Hi All
I know this has been discussed before,I tried recently to use a restore point from within a month but NIS2009 would not allow it.What is the correct way to accomplish this?Just for the benefit of New people to this forum and Us older forum members who have forgot 
Thanks for your advice.
Product Tamper Protection should be all you need to disable. This tries to keep the registry from changing (one of the functions System Restore does) .
mo wrote:Hi All
I know this has been discussed before,I tried recently to use a restore point from within a month but NIS2009 would not allow it.What is the correct way to accomplish this?Just for the benefit of New people to this forum and Us older forum members who have forgot
Mo, how do you know that it is NIS 2009 that will not allow the system restore?
Hi All
I know this has been discussed before,I tried recently to use a restore point from within a month but NIS2009 would not allow it.What is the correct way to accomplish this?Just for the benefit of New people to this forum and Us older forum members who have forgot Thanks for your advice.
I never do a system restore with a tight security suite installed and running. However, many users have complained of this problem with NIS2009. Most have found that uninstalling is the best bet. But if you’re adventurous, you can try the Tamper Protection disable. Good luck.
Hi Mijcar
I am going by the recent history log that states "Unauthorized access logged" (System restore failure)Nothing drastic has happened ,it was an option I decided to try then realized with NIS installed it is not as easy as I thought.
@dbris Are you saying to uninstall NIS2009 then do the system restore then re install NIS2009. If I remember rightly if I chose the 1st option which is disable Norton product protection ,I will succeed but that NIS's definitions will be out of whack as a result and by updating will it get me back to where I was pre System restore?
Yes; there is miniscule chance of fowling the system and your data this way. That’s my general rule. I’ve had too many go ‘south’ any other way so why take a chance? If the Tamper Protection disable works for you, great. All I’m saying is I would not do it personally. That’s all.
Thanks for your honest reply. I don’t play with system restore or use it lightly hence my question.You are more experienced than I so I certainly will take that into account.
Hi mo,
I´ve experienced the behavior you´ve discribed, and found a much better way, more
secure as well and it is step by step:
1. Disable Windows system restore.
2. Purchase a quality backup and restore software. I´m using both Norton Save&Restore and
Norton Ghost 14. You can find similar softwares from other producers at your own liking.
Add to that a large enough external hard disc of some 100 GB.
3. Use the scheduling function to automaticly perform backups of your compete system at
intervals of your own choice. You don´t have to worry at all, because this takes care of
it for you. When needed, you can manually add a backup out of schedule
I´ve performed backups this way for many years, and this has saved me from a whole lot of
complicated situations.
It´s easy and will get you back on the right track again, when something goes wrong.
And----it sure does, when you don´t expect it to happen !!
Thanks Kurt
Never thought of that approach ,This is probably a very Dumb question...But is that what Norton ghost and the other backup products are for to supersede Windows System restore??
Hi mo,
Norton Ghost and equal softwares do the backup and restore in a much more accurate way, by
producing an exact image of your hard disk. Thereby you won´t loose anything and that´s why I can
say "you don´t have to worry". You will get everything back again to the point where the backup,
image, was produced. Meaning you can start again and try an other attempt to solve what have gone wrong.
I hope you understand, that this way is much safer compaired to Windows system restore, which only
save certain things, not all of it.
I´m only proposing an alternative method to your question, a safer one !!
It´s a very good way of getting rid of things making your pc not working well, is another way to use it.
Mo,
Permit me to second Kurt's comments. I've been making backups for a lot of years, both the file/folder variety and full system backups. When it comes to restoring a hosed system, it's the full system backup that comes into play.
As Kurt said, Ghost 14 permits you make a full system backup that is in fact a drive image. It contains absolutely everything that is on the drive, including all files and folders, the registry and the MBR. Consequently, restoration is smooth, painless and--here's the really important part--reliable. I've done a number of restorations and never encountered a single problem.
Ghost can also make incremental backups to keep the full backup current, and it can do backups of the file/folder variety. Backups can be scheduled, or they can be run manually. Finally, you can of course backup multiple drives/partitions. It's a great package that has saved me a lot of grief. Unfortunately, unlike NIS 2009, Ghost is not licensed for multiple machines, so you have to purchase one copy per machine. Think of it as cheap disaster insurance.
Excellent advice from both Kurt and Brubaker. My backup of choice would be Acronis, based on a lot of reading online.
However, I have recently come up with yet another alternative:
My approach goes like this:
There are two things important to me: my data and my system.
As far as my system is concerned, it consists of two distinct kinds of elements: Components that were part of the original system and components that I have added to the system. Examples of the original system would be Windows XP, SP2 and all the original drivers. Examples of added components would be MS Office, Adobe Pro, and up-to-date drivers.
My data consists of documents I have written, media files I have created or acquired, financial data, AND installation software for some of the new components mentioned above.
Now, most computer users agree that every so often, the best thing you can do for a computer is rebuild its system from the original package. The advantage is you start with the initial system, then skip all the intervening updates and upgrades and software you no longer need or want and instead skip straight to the current updates and upgrades and software you now wish to use. By doing this, you dodge a whole lot of crap that would be accumulating on your machine or in your registry. Your system would be more powerful, faster, and have fewer weak links.
