How can I restore my computer to an earlier time?

strawberriesilove: How do I restore my computer to an earlier time?
How do I restore my computer to an earlier time when the “Restore” feature on my computer is not working. I have tried over a dozen times to restore my computer and I keep getting the error message “computer could not be restored to this date. No changes have been made. Try another date.” Try another date the same thing happens.

All of my personal files were deleted from my computer and I want to get them back. Have no clue how this happened. Checked the recycle bin and none of them were there. It is as if they simply disappeared off my computer. Please help. Thank you!

Answers and Views:

Answer by paul w
try turning of your anti virus

Answer by Michael
I doubt restoring to an earlier time will help – that just restores the registry, not user files.

I think your file system is damaged… it is a lot more common than I realized until a few years ago. Your files are not gone in that case, just lost. Whether or not the file system is actually damaged, it should be checked and (if necessary) repaired. Open a command prompt (Start > run > cmd) and type in
chkdsk /r c:
Note the spaces before and after “/r”. Windows will respond the system is in use and the command can’t be run now, but do you want to run it when Windows is restarted – answer “y”. Restart the computer; expect about an hour to complete the process, depending on your hard disk size. Windows will start when it is done.

If you are using Windows 7 (not sure about Vista) security will not let you run chkdsk from a normal command prompt; you have to use a prompt with elevated permissions. The easiest way to get that is to create a shortcut on the desktop (right-click a blank space, new folder, program is cmd) and right click that shortcut then select “run as” administrator.