Have tried running system restore to various dates in the past and system reply is always the sane that :No changes have been made to your computer. System Restore was unable to restore your computer to the specified restore point. Select another restore point and try to perform the restoration again. I know for a fact that software has been removed and added ffrom these various points in times ?? Or is restore used only for settings ??1 person needs an answerI do too

What is your system make and model?What is your XP Version and Service Pack?Describe your current antivirus and anti malware situation: McAfee, Norton, Spybot, AVG, Avira!, MSE, Defender, ZoneAlarm, PC Tools, Comodo, etc.What is the issue you are having that you think System Restore will remedy - or are you rust practicing? (It should still work though).Some Anti Virus tools will "protect" your system so much that they will not allow a System Restore to work properly. For example, if you are running any Norton/Symantec products, you may see a message like this:Restoration Incomplete. Your computer cannot be restored...It is such a popular Symantec problem (well, I'll be polite and call it an "undocumented feature"...), they wrote an article about it:http://service1.symantec.com/support/sharedtech.nsf/pfdocs/2005113009323013Depending on what you are using for malware protection, you may have to disable the product(s) temporarily, do the System Restore and then turn the products back on again.Sometimes you will need to boot your system in Safe Mode and while your protection programs are not running, then do the System Restore. Microsoft hints in some of their articles that if System Restore fails to restore your computer, boot into Safe Mode and then execute the System Restore. That works for some configurations.Sometimes System Restore is so afflicted or the Restore Points are suspicious, the best option is to just reinstall your System Restore. Doing so will delete any old Restore Points, but sometimes this is the only way to fix a broken System Restore. You don't have to reinstall XP, just the System Restore part.That may leave you with your original unspecified problem that you hope System Restore will correct (using a System Restore is usually not equivalent to fixing the problem though).Give those ideas some consideration if they apply to you. Sometimes malicious software will afflict your System Restore to prevent you from finding and removing the malicious software. It would much rather fool you into thinking that you have to repair or reinstall your XP when that is not necessary.No matter what you are using for malware protection, I would do this and only then begin to troubleshoot any remaining issues:Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware detection programs then resolve any remaining issues:Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/These can be uninstalled later if desired.When the scans run clean, reboot, test and we can fix any other issues.Do, or do not. There is no try.I need YOUR votes and points for helpful replies and Propose as Answers. I am saving up for a pony!

Ahh dummy me that info would be helpful !! Thanks for the reply..been up all night and am outta my mind..Windows Xp-media center edition. Service pack 3 on a E-machine T-6520Running spybot..Norton/Symantec anti-viurs,firewallWhat started this issue was went to use the software for my Logitech webcam and the settings were frozem/locked unavailabe. So Logitech suggested that I re-install so did that and the same issue,then noticed that the webcam was not found on the pc and now the icon to be able to remove hardware dis-appeared..So check here for the icon fix and tried everything listed on the fourm and still did not return. Talked to Logitech today and still the same.. So went to do a system restore after reading here and went to print how to get to safe mode and found that the printer is connected but will not print from here or even doco's. Checked the device manager and nothing is listed, even under hidden. but hardware is listed but in the control panel the printer shows on line but will not print and can does not show under any devices.. So figurint that I may have a corrupt device driver I wnated to try to restore to a point that was good...But went all the way back to start of Oct and get same messge above. Even dis-abled the anti-virus//firewall and stopped the spyware but same unable to restore-I beleive from what you have written that I need to restore in safe node ?? Or run the other software or just re-install ?? Wait your reply.

The least troublesome option is to just do the SR in Safe Mode since that seems to be the option that resolves the issue most reliably.Even when Symantec is not installed Safe Mode is sometimes the only way to get SR to work. If you have Spybot's Teatimer going, that could interfere too, but I don't know if the have an article about it. Teatimer is also a heavy consumer of Virtual Memory (any Windows is increasing the size of your Virtual Memory pop-ups?) and, at least for me, Spybot only seems to find tracking cookies, but some folks like it heap big plenty.Any kind of real time protection and monitoring of your system by third party programs could possibly interfere, so eliminate them using Safe Mode long enough to do the SR, then reboot in Normal Mode.It is also inconvenient and extra work to disable your antiwhatever programs and you also won't forget to turn it all back on when you are done.Do, or do not. There is no try.I need YOUR votes and points for helpful replies and Propose as Answers. I am saving up for a pony!

The least troublesome option is to just do the SR in Safe Mode since that seems to be the option that resolves the issue most reliably.Even when Symantec is not installed Safe Mode is sometimes the only way to get SR to work. If you have Spybot's Teatimer going, that could interfere too, but I don't know if the have an article about it. Teatimer is also a heavy consumer of Virtual Memory (any Windows is increasing the size of your Virtual Memory pop-ups?) and, at least for me, Spybot only seems to find tracking cookies, but some folks like it heap big plenty.Any kind of real time protection and monitoring of your system by third party programs could possibly interfere with System Restore, so eliminate them all using Safe Mode long enough to do the SR, then reboot in Normal Mode.It is also inconvenient and extra work to disable your antiwhatever programs and you also won't forget to turn it all back on when you are done.Do, or do not. There is no try.I need YOUR votes and points for helpful replies and Propose as Answers. I am saving up for a pony!

This link may helphttp://bertk.mvps.org/html/symantecdoc1.htmlHope this helps, Gerry Cornell