Restore Windows Vista boot and create boot menu. Or Repairing the Vista bootloader using the command line

System Restore - special remedy protection, with which you can return to one of the previous system states using restore checkpoints. A restore point is information about system Windows settings V this moment time that is saved by the recovery tool. Restore points are designed so that in the future, if problems arise (for example, when installing an incorrect driver or program that cannot be stopped, using standard methods) with their help, the user was able to return to the system state that preceded the installation of the critical component.

Reverting to a previous state does not result in the loss of personal files and emails created at a later date, because the recovery tool only tracks changes to system files and settings, as well as installed programs.

Restore points are created automatically by the system before installing programs and drivers that do not have digital signature, before performing archiving (the next section will be devoted to it) and returning to the previous state of the system (so that the user can cancel the rollback), as well as daily according to a schedule (such restore points are called scheduled). If necessary, you can create a restore point manually. We will look at this process a little later.

To store recovery points, 300 MB of space is reserved on the protected disk partition. As it fills up, old restore points are deleted and new ones are saved.

Please keep in mind if your computer has Windows Vista and one of the previous versions of Windows, then when you boot it, all restore points created in Windows Vista will be deleted.

The use of system recovery tools is demonstrated in the video “Lesson 8.2. Restoring the system to more early state».

To enable the system restore function or change its settings, right-click on the Computer shortcut in the Start menu, select the Properties command and in the window that opens, go to the System Protection tab (Fig. 8.18). This tab can also be accessed from the system settings window (see Fig. 8.2) by clicking on the System protection link.

Rice. 8.18. System Protection tab of the Computer properties window

For hard disk partitions presented in the list, you can enable or disable protection using the checkbox. The right column displays the date and time of creation. last point recovery. Since recovery only affects system settings, it is advisable to install protection only for the partition with the operating system.

If you want to create a restore point manually before performing a potentially dangerous action, click the Create button, enter a name new point and click the Create button. Now, if your actions cause problems with Windows work problems that cannot be resolved by known methods, you can return to the current state of the system using the newly created restore point.

To perform the recovery procedure, use the Restore button (see Fig. 8.18). In the window that opens, you will be offered a point, after the creation of which, according to the system version, a failure could have occurred. You can agree with the recommended point or choose another one by setting the switch to the Select another recovery point position. In this case, after clicking Next, you will be asked to select one of the available restore points. Once you have decided on the option, click Next and then Finish and confirm your intentions in the dialog box that appears. After this, the system will return to the selected state. If the procedure was performed correctly, after automatic reboot computer, you will see a message indicating that the recovery was completed successfully.

If you need to cancel the return to the previous state, open the System Protection tab (see Figure 8.18), click the Restore button, set the switch to the Cancel system recovery position and click the Next and then Finish buttons. After your computer restarts, you will see a message indicating that the restoration was canceled successfully.

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There is such a difficult bad situation when Windows refuses to boot. A message appears that the Windows boot loader is damaged or, alternatively, you are informed that the registry and system files are damaged. You will not be able to run a non-restore point or download your latest successful configuration or does not allow you to boot your computer in safe mode. There are several options for restoring the operating system. Let's look at some of them.

At the moment, almost all laptop models are sold with a pre-installed operating system. They have a backup area on the hard drive, or as it is otherwise called a recovery console. It is designed to restore the system and can be accessed using hot keys. There are different hotkeys for different laptops. For example, for Acer it is Alt+F10, for Samsung - F4, for HP - F11, for Asus - F9, etc.

When you launch the Recovery Console, you will be presented with several system recovery options:

You can format or restore only the system hard section disk;
Format the second partition and completely restore the system partition of the disk;
Completely restore the system, leaving all settings, programs and files unchanged;
And finally, it will reinstall the files system partition while preserving the user directories.

All brand computer manufacturers include maximum amount options for restoring Windows functionality.

