• System RestoreComputer image by Altmann from Fotolia.com
  
  System restore is an easy-to-use safety feature built right into Windows XP. If your computer becomes unstable or fails after installing a program, changing a setting, or other reason, system restore allows you to reset your machine to an earlier state. This element of XP saves snapshots of your configuration settings, known as restore points, allowing you to return to those settings without losing data if a problem arises.
  
  

Hard Disk

• XP allows you to set multiple system restore points. The more points you choose to have, the more disk space you will need to store those configuration settings. By default, if your drive has 4GB or more of free space, XP will set aside 12 percent of that open space for system restore data. A drive with fewer than 4GB of free space will have less area for system restore to use. If you plan on having numerous restore points, use your disk clean-up utility to free up more drive space to assure you have enough room for the extra data. If your hard disk is full, you will not be able to run system restore until at least 200MB of space becomes available.
  
  

Scheduling

• You can tell your system when to automatically create a restore point by using XP's Scheduled Tasks feature. If your machine collects large amounts of fresh data on a daily basis, scheduling a restore point at the end of your work day will preserve the information should your system develop a problem. You can manually create a restore point before you download and install a program, or perform another task that may have the potential of causing trouble through your computer's System Tools menu.
  
  

System Settings

• Making some simple system property adjustments can assure an easy recovery if you need to use the XP system restore feature down the road. Make sure system restore is not disabled under the System Restore tab inside System Properties. Also within System Properties, on the Advanced tab, under Performance, allowing Windows to choose what is best for your computer can save you added headaches if you need to restore your machine.