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Restore Point, a feature first introduced with Windows ME is one of the unique and best features of the Windows operating system to quickly restore system files to a previous state without making changes to saved data. Windows automatically creates one restore point every week and also creates restore point prior to installing updates.
While Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 include Refresh PC feature to quickly set all system settings to their defaults, and options are also available to create custom Refresh PC images, given the fact that you can't have multiple Refresh PC images, and it's a time-consuming task, Restore Point is easily the best feature to quickly restore your PC to a previous state.
Just like Refresh PC feature, you can use a restore point to restore your PC to an earlier working state even if the PC is unbootable.
It's always a good idea to create a restore point before installing a third-party program or making changes to system files. If you're not sure how to manually create a restore point in Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, follow the given below instructions.
Create a system restore point in Windows 8.1
Step 1: Open Run dialog box by simultaneously pressing Windows logo and R keys, type Sysdm.cpl in the box, press enter key to open System Properties. Alternatively, you can switch to the Start screen, type Create a restore point, change the search filter to Settings and then press Enter key open System Properties.
Step 2: Switch to the System Protection tab, check the protection status of your system (Windows 8.1) drive. If the protection status is on, you can continue to Step 3 to create a restore point.
And if the protection is Off, select your Windows 8.1 (system) drive, click on the Configure button, check the option titled Turn on system protection, and then click Apply button. As you can see in the above picture, it also lets you adjust the maximum disk space used for system protection.
Step 3: To create a manual restore point, click on the Create button, enter a description for the restore point, and then click the Create button. That's it! Once the job is done, you'll see “The restore point was created successfully” message.
We recommend you create a manual restore point prior to installing software and making changes to your system files.
To restore a previously created restore point in Windows 8 or 8.1:
Step 1: Open System Properties dialog. To do this, open Run dialog box by simultaneously pressing Windows logo and R keys, type Sysdm.cpl in the box, and then press Enter key to open the System Properties dialog.
Step 2: Switch to System Protection tab, select your system drive (Windows 8.1 drive), click System Restore button to open System Restore wizard.
Step 3: Click the Next button to view most recent restore points. Check Show more restore points option to view all restore points. It shows the date and time at which the restore point was created along with the type of the restore point, and also the description that you had entered while creating the restore point.
Select a restore point and click Scan for affected programs to view all programs and drivers that will be deleted while restore your PC using the selected restore point. In other words, programs and drivers installed since the selected restore point will be removed. That also means that programs and drivers that were removed since the selected restore point will be restored.
For instance, if you have created a restore point on August 1st and installed Google Chrome browser after uninstalling Firefox browser, when you restore Windows to this restore point, it will remove Google Chrome browser and restore Firefox.
However, all your documents, pictures, and other files will be preserved while restoring the restore point.
Step 4: Select a restore point, click Next button, and then click the Finish button to automatically restart your system and start making changes. Click Yes button when you see the confirmation dialog.
Step 5: Once the restore point is restored, you'll see “System Restore completed successfully” message.
How to delete all restore points or individual restore points to free up disk space guide might also interest you.