When loading Windows, manufacturers of branded computers offer to create a backup copy of the system. To do this, the package with your computer must include one or two disks for recording the archive. There is no need to write them down right away. It is recommended to do this after setting up the system, installing drivers and software. Do not put it off until later. It is better to do everything right away while your system is in normal operating mode. Otherwise you will have to reinstall new system, using foreign disks, search necessary drivers on the official websites of manufacturers or download dubious files from the Internet.

Exists great amount reasons why your operating system won't boot immediately when you turn it on. If this happens, use the bootable system disk recovery console. If your problem is not physical state of rigid disk, or not due to the malfunction of a virus, then you will be able to restore the system. When the disk boots, press the R key - it is the recovery console. Once you enter it, you need to enter the command laquo;fixbootraquo;. When the Recovery Console asks you about overwriting the boot sector, agree.

Click laquo;Exitraquo; when the creation of your new entry in the boot sector. Then restart your computer and your system should be restored.

When you delete a Windows Vista file, it does not disappear from your hard drive - you can restore it from the Recycle Bin. But even if he permanent deletion from the Recycle Bin, it is still possible to restore it. In Windows, files never disappear without a trace; the space they occupy on the hard drive (or other storage medium) is simply marked as one on which new information can be written.

What should I do to recover Windows Vista files?

Step 1: Recover files from the Windows Vista Recycle Bin

Looking for how to restore deleted files from the Trash? Do the following:

Step 2: Use a program to recover deleted files

Are you looking for how to recover deleted files without using the Recycle Bin? In cases where files are deleted from Shift+Delete And standard means operating system, it is no longer possible to return them, most in an effective way will use the program Hetman Partition Recovery.

For this:

Download the program, install and run it. Check out the program's capabilities and step-by-step instructions.
By default, the user will be prompted to use File Recovery Wizard. By pressing the button "Further", the program will prompt you to select the drive from which you want to recover files.
Double click on the disk and select the analysis type. Specify "Full Analysis" and wait for the disk scanning process to complete.
After the scanning process is completed, you will be provided with the found files. Select the ones you need and click the button "Restore".
Select one of the suggested ways to save files. Do not save files to a disk from which they were deleted - they can be overwritten.

Step 3: Recover Windows Vista system files

The need to restore Windows Vista system files may arise as a result of their damage or deletion. This can happen due to incorrect use of the operating system, as a result of system or hardware failures, or exposure to malicious software.

Run System File Checker sfc /scannow

Using this command, you can restore system files if Windows is operational and starts.

For this:

How to restore Windows 10 system files

Launch the Recovery Environment

If, as a result of damage to system files, the operating system becomes inoperable and does not boot, you can restore them using the recovery environment.

You can launch it:

By pressing the key while starting the computer F8.
Using a boot disk (or flash drive).

Note. The first option is only possible if a boot partition was created during installation of the operating system. This section is created by the system for its recovery and, depending on the system, can have a size of 100 MB, 350 MB or 450 MB.

Launching Recovery environment, select item System Restore or Troubleshooting your computer. The names of menu items may vary depending on the version of the operating system and the launch method Recovery environments.

Step 4: Recover damaged files

The integrity of Windows Vista files can be compromised as a result of improper handling of them, frequent reinstallation of programs, or overwriting of information.

Other factors that can lead to file corruption include hardware failures (for example, bad sectors on the disk), program failure or viruses.

You can restore damaged files:

Step 5: Restore file associations

File associations are the association of a file type with the program with which it will be executed. Due to failures or Windows errors, such associations may be disrupted.

To restore file associations:

The methods described above are applicable for regular file(image, document, video, etc.). If there is a violation of the association of folders, shortcuts or exe files, then do the following:

How to Boot Windows in Safe Mode

Step 6: Repair Windows Vista DLL files

DLL files themselves are not executable files, but they are used by other programs.

Possible causes of damage, removal or DLL errors files:

Unintentional deletion of DLL files.
Rewriting DLL files.
Exposure to viruses or malware.
Hard drive damage.
Missing or damaged hardware drivers.
Windows contains incompatible versions of files that belong to different applications.