Okay, now let's put this thinking together.
I have a mirror image of my original system on separate disks (a number of these, in fact, since they are so vital). I don't need to back up that.
I back up all my data files to an online service which gives me unlimited storage for a fixed yearly amount (less than the cost of backup software). The backing up is unobtrusive and has virtually no detectable impact on my system. If I need a file back, I can recover it from their site within 5 seconds. Worse case, they will send me my entire system on disks for a nominal fee (and in a worse case, such a fee is truly worth it).
My installers for the new software and upgrades and updates, I have backed up redundantly: I have CD or DVD copies and I have the online copies as part of my data files.
And that's enough.
If I need files, I get them from the online backups.
If my computer breaks down, is too infected with malware, or I need a new harddrive, I use the re-imaging disks I have, then rebuild to a more efficient system using the current installers and current updates; and get my data files from the online backups.
If my computer is stolen, I won't need a copy of the original system because that won't apply to a new computer. Instead I will reinstall the software from my installers and replace the data from the online backups.
P.S. I forgot to mention when I first wrote this that online backup protects you from too kinds of disasters most people don't think about: theft and home destruction.
If you are going to use external portable harddrives to backup your vital files, you need at least two of them and a safe deposit box. Make your full computer backups once a week, then swap the current one out with one in a safe deposit box. That way, even if your backup drive is stolen, broken, or destroyed, you will have another one in the safe deposit box.
While this works (and when I was doing it, I actually used three or four external portable drives to backup stuff that would be disastrous to lose -- my wife is an editor and writer), it is laborious and time-consuming. I found myself waiting longer and longer to make the backups and the trips to the bank.
And that is how I arrived at the system I now use, the one I described above.
mlj,
Great stuff, and a very workable approach. At times in the past I've used a similar approach, albeit with off-site but not online storage.
Here's the problem that I see. While that approach works, and it does indeed offer some real advantages, it ultimately amounts to rebuilding your system. Now, if that's what you want to do (to winnow out unneeded software, updates, etc.) then that's a terrific way to do it. On the other hand, if you're facing a deadline and your system suddenly goes south, it's way easier and faster to restore the system from a full system backup.
Time comparisons are not really feasible, depending as they do on so many variables. However, as a simple example, restoring a drive on one system with 25gb of apps and OS (300gb of data stored on a second physical drive) takes less than half an hour from start to finish. If you know what you're doing, and you obviously do, rebuilding the system can also be done fairly quickly, but not anywhere near that quickly.
Finally, I don't think the two approaches are mutually exclusive. You could continue doing just what you've been doing, but also use Ghost, Acronis or one of the several other available packages that offer disaster recovery capability. Then you'd have the best of both worlds.
You have no argument from me there, Bru.
I do make the occasional image backup to my portable HDs -- after all, I own them, so why not use them.
So, to summarize:
For quick and necessary system replacement, HD- or disk-based relatively current images are the way to go.
For secure and always up-to-date data backup, online is unbeatable.
For regular system clean-up, original system rebuilt is the way to go. (For example, I imagine IE8 would work better if it were built on top of an original IE6 instead of an intermediary IE7.)
Guys
You have absolutely floored me with the great advice and reasoning,You have sold me on the back up rather than system restore.So much information my cat brain will explode ! Thank you Symantec that we can bookmark threads!! I will be reading over this again.
I am still having an error that I do not know how to troubleshoot on my laptop/NOT this desktop I'm using now. It still works so I will leave as is BUT now I will have to get a backup program so I don't stuff the desktop up,Thanks to all for their input on this I have certainly gotten value out of one question.A very grateful mo (A cat who got the milk and the cream 
)
Hi mo,
Remember, big things starts with small steps.
Use the knowledge out of your own question-mark and build your experience
on how to deal with it in these small steps.
Thereby your´ll become your own expert after some time.
Wish you all the best.
Take care and good luck !!
Using system restore has its advantages though - a restore point it is automatically created by well built application installers and it provides quick every day solutions for situations where a fulls system backup would be to bigg, cumbersome or to far back in time.
So i wouldn't jump the gun and hop on the Disable system Restore train. Keep it, it can save your skin quickly.
Just disable tamper protection before you restore to a restore point.
There is also, if you have a Vista system, an excellent free application, Shadow Explorer, which provides access to the snapshot of files your System Restore service took - it can recover, for instance, a deleted file in less than a minute!
Thanks Tomi
For pointing out what system restore is useful for ,I would not have disabled as I don't know enough about it.Thanks again for all input.
Hi Mo,
I would keep system restore on as it's saved my bacon a couple of times in the past. I have had to use it once since having NIS09 installed and I found it quite easy to do.
As mentioned earlier, just disable 'Norton Product Tamper Protection', which is under 'Miscellaneous Settings' and then click apply. click ok and close main window.Do your system restore and turn back on 'Tamper Protection'. Then manually run live update again.
Having first read these instructions on these forums it worked beautifully for me!
Good luck
Mark