very recent installation. "
I disagree with your opinion. System Restore has been very reliable for me, and is much faster and less hassle than disk imaging. Just because you don't rely on and use it, is not a reason that Symantec shouldn't warn other users that do.
I never said I don't use it. I use it in the context I described: as a way of escaping the affects of a corrupted installation and similar situations.
From the way you speak of it, I assume you use System Restore often. That would also imply you are not going far back in time with your restoration.
Imagine, please, for you own sake, that you have installed an AV program at Point A in time. That at Point B, a later date, you downloaded an upgrade that modified the engine of the AV program and that this modification also changed the registry references to the AV program. Now we are six months later, at Point C, and you decide to return your computer to Point A using System Restore. System Restore will return your AV program settings to where they were at Point A, but it will leave your AV program with its Point B engine in place because System Restore hasn't a clue how to remove it and replace it with files that are no longer on the computer. So you will now have registry references to nonexistant files and existant files expecting certain registry behavior. I would think this might be a crash just waiting to happen. Now go one step further and imagine the same scenario applying to any number of programs that are volatile (frequently updated) and heavily registry dependent.
Oh, my! I came here to the Forums tonight to research something completely unrelated to this thread's topic. While browsing through the subjects list, the title of this one caught my eye for some reason and I decided to read through it. All I can say is that I'm SO glad I did!
I've been a continuous user (and advocate) of NIS since the earliest versions. I have always taken great pains to ensure that my systems are in top condition optimized for peak performance. So it has been the rare occurrence that I have found a need to roll back to a previous restore point. But in the past, when one of those needs arose, I never had one single restore succeed. The first time or two, I remember trying to find out why, but eventually just wrote it off as another Microsoft instability. I wish I had known all along that the solution was as simple as turning off Norton's self-protection feature. I have to agree that perhaps this is something that should be "publicized" in a more obvious manner.
Since Norton is such a complex product that works on such a deep level on your OS, it is extremely hard to restore. You may either a) lack the adquate space to completely backup all Norton related files, or b) as suggested, Norton blocked the restore w/ Tamper Protection.