To repair a DLL file:

Step 7: Reinstall the Windows operating system

In case none of the above methods did not lead to the required result, in this case, complete restoration of the system’s functionality can be achieved by restarting Windows installations.

In order to perform a clean installation of Windows, you need to create an installation disk or other media from which you plan to install the operating system.

Boot your computer from installation disk. This may require changing the boot device in the BIOS or UEFI for more modern computers.

Following the installer menu items, specify the drive on which you want to install Windows. To do this you will need to format it. If you are not satisfied with the quantity or size local disks, they can be completely deleted and redistributed.

Remember that formatting, deleting or reallocating drives will delete all files from your hard drive.

After specifying the disk for installing Windows, the process of copying system files and installing the operating system will begin. No additional actions are required from you during installation. During the installation, the computer screen will go dark several times for short periods of time, and the computer will restart itself to complete some stages of the installation.

Depending on the version of Windows, at one stage you may be required to select or enter basic personalization settings, the operating mode of the computer on the network, as well as account settings or create a new one.

Once the desktop boots, the clean installation of Windows is complete.

Note. Before you begin clean install Windows, make sure you have drivers for everything in advance installed devices and the safety of your files. Download and save the drivers to a separate storage medium, and create a backup copy for important data.

How to reset Windows 10 to its original state

How to reset Windows 10, 8, 7 if the computer does not boot

Greetings, dear readers of the site. I want to consider the process in detail, how to restore Windows system 7. And for Windows XP

Step 1:
Restart your computer (if that doesn’t work, press and hold power button The system will turn off. Turn on the system), press the key F8 during boot until the selection menu appears (Step 2).

If you need to select an operating system, use the arrow keys to select the operating system you want for your computer and press ENTER.

Step 2:
Use the arrow keys to select safe mode with the support command line

Step 3:

Step 4:
At the command prompt, enter the command rstrui or c:\WINDOWS\system32\Restore\rstrui.exe and press ENTER.

Step 5:
In the window Restoring system files and settings to restore the computer to an earlier state, clickFurther

Step 6:

Put a tick Show other restore points. To show all restore points.

Step 7:

To restore the system, you must select recovery checkpoint. If the blocking occurred on January 18, 2013, then for guaranteed restoration we select previous point restoration For example17.01.2013 . On the opposite side of each point there is information describing the control point and how it was created, automatically or manually. Automatically, points are created when changes occur in the system (installation of drivers or software, such as malware). The user can manually create a control point independently at any convenient time. You can also view the list of affected programs during recovery by clicking on the corresponding button. Select a point and press Further

Step 8:

Confirm your choicetestrestore point. Press Further

Step 9:

Read carefully, click Yes

There is no need to do anything while the recovery is running; the operating system will reboot itself after the recovery.

Now your computer is in the same state as it was on the recovery checkpoint date.

Recovery checkpoints ROCK!!!Never turn off Windows Recovery.

This is such a lifesaver at the right time.A little humor: How to search in search engines "Inexperienced users"

Microsoft Windows - Windows- Windows- Windows

- Windows

I finally have a chance to give Windows Vista a technical compliment, beyond the praise it rightfully received for its glamorous Mac-like appearance and the feel it brought to the PC platform.

The good news is that Vista, for all its annoyances, including intrusive security warnings, is much more resilient and resilient than Microsoft's previous operating system.

Unfortunately, it has not yet been possible to completely eliminate the failures. What's even more ominous is that since Vista is equipped big amount a wide variety of functions and requires more time to install than previous operating systems, when it fails, you are faced with a crisis, overcoming which requires a lot of time

Endless opening Windows windows Explorer will crash Vista.

That's why it's more important than ever to implement a smart support strategy and learn a little-known trick to fixing your computer when something goes wrong. I want to walk with you through two scenarios: what to do when you are ready to fight off all sorts of troubles, and how to deal with ordinary disasters.

