Last week we talked about what System Restore is and how to enable it in Windows XP.  This week we will see how to use it.  (System Restore should come installed and enabled in a new Windows XP system.)

To Create a Restore Point, click Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Restore.  In the System Restore window, click “Create a Restore Point” and Next.  In this window enter a description (note that the date and time are created automatically).  Then to actually generate the Restore Point, click the Create button.  It will take from a few seconds to a minute or so.  When it is finished just close the window and you have a manually created Restore Point.

To restore your computer to a past date using a Restore Point (this assumes that your system is bootable and will start properly) click Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Restore, just as before.  Then click “Restore My Computer to an earlier time”, click Next and choose the date in the displayed calendar.  Click on the Restore Point and click Next a couple of times and read all of the suggestions/warnings.  If there is more than one Restore Point present for that date choose the one that you think is best.

If you can’t boot your computer normally boot it into safe mode. Then follow the instructions above.

As I stated last week…My Documents, previously saved files and even e-mail are not affected during a restoration. 

If you chose the wrong point to restore just undo it by clicking as you did above to get to the System Restore area.  Afterward choose “Undo my last restoration”, then Next.   Your computer will have to reboot.  After it does respond “OK” for the screen message you will receive.

If you ever receive an error message that is related to System Restore (which is exceedingly rare), make sure that you record the error message.  Then follow the instructions that the error message contains to try and resolve the problem. Most System Restore issues produce a message that contains a description of the issue and suggestions for how to resolve the issue.

That’s about all there is on System Restoring.  Remember it’s like insurance you hope you will never need it, but when you do there is nothing better.

A neat Windows feature is called “System Restore”.   System Restore creates Restore Points, or places where “snapshots” are taken of your computer so that if something goes wrong you can restore your computer from that point in time and everything will go back like it was before.  It also allows multiple points, so if you want to put your system back like it was 4 weeks ago (and a restore point was created then) you can.  This will give you back whatever programs you had at that time.

However, this has a down side.  If you installed something since your restore point (like a game or the latest tax program) it will not be there after you restore your system.  In other words, it puts all of the programs that were on your computer at that restore point back on your system.  It lets your computer go back in time to that point.

It also has a good side.  You DO NOT lose files in the My Documents folder and documents you’ve created with applications such as Microsoft Word and emails.  So files you created are intact no matter when you created them.

Another good side is that if you use System Restore and don’t like the way it worked, or you restored the wrong date, you can undo the process and restore the machine to the state it was in before you ran System Restore. You can run it again to change the system to any restore point.

Most computers have the default set to have the System Restore create a restore point about every 24 hours only while your system is idle, meaning on, not in hibernate or standby and not in use.

To make sure that System Restore is enabled, go to your “Control Panel” (Start, Settings, Control Panel, and System).  Now select the System Restore tab.  Make sure that the “Turn off System Restore on all drives” check box is NOT CHECKED, or select this check box to disable System Restore.  Finally, click OK and your computer will start creating Restore Points.

You could also click on the individual drive in the System Restore tab change the storage space for your Restore Points.  I would leave them set for the maximum.  That will give you the most number of points to call on for restoring your system in the future.
Next week, we will look at more regarding System Restore and how to make it work.

A reader questioned me this week about a difference between their monitor and their friend’s.  They said that their computer only shows about 8-9 icons to a column on their desktop and their friend’s shows 12-14 in one column; why?

It is all resolution, or how closely packed the pixels are on your screen.  “Pixels” are the tiny color dots and black spaces that make up everything you see on your monitor.  The old favorite, and now mostly retired, size was 800×600.  This translates to mean that you see 800 dots of color across your screen and 600 from top to bottom (width is given first).

Therefore, if you have a picture on your screen that is 400 pixels wide it will fill half the width of your monitor.  My home computer has a resolution of 1280 x 1024.  This means the same 400 pixel picture on my monitor will fill up about one third of my monitor’s viewable width. 

To change your screen resolution, right click on a blank spot on your desktop.  Select “Properties” from the pop-up menu and click on the Settings tab.

On the left you will see the “Screen Resolution” slide bar.  Move the slider by holding down the left mouse button and dragging it to the left or to the right to change resolution. The current resolution numbers will appear under the slider. Click on Apply and click on OK to set your screen resolution.

(Remember, lower resolutions will display larger letters and icons, while higher resolutions display smaller letters and icons.)  Finally click “Apply”, then “OK”.

Windows XP will give you fifteen seconds to decide if the new screen resolution looks good or not.  If you like the way the screen looks, click Yes; if not, click No and go and try again.  Don’t panic if you can’t see the screen at all.  Windows will automatically slip back to your original settings after fifteen seconds.

If the resolution is greater than “800 x 600″ you may be able to see items on your screen more clearly.  Equal to, or less than that setting and you may not view a web site without scrolling from left to right which (according to web stats) people in English speaking countries hate to do.

I suggest you try setting your resolution to at least 1024 x 768 and see how you like it. 

You should know that modern games will set their own resolution when you play them and reset to the original after the game ends.  So you don’t have to worry about altering resolutions for games.

Last, but not least, remember that it is your computer so use the setting that you like most.

Year after year online sales have been increasing which means that more people are starting to trust buying things over the Internet.  I found some interesting information about online shopping for 2006.  Much of this data comes from the National Retail Federation and Forrester Research Inc.

Something phenomenal happened for online sales this year.  2006 was the first time that retailers sold more clothing and apparel online than they did computers and their trappings.

Online computer sales have always been larger than other online retail sales.  I believe this is because geeks are first to try anything computer related.  Personally, if I need to purchase anything other than the basics, I will look online first.  I just bought a trashcan online…what more can I say? 

No gas is spent going to the store (a big deal right now), it arrives at my door, if there is a problem I can immediately get help online and even send it back fairly easily, etc.  All of that changes for me if I need the item right now.  When that is the case I will run to a local B&M (Brick & Mortar retail store) and buy it there…you know how that immediate gratification thing works. 

But let’s get back to the stats.  In 2006, apparel, accessories and footwear did $18.3 billon in sales.  That compares to $17.2 billion for computer hardware and software, in third place for the first time.  And yes, that isn’t a mistake those are both billions…with a “B”, not scrawny little millions.

Total of online sales were $146.5 billion which excludes travel sales, which I will mention in a minute and is why it says “third place” above.  The other top online sellers are autos and auto parts at $16.7 billion and home furnishings for $10 billion.

The reason that online travel sales are excluded is that it is the largest category and throws off the stats since it is so far above everything else.  For 2006 online travel sales did about $73.5 billion all by itself.  That means that for 2006, online sales were about $220 billion; up 25% from 2005.

I found a couple of interesting predictions too.  Forecasters say that this year 10% of all clothing sales will be done online and that the expected sales total for 2007 will be about $259 billion.

I thought that music sales online would be one of the big ones.  However, ABC News said “Global online music sales nearly doubled in 2006 to about $2 billion…”  Gee, only $2 billion?!