Windows 7 Tips

Disable System Restore in Windows 7

If you need a way to save some hard drive space one trick is to decrease the size or completely disable the System Restore feature.  We like to share all options on how to take control of your operating system, so for readers living on the edge this tip is for you. 

Note:  Keep in mind Windows 7 is just being released and there could be bugs, crashes, etc., and you won’t be able to restore your system if disaster strikes!

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How do I configure System Restore in Windows 7?

System Restore helps you restore your computer's system files to an point back in time. It helps you undo system changes to your computer without affecting your personal data. It is worthy to note that System restore affects Windows system files, programs, registry values, scripts, batch files, and other types of executables. System Restore in Windows 7 and Vista works a bit differently than it does in Windows XP in that it uses the Shadow Copy feature in which it creates a snapshot of your drive at a certain point of time.

The System Restore in Windows 7 needs a minimum of 300 MB of the drive space of the hard drive, by a general rule. In Windows XP however, the minimum size required is 200 MB. Depending on the size of the partition it is usually a good idea to either increase or decrease the allocated space for system restore. Here is how this is done:

To access System Restore Configuration, Click on Start and then right click on Computer and then select Properties from the context menu. 

Then click on System Protection to display the System Restore configuration menu.

From here, you can control the way System Restore will work or behave in Windows 7. It will furthermore display the drives that are currently configured to use System Restore and those that are not. 


You can select a drive or partition and click on the Configure button to get detailed configuration information about it. This includes the percentage that is currently allocated for System Restore in MBs along with the current usage.

It is possible to change the percentage that Windows can allocate for system protection to free up disk space for other data, simply by dragging the slider above. By default it is 4% in Windows 7. It is also possible to delete previous system restore points and to change the restore settings. 


By default System Restore can save system settings and previous versions of files. You can however choose to restore only the previous versions of files as shown in the figure above.


You can also selectively turn System Restore off for a specific drive or partition. This was also possible in Windows XP

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