So, what we will discuss with you in this article:

The basis of all types of backup
Vista came with a backup tool called Complete PC Backup. It gives you the opportunity to save an image, or a complete (bit for bit) copy of everything that is on your machine. In the event that your settings become hopelessly corrupt, this will be an opportunity for you to restore at least some semblance of what you need (for example, it will restore your PC to the level it was at when you copied the image). Unfortunately, the resume or killer presentation you were just working on until your computer hit a landmine will eventually be lost and will leave you forever.
Boot Repair for Vista
There is a little-known recovery procedure that you can use to get your system back up to par without having to resort to a complete reinstall. It is managed through the Bootrec command line tool and is more powerful than ever in terms of restoring startup items.
Vista Security Controller
The third part of our story is the wonderful tool hidden under the top layer of Vista. Its name is Reliability Monitor, and it keeps copies of all Windows crashes, application failures, and hardware problems.

How to break Windows Vista

I was interested in the process of system recovery after a failure. To frame our discussions on disaster recovery, it should be known that numerous changes have been made since the inception of XP. These mainly involve the boot methods that Vista manages. The operating system no longer uses the boot.ini file. It has been replaced by a more cumbersome file-like system called Boot Configuration Data. We will be able to get acquainted with it in more detail later.

The conclusion is that standard settings Vista will crash less when bootstrap computer than the settings for standalone installation of Windows 95/95/XP. Paradoxically, dual-boot configurations seem to be more error-prone, but that's the topic of the second article.

Vista is also more resistant to key file corruption. Of course, my original plan was to go the Langa's XP way on my Vista and crash the system by corrupting the critical "hal.dll" file. Thanks to Vista's enhanced security, even though I had administrative privileges, I couldn't even touch it (on the other hand, my inspection of hal.dll showed extremely low speed search in Vista. I found the hal.dll file manually by navigating to C:/Windows/System32 while the system continued its slow, measured search).

Generally, the problems you encounter with Vista involve application crashes or strange lockups that the system seems to recover from (I say "seems" because in such cases you often don't feel confident that all your data remains unharmed).

Program recovery options in Windows Vista range from the simplest, such as System Restore, to little-known commands like Bootrec.

Subjectively, in stressful situations Vista's features become like capricious programs that only slow down the system. Oh just now running applications she will issue in top line"Not responding" message. But then these messages will disappear as soon as the application reaches the operating system (or maybe vice versa?).

Still, there are scenarios in which Vista will fail. For this case, there is a canonical example of Murphy's law, paraphrasing which means that while Vista withstands strong fluctuations caused by numerous complex programs seeking to disrupt its operation, one of the simplest, as you might think, sequences of commands will completely crash the system. Hold down the key Windows startup and the letter "E" for 20 seconds or more. After opening countless Windows Explorer windows, your system will become unresponsive.

Either way, knowing that Vista isn't going to crash, but does crash, can make a cautious PC user tempted to use a full system recovery strategy, which we'll talk about in the next section.

Restore from backup: full PC copy

In the hierarchy of Vista tools, one of the least known but most important is Complete PC Backup and Restore(full PC backup and recovery). This tool doesn't just copy all your files: batch files, documents, dynamic libraries, etc. Such a backup may require you to reinstall and reconfigure everything. Not to mention the time and the problem, complete reinstallations never return you to the state you were in before your computer completely crashed (for example, all your application settings went back to "default").

Of course, Complete PC saves a bit-for-bit copy on your hard drive, and it's called an "image." As the Windows help page explains:

Full backup image Windows copy Complete PC Backup contains copies of your programs, system settings and files. This is a full system backup that you can use to restore the contents of your computer in case your HDD or the entire computer stops working. When you restore your device using Windows image Complete PC Backup, then this is considered a complete recovery. You can't choose to recover individual elements, and all yours current programs, system settings and the files will be replaced.

CLUE: Write down the installation Vista disk, which came with your computer. You will need it to restore the full boot procedure.

