Painless System Recovery Administration

good
key review info
application features
  • Create a Restore Point on the fly, by clicking the Create Button
  • (5 more, see all...)

Creating restore points on your computer can be really useful especially when the operating system becomes unresponsive and grinds to a halt. Nursing these little helpers, though, is not an easy thing to do, unless System Restore Manager comes into play.

Protecting your PC from software crashes that would affect the entire system is a job for dedicated backup tools. The Windows built-in System Recovery feature is very much similar to such a utility, insofar as the installed software and drivers are concerned. Performing this operation will return them to the state in which they were at the time the restore point was created.

There are, nonetheless, some restrictions related mainly to the administrative aspect of the whole process. Choosing a custom interval for making these restore points, or manually removing the ones that are of no use to you, is not at hand. There are many other difficulties that require the touch of an expert in this respect, but, fortunately, now there is one available to everyone.

Meet System Restore Manager, a lightweight, floppy-sized application that will take the load off your shoulders. It will assist you with every task you want to do from the creation of the restore points, up to their demise. And to make things even better, this properly trained specialist takes care of business and doesn't ask for a payoff.

This little tool will run right out of the ZIP it comes packed in, no installation needed. The interface is simple, with all the functions easily accessible. A minor drawback can be spotted, however, namely the impossibility to resize the main window. Most of the workspace is reserved for the restore points, so that their details can be clearly distinguishable, and this doesn't affect the knobs and switches that control the software.

Any user can successfully maneuver it because each command is clear and you won't be asked to bring forth extensive knowledge. The first thing to do is pick a drive and then decide the maximum amount of space that will be used exclusively for system protection. If the designated area becomes overpopulated with bits and bytes, older restore points will be deleted to accommodate new arrivals.

A nifty trick up the sleeve of System Restore Manager is that it will give you the power to customize up-to-the-second the interval for automatically generating the restore points (note that the Windows factory setting is 24 hours). Also, you can now prolong their lifetime beyond the default 90 days. In order to make the modifications come into effect you only have to press ''Change''.

Besides the obvious advantages of using this application, there is something you will notice the second time you open the program that can turn you into the opposite of happy, so to say. The settings you tinkered with before are not saved, instead the defaults are displayed. There is a good side, though, because if you applied the changes before closing the utility, they were operated on your system.

To create a restore point is a breeze. You push a button and insert the name you want to assign and that's it. Once the operation is completed, you won't see the hatchling immediately; a restart is required, but not for the system, just the utility needs to be reinitialized. These new backups can be viewed from the ''System Restore'' administration tool that Windows comes with. Also, you'll be able to revert to the desired point from there.

Discarding restore points is such an effortless job that it will take no more than a click. The big problems arise when you go for the restore function. During our tests it failed to launch on Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate, Vista, XP with SP2 as well as on XP with SP3. Clicking the ''Restore System'' button invoked an error and nothing happened even after the ''Continue'' options was selected from that box.

In case you think about the stress exerted by this small piece of kit on your system, leave worries aside, the processor and physical memory usage are negligible. The software barely moved the CPU meter and a measly 8 MB of RAM did all the hard labor.


The Good

There are many aspects of this application that deserve appreciation, like the good feature pack and the great ease of use. It is accessible even to less experienced users and will accommodate, as well, the needs of the more demanding ones.

The low resource usage and the fact that it comes free of cost further increase the overall value of the software. System Restore Manager gets another ''thumbs up'' for portability, a feature that is always welcomed by any user.

The Bad

For not being able to actually use the restore points and recover the system, the application loses important points. The lack of support for preserving the settings is one more disadvantage, but one that doesn't bear down so much on this tool.

An additional inconvenient is having to restart it in order to view the latest restore point you manually created. This may not be a major one, but even so it’s still a drawback if you consider that you don’t have to do that when using the default system protection component.

The Truth

If the Windows built-in functions don’t satisfy your needs insofar as the system restoration is concerned, this utility will step up to the plate. You may encounter problems deploying the recovery from within this software, but otherwise it’s surely worth at least a try.

This handy app breaks most of the boundaries that surround the management of system restore points, giving the user more power and control over the operating environment. With the abilities to select and remove restore points at will, extend their lifespan and modify their creation time frame, System Restore Manager is definitely a keeper.

Here are some snapshots of the application in action:

 

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This article is also available in Spanish: Gestiona sin problemas la recuperación de tu sistema

user interface 3
features 3
ease of use 4
pricing / value 5


final rating 3
Editor's review
good
 
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