System Restore Wizard

Using the System Restore Wizard

The System Restore Wizard guides you through the steps of each task in System Restore.

When you run the wizard to restore your computer to an earlier state, it displays the following screens:

• Welcome to System Restore

This screen gives you the option to restore your computer to an earlier time or state.

• Select a Restore Point

This screen allows you to pick a date on the calendar and then select a restore point to restore your computer to an earlier state.

• Confirm Restore Point selection

This screen allows you to change your mind about the selected restore point or the restoration and to save all files and close all programs before starting the restoration. After you confirm the selection, the restoration process starts, the system restarts, and a user logon screen is displayed.

• Restoration Complete

This screen indicates your restoration has been successful. If the restoration fails, the Restoration was unsuccessful screen is displayed, and no changes are made to your computer.

For more information about System Restore, see System Restore overview.

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Windows 2000 Access Management

Windows NT access is controlled using the following methods:

• Domains - A domain is used to manage a large group of computers. It is used to control resource access for users. The term domain as used with Windows systems is not the same as an internet domain.
• Workgroups - A workgroup is used to manage groups of less than ten computers.
• Local access

Windows 2000 adds Active Directory to this list. When Active directory is used, one server maintains the Active Directory database, and other servers that are domain controllers keep a read/write copy of the database. Active Directory allows:

• User logon and authentication.
• Users can find resources using Active Directory.
• Administrators to manage user accounts, groups, and network resources.

Other Systems

Windows 95, 98, and NT computers cannot use Active Directory group policy.

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Computer Management

The computer management console has the following categories of tools: System Tools Storage Services and Applications System Tools Event Viewer - Used to view logs about events associated with file and directory replication, DNS, security, and more. System Information - Replaces Windows NT Diagnostic Administrative Tool. Listed folders include: System Summary - Lists operating system version, installed services packs, processor, and memory. Hardware Resources - Interrupt, DMA, and I/O address usage are listed. Components - Information about peripheral devices such as modems, ports, USB, and display is listed. Software Environment - Lists installed software including services and drivers. Internet Explorer - Internet Explorer configuration information. Applications - Information about installed application programs. Performance Logs and Alerts - Includes: Alerts - Alerts can be sent when system performance falls below minimum settings. Counters - Objects that can be monitored. Trace Logs Shared Folders Tool - Entered from Administrative Tools, "Computer Management" or by right clicking on "My Computer" and selecting "Manage". Categories: Shares - Used to create shares and list all system shares. Sessions - Any open session from the local computer or a remote computer is listed. Open Files - Files being used by users or other computers are listed. Device Manager - Used to view all system resources. Local Users and Groups - Used to make user and group accounts on the local computer.

Storage

• Disk Management - This is a snap-in for the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and is the replacement for the Windows NT Disk Administrator. Only a member of the Administrators group can use this tool. It can manage local or remote disk volumes. It is used to:
  • Make and format partitions.
  • Create, format, or delete simple, spanned, mirrored, striped, or RAID-5 volumes.
  • Modify a disk from basic to dynamic type or vice versa, create. A disk can only be converted from dynamic to basic by first deleting all the volumes in the dynamic disk.
  • Display information about the disk including the disk type (basic or dynamic), disk number, disk size and disk status. Disk status can be:
    • Online
    • Foreign - Remote disk
    • No Media - For removable disks.
    • Offline - For dynamic disks that cannot be reached due to various possible reasons. The disk may be remote.
    • Online (errors) - There are errors on the disk.
    • Unreadable - Errors preventing access have occurred.
    • Unrecognized - Unknown type of disk.
    It will also provide volume information including size, name, and status. Volume status can be:
    • Healthy
    • Healthy (boot) - Active primary partition on the first drive.
    • Healthy (system) - if same as boot volume, it is called "Healthy (boot)".
    • Failed
    • Failed Redundancy - A fault tolerant volume is not on line.
    • Failed Redundancy (At Risk) - A fault tolerant volume that has lost fault tolerence has errors detedted on it.
    • Healthy (At Risk) - Errors have been detected on the volume.
    • Initializing - Dynamic volume being initialized.
    • Regenerating
    • Resynching - Mirrored volumes are being resynchronized
  • Recover from drive failures.
  To install Disk Management:
  
  1. From an MMC console, click "Add/Remove Snap-in".
  2. Click "Add", select "Disk Management".
  3. Select the computer to install on, and finish.
  To start Disk Management, do one of:
  
  • Right click the "My Computer" icon on the desktop and select "Manage" and click "Disk Management" in the left pane.
  • Select "Start", "Programs", "Administrative Tools", and "Computer Management". In the left pane of the computer management box in the MMC, select "Disk Management".
  • Run the program "Diskmgmt.msc" from the command line.
  • Double click Diskmgmt.msc in the SystemRoot\Winnt\System32 directory.
  Volume and disk properties dialog box tabs:
  • General - Label, volume type, capacity and use are displayed. Options include "Compress drive to save disk space" and "Allow Indexing Service to index this data for fast file searching".
  • Tools - Contains defragmentation, backup and error checking tools.
  • Hardware - Device properties are listed with the type and name of the disk drives.
  • Sharing - Volume sharing options are set including permissions, user limits and share name.
  • Security (NTFS volumes) - Can set user, group and computer permissions along with auditing configuration.
  • Quota (NTFS volumes) - Can enable disk quotas and set disk quota administration values. Quota management must be enabled. Warning levels may be set and hard limits may also be set. Disk space may be denied to users who exceed their quota limit. The events may be logged when the user exeeds their warning and/or quota limit.
  • Web Sharing - Can share the volume on a web site.
  Disk properties:
  • Disk - Number
  • Type - Basic, Dynamic, or Removable
  • Status - Online, offline, foreign, or unknown.
  • Capacity
  • Unallocated Space
  • Device Type - IDE, EIDC, SCSI, etc.
  • Hardware Vendor
  • Adapter Name
  • Volumes Contained On This Disk
• Disk Defragmenter - This is a snap-in for the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and is used to analyze and defragment volumes.To start Disk Defragmenter, do one of:
  