Interestingly, the concept of "image" as used in the context of Complete PC is a bit of a misnomer. When the tool saves a copy of your hard drive, it does not burn it as an ISO image file. Rather, Vista saves the state of the C drive in a collection of VHD files. VHD, or Virtual Hard Drive (virtual hard disk) is special Microsoft format, ideal for restoring the original disk image. (Moreover, the rudimentary CD-ROM burning software included in the OS does not allow you to create an ISO. To do this, you need software package third party, such as Nero.)

There is one barrier to working with Complete PC: it is not included in Vista version Home Basic or Home Premium (this is one reason I recommend you go with Vista Ultimate).

The second difficulty is that even Ultimate has less access to the instrument than might be expected. I found it too "hidden". While Vista Help scrolls through Windows Complete PC Restore as part of its " System Recovery Options," the description reads: "For more detailed information, look for the Help and Support sections to help you fully restore your PC."

The bad thing is that when you finally open the required support screen, it gives you the wrong instructions. The explanation for Windows Complete PC Backup in the Help section is titled: "Back up your programs, system settings and files." Here you are instructed to open the Backup and Restore Center. However, this center can only be discovered if you have saved the panel Vista controls in the old "classic" style (ie XP). Thus, most users will begin to think about where to go next.

However, stop calling the Help section. It turns out that saving everything that is in your system in current state, using Windows Complete PC Backup (complete PC duplication) is clearly a safe activity.

First, go to Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Backup and Restore Center

Complete PC Backup allows you to save an image of everything you have on your disk.

Then, skip "Back up files" and instead click on the second option: "Back up computer". Of course, that unnerving User-Account Control window will appear. account user) which will ask you to confirm to continue (tell it “yes”). Vista will then ask you to specify where to save the image. I advise you to save it on DVD, which will give you the opportunity to safely save and access the information after your hard drive dies.

But be prepared for a little shock. Complete PC Backup told me that the duplication would require me between 6 and 10 DVDs. Considering that this would take up a third of the space on my $16 carousel that holds 30 16-speed drives, I was glad that this was only a Windows threat and not a promise.

CLUE: Prepare your own Complete PC backup DVDs.

Complete PC Backup runs great, with a few Microsoft tweaks added to improve the measurement properties. For example, when it prompts me to use a DVD, it says "Mark and Insert" empty disk with a capacity of at least 1GB" into drive D. ALEX-PC 6/25/2007 4:01PM 1 machine name, date, DVD number (you can also use CDs, although there will be more hassle with markings and inserting discs).

Creating duplicate disks is a somewhat time-consuming task. Burning just the first disc took an endlessly long 27 minutes. The second disk had been spinning for 16 minutes. Incomprehensibly, the third disk was ready in just 3 minutes, and Complete PC backup was finally completed. It turned out to be as much as three disks less than the established minimum.

Let me restate the exact guidelines for you to run Complete PC Backup with highest level amenities. If you are using new car, the corresponding need for duplication will arise only after you have installed all applications and transferred all documents, photographic and music files.

The main reason for me was the vague feeling that Murphy's Law applied more firmly to Vista than to earlier incarnations of Windows. This means that Vista is less tolerant of hardware failures, and this is either because its capabilities system control more questionable than, say, XP, either because it eats up more of the machine's operating space. By the way, and an example: about a month after I created my Vista system, the operating system reported that my hard drive was having trouble. The failure - intermittent or minor (at best) because it couldn't be reproduced on another computer - required me to replace the drive and reinstall Vista. Foolishly, I didn’t prepare DVDs with Complete PC Backup.

You will need the Vista installation disc to access the System Recovery Options menu.

Now that you have created disks with a complete copy of your PC, the question arises: how do you use it to restore your computer? If your machine still boots and/or you have a Vista installation disc, then you're in luck.

