Disabling System Restore

The system restore capability of Windows is a good self-defense mechanism if things go wrong when you're trying to make changes to your system. (Restore points are covered under other tips.) They do consume some disk space, though, so you may decide to disable this capability. Note that I don't recommend disabling the system restore capability, but if you really want to for some reason, read on.

To disable the system restore capability if you are using Windows 10, follow these steps:

1. Use the search capabilities of Windows to look for "system protection" and then press Enter. Windows displays the System Protection tab of the System Properties dialog box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The System Protection tab of the System Properties dialog box.

2. Click the Configure button. Windows displays the System Protection dialog box. (See Figure 2.)



Figure 2. The System Protection dialog box.

3. Click the Disable System Protection radio button.
4. Click OK to close the dialog box.

Here are the steps to follow if you are using Windows 8:

1. Display the Charms bar at the right side of your screen. (Do this by swiping right-to-left or moving the mouse to the very upper-right or lower-right corners of the screen. You can also accomplish this step by pressing Win+C.)
2. Click Settings. Windows displays the Settings bar at the right side of the screen.
3. Click PC Info. Windows displays the System dialog box.
4. At the left side of the screen click the System Protection link. Windows displays the System Protection tab of the System Properties dialog box.
5. Click the Configure button. Windows displays the System Protection dialog box.
6. Click the Disable System Protection radio button.
7. Click OK as many times as necessary to close all the open dialog boxes.

If you are using Windows 7 the steps are necessarily different:

1. Click on the Start button, then right-click Computer. Windows displays a Context menu.
2. Choose the Properties option from the Context menu. Windows displays a window containing information about your system.
3. At the left side of the screen click the System Protection link. Windows displays the System Protection tab of the System Properties dialog box.
4. Click the Configure button. Windows displays the System Protection dialog box.
5. Click the Disable System Protection radio button.
6. Click OK as many times as necessary to close all the open dialog boxes.

 This tip (13255) applies to Windows 7, 8, and 10.