  • Right click the "My Computer" icon on the desktop and select "Manage" and click "Disk Defragmenter" in the left pane
  • Select "Start", "Programs", "Administrative Tools", and "Computer Management". In the left pane of the computer management box in the MMC, select "Disk Defragmenter".
• Logical Drives - This is a snap-in for the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and is used to change logical drive labels, configure security settings, and view properties.To start Logical Drives, do one of:
  
  • Right click the "My Computer" icon on the desktop and select "Manage" and click "Logical Drives" in the left pane
  • Select "Start", "Programs", "Administrative Tools", and "Computer Management". In the left pane of the computer management box in the MMC, select "Logical Drives".
• Removable Storage - Information about removable storage media such as tapes and CD-ROMS is provided.

Services and Applications

Is only available on Windows 2000 Servers. It lists information about installed services such as DNS.

• WMI Control - Windows Management Instrumentation control allows monitoring and controlling system resources.
• Services - Lists all computer services
• Indexing Service - Creates an index of files on the computer allowing search functions to work better.

• Windows Scripting Host (WSH) assists administrators in creating many users and groups quickly
• Fax Service Management
• Security Configuration and Analysis

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How to Use Computer Management on the Local Computer

How to Use Computer Management on the Local Computer

NOTE: You must be logged on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group view and modify most properties and perform most computer-management tasks. 

To start and use Computer Management on the local computer:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel. Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management. 
   
   The Computer Management window for the local computer is displayed. "Computer Management (Local)" is displayed at the root of the console tree.
2. In the console tree, expand System Tools, Storage, or Services and Applicationsto view the tools and services in each of these containers.
3. Click the item that you want (for example, Event Viewer) to use the tool, and then view the information that is associated with it.

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How to Use Computer Management on a Remote Computer

NOTE: You must be logged on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group to view and modify most properties and perform most computer-management tasks. 

To connect to and use Computer Management on another computer:

1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel. Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.
2. Right-click Computer Management (Local), and then click Connect to another computer.
3. Click Another Computer, and then type the name of the computer that you want to manage remotely, or click Browse to locate the computer. Click OK and then click OK to return to the Computer Management window. The Computer Management window of the remote computer is displayed. The name of the remote computer is displayed at the root of the console tree.
4. In the console tree, expand System Tools, Storage, or Services and Applicationsto view the tools and services in each of these containers.
5. Click the item that you want (for example, Event Viewer) to use the tool, and then view the information that is associated with it.

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How to Use Help in Computer Management

To use Computer Management Help or to use the Help files for any of the individual administrative tools that are contained in Computer Management:

1. Start Computer Management.
2. Use either of the following steps:
   • In the console tree, right-click the item that you want (for example, Computer Management or Device Manager), and then click Help.
   • Click the item in the console tree (for example, Device Manager or Computer Management), and then click Help on the Action menu.

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Computer Management

Computer Management Overview

Computer Management is a collection of Windows administrative tools that you can use to manage a local or remote computer. The tools are organized into a single console, which makes it easy to view administrative properties and to gain access to the tools that are necessary to perform your computer-management tasks. 

The Computer Management Console

The Computer Management console consists of a window divided into two panes. The left pane contains the console tree; the right pane contains details. When you click an item in the console tree, information about that item is displayed in the details pane. The information that is displayed is specific to the item that you select. 

The administrative tools in Computer Management are grouped into the following three categories in the console tree:

• System Tools
• Storage
• Services and Applications

Each category includes several tools or services.

System Tools

• Event Viewer 
  
  Use the Event Viewer tool to manage and view events that are recorded in the Application, Security, and System logs. You can monitor the logs to track security events and to identify possible software, hardware, and system problems.
• Shared Folders 
  
  Use the Shared Folders tool to view connections and resource in use on the computer. You can create, view, and manage shares, view open files and sessions, and close files and disconnect sessions.
• Local Users and Groups 
  
  Use the Local Users and Groups tool to create and manage your local user accounts and groups. Local Users and Groups is available only in Windows XP Professional.
• Performance Logs and Alerts 
  
  Use the Performance Logs and Alerts tool to configure performance logs and alerts to monitor and collect data about your computer's performance.
• Device Manager 
  
  Use Device Manager to view the hardware devices installed in your computer, update device drivers, modify hardware settings, and troubleshoot device conflicts.

Storage

• Removable Storage 
  
  Use the Removable Storage tool to track your removable storage media and manage the libraries, or data-storage systems, that contain them.
• Disk Defragmenter 
  
  Use the Disk Defragmenter tool to analyze and defragment volumes on your hard disks.
• Disk Management 
  
  Use the Disk Management tool to perform disk-related tasks such as converting disks or creating and formatting volumes. Disk Management helps you manage your hard disks, and the partitions or volumes that they contain.

Services and Applications

• Services 
  
  Use Services to manage services on local and remote computers. You can start, stop, pause, resume, or disable a service.
• WMI Control 
  
  Use WMI Control to configure and manage the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service.
• Indexing Service 
  
  Use Indexing Service to manage the Indexing service, and to create and configure additional catalogs to store index information.

NOTE: The actual set of tools and services that is listed in Computer Management depends on the services that are installed on the host computer. 

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