A few words about installation disks. In the era of Windows XP, computer manufacturers simply avoided the need to provide such disks to computer buyers, and instead included so-called vendor-specific disks. "recovery" CDs.

I noticed that with the advent of Vista, many computer manufacturers, such as Dell, returned to the practice of including an installation DVD. This is good because most Vista restores will go smoother with it. In addition, I discovered that the "recovery" disks that were widely used in the Windows 95/98/XP era were largely unnecessary; usually you were forced to do a complete reinstall.

Now let's return to our program, which has already been launched.

Here you will see how to restore your system using Complete PC Backup DVDs using boot disk Vista:

insert the boot disk and then start the computer
Click on Repair your computer.
V System menu Recovery Options, click Windows Complete PC Restore ( full recovery computer), and then follow the instructions (here you will need to use DVDs, as I said).

Don't have an installation disc? Then restart your computer by pressing F8. you will be taken to the "Advanced" menu Boot Options" (advanced reboot options), from which you can then go to the "Systems Recovery Options" menu. For more information, see step 3 in this information base from Microsoft.

If you have doubts, if you don't dare start, reboot, but don't hold down the F8 key - it won't do anything. Instead, press "F8" several times, as if you are an impatient person and cannot wait for something unknown. This will take you to the "Advanced Boot Options" menu.

A little-known boot repair command

I know what you're thinking: if I restart my computer now, I'll never need these disks again. I understand the reason for this, but if you cannot restart your computer, then you will have a problem with this function.

Indeed, Vista no longer relies on a boot.ini file (of course, it simply doesn't have one). Quite the contrary, Vista maintains a sophisticated copy of what should be loaded at startup in what is called the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store. This repository is more appropriately named “list of reboot options”; it is created for Reboot Configuration Data elements and objects.

This is an oversimplification, but if you are unable to reboot the machine, then the problem would include poor reboot configuration data storage (at a lower level, your BIOS may have problems booting and/or corruption may occur Master Boot Record).

In the Bootrec access path, the "System Recovery Options" line should identify the current Vista installation as an OS in need of repair.

As I already explained at the beginning of the article, I got the feeling that the reboot problems, which are already pretty boring Windows users XP, and about which Fred Langa expressed his opinion quite eloquently, have become largely a thing of the past. I mean corrupted or lost hal.dll files, as well as a whole group of junk startup files and dll files. Of course, I couldn't "throw away" hal.dll just for the sake of running this test, which was typical of the past. This suggests that Microsoft has created more stringent types of protection for Vista

Of course, most damage can be fixed with a simple reboot. However, less common and more serious emergencies can corrupt the reboot configuration data file and render Vista unable to boot. According to my research, most problems similar to these types of problems occur when people have set up or tried to set up dual boot systems on their computers.

How do you know if Boot Configuration Data is of poor quality? This happens when you start your computer and receive an error message that reads: "The Windows Boot Configuration Data file is missing required information."

Luckily, if this happens, Microsoft will provide a support tool. In Vista it is called Bootrec, not Bootcfg (the nickname Langa used to popularize in XP). In Vista, the sequence of commands is also somewhat different from the usual. However, the main goal remains the same: to fix a corrupted Master Boot Record, boot sector, or BCD (reboot configuration data store), and force your system to reboot properly.

What's interesting is that when I typed "Bootrec" in the help section, I got a "0" as a result.

The easiest way to recover using Bootrec is to insert a Vista boot disk and start your computer. In fact, you'll need to start your machine twice if you can't insert the disc quickly enough to boot your computer from it. In this case, turn on the computer, insert the disc, and then turn off the computer. When you turn it back on, you'll likely see the message "Hit any key to boot from CD or DVD." My advice to you: press any button.

You will go through the algorithm, which I have posted in the form of images in the corresponding photo gallery. After the seemingly eternal delay of Vista with loading from DVD, the processes will go quite quickly. Skip the first dialog box by clicking "next" as if you had actually decided to install Vista anew.

