OS Reset everything

Hello not sure where to post this. Sorry on my phone and I stuck at typing on it. I left my computer on overnight and I was kicked out of the account (real admin). Logged back in and everything has reset. I have what looks like all my programs but e.g. Outlook has nothing, no emails, no users. I have a restore point that is old but I haven't changed much. Reading up on it I see a number of suggestions but they all terrify me. If I go back to the restore point what will be restored? Everything including program data? Customizations? My email accounts. I have a number of them.

Hi, Welcome to the forum

Reboot… What do you see on the Windows log in page after boot. Is there more than one user?



If so, what are the accounts called? Meaning is one not your login?

Orerockon said:

Hello not sure where to post this. Sorry on my phone and I stuck at typing on it. I left my computer on overnight and I was kicked out of the account (real admin). Logged back in and everything has reset. I have what looks like all my programs but e.g. Outlook has nothing, no emails, no users. I have a restore point that is old but I haven't changed much. Reading up on it I see a number of suggestions but they all terrify me. If I go back to the restore point what will be restored? Everything including program data? Customizations? My email accounts. I have a number of them.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, System Restore doesn't work as well as 3rd party backup software does.
System Restore "merges" the restore point with the current state of Windows.

3rd party backup software, "overwrites" the current state of Windows with the backup.

I realize that's not much help... now.
Unfortunately, most of the time, we don't get to advise folks till after they post.



Here's some things that you may find useful...

antspants said:

Hi, Welcome to the forum

Reboot… What do you see on the Windows log in page after boot. Is there more than one user?

View attachment 108167

If so, what are the accounts called? Meaning is one not your login?

Click to expand...

No but you gave me an idea. I kept rebooting and the 3rd time the real admin account (which is mine) showed up! It was really odd that it wasn't there when I had my panic attack and logged in as other user! Sorry for wasting your time

Ghot said:

Unfortunately, System Restore doesn't work as well as 3rd party backup software does.
System Restore "merges" the restore point with the current state of Windows.

3rd party backup software, "overwrites" the current state of Windows with the backup.

I realize that's not much help... now.
Unfortunately, most of the time, we don't get to advise folks till after they post.



Here's some things that you may find useful...

Quickie Eleven Forum Setup Guide for new Members

Quickie Interface tour... Quickie set up... At the top right, click on your name, then choose "Preferences". Then go through everything on the left side. Quickie navigation... Click Forums and choose a subforum, OR... Click Forums, then New Posts or What's New Ranks, Trophies...

www.elevenforum.com

Macrium Reflect, AOMEI Backupper and Hasleo Backup Suite - GUIDES

How to use backup software... 1. When everything is working perfectly... make a full Windows backup. 2. Then, if something breaks... restore from the latest backup. 3. Then... try "whatever you were doing" a different way. If it still breaks Windows, then... go to step #2. 4. Repeat...

www.elevenforum.com

Windows 11 Tweaks - Leader Board.

These are tweaks I've seen asked for... many times. They are collected here for easy access. All of these and more can be found in the Eleven Forum Tutorials section. Make sure to read the "notes" in the various tutorials. At the bottom of the first post in all the "tutorials", there are...

www.elevenforum.com

Click to expand...

I have a backup program Easus Todo Backup I have it set to auto backup the system once a month. Except, of course, this month it failed and I didn't catch it. It's a space hog, continually filling up my 3TB backup drive until I go in and manually delete old backups of my data drive. It was my dumb mistake, not rebooting and trying again

Orerockon said:

No but you gave me an idea. I kept rebooting and the 3rd time the real admin account (which is mine) showed up! It was really odd that it wasn't there when I had my panic attack and logged in as other user! Sorry for wasting your time

Click to expand...

You’re not wasting anyones time. Certainly not mine.

Read this carefully. Make a backup first with your system image program.

Make sure you’re removing the correct account and not your main account.

Orerockon said:

I have a backup program Easus Todo Backup I have it set to auto backup the system once a month. Except, of course, this month it failed and I didn't catch it. It's a space hog, continually filling up my 3TB backup drive until I go in and manually delete old backups of my data drive. It was my dumb mistake, not rebooting and trying again

Click to expand...

Generally, it's better to only make backups when you "need" to, like right before you decide to make some major changes. Or right before a Microsoft Tuesday update.

Those are the times when things "may" go wrong.

As for massive storage use... the trick is this...

1. Keep the used space on the Windows partition... small.
2. Install games and large programs on a storage drive.
3. Then... your Windows backups will be small and fast.

I have ~36GB on my C:\ drive. It takes me one and a half minutes to make a backup, and 2 minutes to restore a backup.
When things go that fast... backup software becomes a useful tool, rather than a chore.