There has to be software for this...

Is there software or a method that allows you to return your PC back to a certain state?
When I do a complete re-install of windows and get all my software up and running, I wish I could save this and return to it. I wouldn't mind re-installing any software that was installed later.
I normally do a re-install like once a year to clean my drive of any crap, It sure would be nice to return to this state, instead of a complete re-installation.

thanks

 

Try Norton Ghost or Acronis. Depending on your needs, you could also use Deepfreeze to eschew reformatting altogether

 

DeepFreeze would be the perfect solution if it had flexibility. But rebooting to save any changes is unacceptable.

I thought Ghost was more of a back-up solution? Does Ghost and Acronis create another image on your local drive to simply restore or does it save your OS in a state that you simply return to?
If it creates an image, do you replace the corrupt OS with the back-up image. Do you simply replace it?

sorry, I would appreciate any information from someone that uses this.

thanks
T

 

Acronis True Image Home is what I use. Basically what I did is that once I got my new laptop, installed/removed all of what i wanted, and optimized it with settings and tweaks, I ran Acronis. It creates a full backup the first time you run it, then runs incrememntal "patches" afterwards to save on time. It copies EVERYTHING. It's fast, efficient, and I like it

 

Ghost has a number of modes of operation,

However what I use it for is create a "image" of my windows drive, and then if windows becomes corrupt or something bad happens I just plug in my external drive (where I have stored my image) and restore to that, and when I turn on after the restore my PC looks "exactly" like it did when I made the image (barring whatever I've done on my Data Drive, which I backup separately).

 

I've used Norton Ghost, and I've been happy with it.

 

Thanks for all the information!! I'll look into these two products.

Quick question. The windows system restore, If you create a system restore once you have the PC at a state you want to save, Can this be retored a year later? Does it restore registry settings too? This seems like it could do the very same thing?