Windows XP forum: How do I remove old Restore Points?

If a Restore Point is being created every day, then that points to something like some updating service creating them before an update, or possibly something like a malware scanner creating a restore point when it scans and finds any malware. Windows Defender can do this.

Removing individual restore points is tricky. Your choice is either;

1] Remove all but the latest restore point, or

2] Remove all restore points, (then create your own restore point afterwards).

Remove all but the latest restore point.

XP has a utility called Disk Cleanup, (Start > All programs > Accessories > System tools > Disk Cleanup). Open that. If you have more than one hard drive, select the C drive. The utility will check for compressed files, which may take a few minutes. When done, it will present a list of all temporary files that can be deleted. There is another tab, More Options, so click that, and you will see the option to "Remove all but the latest Restore point". Select that, then continue.

Remove all restore points

Right click your My Computer icon and select Properties. In the new window, select the System Restore tab then select the "Turn off System Restore" option. Click OK and respond to any prompts. That deletes all System Restore Points. As soon as that is done, de-select that "Turn off System Restore", and click OK.

Then create your own System Restore Point the way you normally do it.

Yes, they do take a lot of hard disk space.

Mark

By design, XP creates a new restore point under certain conditions:

1. Every 24 machine hours. If the PC is on 24/7 you'll get a restore point every day or so. If it's on 8 hours a day you'll get a new restore point every three or so days. These will be called "System Checkpoint".

2. After Microsoft updates. These will be called "Software Distribution Service".

3. After some programs are installed. These will be called "Installed xxxx program".

4. SpyBot and other anti-malware/spyware programs will create a restore point if they do any registry editing. "These will be called "xxx Update".

Yep, that would explain the daily backup points.

Mark

Please start a new discussion as the OP has moved on by now.