System Protection

Hi, quick question. What are the views on having system protection enabled or disabled?

Thanks Dan

System protection can save you, it can be very useful for an average user. The reason why I disable it is because I instal a multi boot and then image/reimage one OS from the other all the time, at least once a month.

I keep no personal data on the OS partition so that when anything goes wrong, even a little thing, let alone something requiring System Protection to be used, I simply reboot from Windows 8 into Windows XP [or vice versa] then nuke the entire problem OS partition and reimage it back to when things were just like I set them up to be. The entire process takes only a few minutes.



In other words, this is why there is no need for System Protection Windows feature for me:
I install two Windows OS on two relatively small SSD partitions.
Maybe Windows 7 or 8 on C drive
Maybe Windows XP on D Drive

Install only small programs on those partitions.
Install large programs instead of to (for example) C:\Program Files instead install them to E:\Program Files 8 or E:\Program Files XP


Set everything up just like you want it to be in every program. Move Desktop, Start Menu, Personal folders away from OS partitions, they can be set to not be on C: Drive.
Do not store any personal files on OS partitions.


Now you can reboot from one OS into the other and image/reimage one from the other in a couple of minutes. This means that whatever damage was done to your perfect Windows install, you can reboot and nuke the entire OS and restore it in a couple of minutes.


If really obsessed with perfection, if really obsessed with everything running 0.1 seconds FASTER, then keep a txt file on your Desktop and add to it any imperfections to your Windows image. Then when Windows Update releases new updates once a month, you reboot, reimage, install Windows update + whatever changes you want done once a month.

Save your images on a separate hard drive for faster imageing/reimaging.

My old Windows 9x/Me/2000 machines are actually usable and very fast because of these images. It is faster for me to nuke and reimage than it is to diagnose the smallest of problems. The moment my Windows XP/Vista/7/8 hick-up, the moment I notice a fraction of a second reduction in performance, I reboot into one of the other three OS on my quadruple boot and reimage the "problem" OS.

All four are as fast and as perfect as when first installed.

Hi, You set everything up just about the way I do. I run two bootable systems but they are both Win 7. I also create images of both when the updates come out each month or when needed. I do have protection enabled at this time but only have the minimum disk space allocated to it. Thanks for all of the info, it is exactly what I was looking for.