Be careful with the second window. It spits out a big "Install now" message right in the middle of the screen, but that's exactly what you shouldn't do. Instead, look at the bottom left and click "Repair your computer."

To go to Bootrec, click "Command Prompt" in the "Choose a" dialog box. recovery tool" (select recovery tool).

The next window will be "System Recovery Options", which should determine your current settings in Vista as a system scheduled to be patched. Click "next."

Finally, let's start the "hunt" using a dialog box that asks us to "Choose a recovery tool" (select a recovery tool). I will note here that it is recommended to try to run a repair, system restore, or full PC update (discussed above) until you receive an error message in the boot configuration data. To launch Bootrec, click "command prompt".

At the command prompt, enter "Bootrec /RebuildBcd" (without the quotes). This will be sufficient for most situations. If the tool is working as expected, you will be asked if you would like to add an entry for the boot configuration data store. Press "Y" (yes), then restart your computer.

If "Bootrec /RebuildBcd" doesn't bring you any joy, then you'll have to move on to a somewhat tedious procedure that involves deleting and then rebuilding the boot configuration data (BCD) store. The required command sequence is as follows:

Bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
Ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
Bootrec /rebuildbcd

A prompt will come out asking you if you want to "Add installation to boot list?" (add installation to download list?). Answer "Y" (yes), type exit, then click shutdown or reboot.

I did not approach the concept of lending, where credit is part of payments, on my own (the topic is too confusing). Same with information base Microsoft data, in which you need to know a couple of links, as was previously the case with XP Bootcfg. You need to download these links ( and ) and have them handy. So you get detailed instructions with a list of command sequences (I should emphasize that Microsoft has omitted the "Add installation? Yes" section that I give above from the redone explanation it offers in the "Method 2" section in ).

Vista Security Controller

Now that we are prepared for any kind of emergency and have learned how to restore a damaged download storage, I really wanted to cover all the notes. Indeed, it is a very boring tool included with Vista, and its name is Reliability Monitor. It catalogs Windows crashes as well as problems with your applications and your computer's hardware.

To get there, click large button"start" in the lower left corner of the screen. Right click Click "computer," then click "manage." A window will open that says “Computer Management.” Next, increase "Reliability and Performance", increase "Monitoring Tools" and click "Reliability Monitor".

Along with a list of common problems, the controller will provide you with a comprehensive index of system stability. When studying them, you will notice that this indicator is more indicative of the performance of your computer than the often criticized Windows Experience Index. My computer has a stability rating of 7.95.

The Vista Security Controller will show you full list application, operating system and hardware failures.

As Microsoft documentation explains:

System Stability Index (system stability index) gives scores from 1 (least stable) to 10 (most stable), and measurements are made according to a certain amount characteristic failures that occurred at a certain historical moment. The security information in the System Stability Report describes typical failures. Recent failures are measured more carefully than previous ones, allowing improvements over time to be reflected in ascending order in the system stability index. Gone are the days when the system would shut down or go into a “sleep” state. If there is not enough data to consistently calculate the system stability index, graphic line will be highlighted with dots. If there are significant changes in the system time, an information icon will appear in the form of a table, which will indicate each day on which the system time was adjusted.

The truth is, Reliability Monitor won't fix everything, but it does give you confidence in how stable your system is. By the way, the “Computer Management” window, which is located on the monitor, is worth studying. It has a well-designed display with security controls that provides a much more detailed visual presentation of how the computer is being used than most people get with task manager capabilities.

Conclusion

I can't end this article without talking about System Restore, a little-used but invaluable resource in Vista, just as it was in Windows XP. System Restore is the death of AIM viruses unintentionally downloaded by your children, as well as pirated software, which blazed a path to your computer through websites you couldn't visit yourself.

And finally, if everything else fails (and if you didn’t bother creating a backup image on DVD, which I described above), you can always reinstall Vista from the initial position.

I'll cover the rest of the options in the next article, in which I'll continue to focus on what to do with Vista settings, which either “died” or are prone to unstable work.