Vista - System Restore

I wanted to give my views with regards getting rid of System Restore points when dealing with spy/malware/virus.

Through being around forums and newsgroups for a few years it's my belief that it's best to leave whatever System Restore points you have until you have got rid of any virus's you may have.
I know it's more than likely that the virus will end up in a Restore point but it is harmless while in there if you don't Restore to that point and if while you are dealing with the virus and going through steps to rid yourself of it you happen to screw up your machine at least you'll have a System Restore point to get you back into a working system, even if it has a virus, you can then try again.

When you have a clean machine then you go in and turn off System Restore to get rid of all checkpoints and then go straight back in and turn it back on and make a manual Restore point while there.

Maybe some of you will not agree but those are my feelings with regards the subject.

Hello Joan,

I agree, it's sure thing. It's better to have any backup than nothing.

Cheers...

I agree, I had a virus that deleated my Restore points.

Thank you Joan, your thread just answered an unanswered question i have had bouncing around in the back of my head for about 3 years namely that "an infection within a restore point is safely contained until you restore to that point." again many thanks i will now not delete all my restore points until infection is resolved

Yes Joan what you said makes sense to me too.
Please correct me if I'm wrong - - - It is my understanding that once system restore is turned off, then back on again, a new restore point is automatically made.[ no need to do a manual one.]

You're probably correct there but I just wanted to make a point that you have a restore point on a clean machine whether it's made for you or you make it yourself.

I have found viruses hiding in restore points. Also, system restore tends to cause more problems than it solves. I turn it off, never use it. I back up my data to an external drive that's only plugged in to backup/restore data.