How to: Creating and using a System Restore Point

System Restore Points give you the option of going back in time. Since Windows ME (yes...it goes back that far), Microsoft has made it available to users to create System Restore Points in Windows.

Call it an insurance policy if your system starts to go buggy and doesn't work as expected. There are two options for creating Restore Points - Automatic and Manual.

Enabling Restore Points:

1. Choose Start→Control Panel→System and Security.
Under the System link, click Create A Restore Point. You can also get to the System page by typing “System” in the Start menu’s Search box and selecting System from the results list.

2. Click the System Protection link in the left panel and ensure that the C drive Protection is turned on.
You can adjust how much disk space you want the Restore Points to use. You also have the option of Deleting a restore point. if you find you don't have enough disk space and you need to create another one.








3. Click Apply afterwards. Once you click Apply you enable Windows to create a Restore Point anytime a significant change in the operating system occurs. IE - new drivers or a Windows update is installed.

4. IF you need to create a Restore Point manually, simply click Create and give a name to the Restore Point.

Going Back In Time

Now lets say your system goes all weird on you. It's slow or certain programs freeze since your last update. You could use the "Reset This PC" option within Windows 10, but that would take some time. Instead use a System Restore Point to undo the changes that have made a mess with the Operating System.

1. After clicking Next, you'll be shown available Restore Points listed by date created and whether they were created by the system or manually.

2. You can also select Scan Affected Programs. This gives a list of all programs that have been installed since the creation of the last Restore Point.












4. Select the Restore Point and click Next and the click Finish.
Windows will then uninstall any drivers, programs, updates or registry entries after the last restore point was made.
Restore Points do not touch the User folders within Windows. All your music, photos and/or documents are not saved nor deleted. If you need to back those up, I would recommend a USB drive.

Originally posted 2/12/18

How to: Improving laptop battery life

Your battery on your laptop is a precious commodity. After all without it, you would have to keep your laptop plugged in constantly, defeating the purpose of 'mobility. 

And all too often users find themselves at a local Starbucks with 8% battery and no available plug! 

Here are a few steps to increase your laptop battery life.

1. Adjust your battery performance. 

This is probably the quickest and easiest way to increase your battery time.

On Windows 10 PCs clicking the battery icon will display the battery performance slider.

* The Best Performance mode is for people willing to trade off battery runtime to gain performance and responsiveness. 

In this mode, Windows won't stop apps running in the background from consuming a lot of power.

* The Better Performance setting limits resources for background apps, but it otherwise prioritizes power over efficiency.

Better Battery mode delivers longer battery life than the default settings on previous versions of Windows. (It's actually labeled "Recommended" on many PCs.)

* Battery Saver mode, a slider choice that will appear only when your PC is unplugged, reduces the display brightness by 30 percent, prevents Windows update downloads, stops the Mail app from syncing, and suspends most background apps

2. Simplify your workload:

Time is money and multitasking is wonderful, but having several programs open at once can cause the processor to work harder. Closing out unnecessary apps and programs keeps the load off the processor, and saves on battery juice.

Overheating is the biggest cause of battery drainage. The next two steps insure fan operation is efficient in cooling your laptop. And also prevent laptop shutdown due to overheating.

3. Clear the way

The most simplest is insuring your laptops fans have clear opening for air flow. No air flow means no cool air getting to the components causing the fans to work harder and places a strain on your laptop battery. Usually intake fans are on the bottom of laptops and exhaust ports on the sides. Insuring these ports are free and open for air flow will increase your battery lifetime overall.

4. Clean out your processor fan:

Overtime cooling fans gather dust. The more dust & dirt the fan accumulates, the less efficient the fan is,and it has to work harder to cool the internal components.

A fan that runs continuously full power trying to cool your laptop will kill your battery in a matter of minutes.

A simple temporary fix is to use a small hand-held vacuum to suck out the dirt from the port. (Do NOT use a household size vacuum as this may dislodge components or cables within the laptop)

For a more thorough job, this step is a little more advanced, however it's one of the most efficient to solve overheating issues.

A. First - remove the laptop battery.

B. Using a small screwdriver remove the back panel of your laptop (screw locations vary by laptop models)

C. Locate the CPU fan. Using a QTip or cotton swab, carefully clean the fan blades.

D. Using a can of compressed air, blow the excess dust from the area.

E. Replace panel and screws, replace battery and DONE!

5. Upgrade from a hard drive (HDD) to solid state (SSD). 

Hard drives contain mechanical moving parts. The spindle, the armature and the spinning platters (at 7200 rpms) actually create alot of heat. This requires the fans in your laptop to work harder thereby draining precious juice from your battery. Upgrading to an SSD can increase your battery life up to 15%. See my Advantages of SSD over HDD article for more info on this.

There you have it. Following these steps can save your laptops battery lifetime and keep your peace of mind knowing you have a little more juice left.