For those who would like something better than System Restore:
ERUNT
The Emergency Recovery Utility NT
Registry Backup and Restore for Windows NT/2000/2003/XP/Vista
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/QUOTE
Question: Should I disable Windows XP’s System Restore function when using ERUNT?
Answer: Yes! Though System Restore backs up more than just the registry, the registry is essentially all you need to revert your system to a previous state. Advantages of ERUNT over System Restore are that each restore folder is standalone and independent of the others, minimizing the risk of restore failures, and that a restore can easily be done from outside Windows. Also, ERUNT backups usually take up less hard drive space than System Restore’s restore points and may be individually deleted at any time. (Here is an excellent site about System Restore in case you prefer to leave it enabled.)
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/faq.htmThis is a great utility, especially for those who don't have a lot of disk space for storing bunches of System Restore Points. My ERUNT backups run about 30MB each, compared to the hundreds of MB's for System Restore. Old ones are easily removed. Just delete them.
I have a script to run System Restore on my first boot of the day. After that, I use ERUNT when testing software or experimenting with any changes to my system. Of course I also make manual backups regularly of any important data I wouldn't want to loose in the event of a serious system crash.
For ruby1:
I did some digging around Google to see if I could find something similar for older OS's. You might want to research this a bit more and see if this could be a better solution for you. From what I've read, although it originated with 95, it also works for 98 and Me.
http://www.night-internet.com/text/eru-help.htmDownload Eru.zip (toward bottom of page)
http://www.night-internet.com/sub/index-2.htmEruzip.exe from Microsoft (toward bottom of page)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q135315/It looks like ERUNT is based on the old Microsoft ERU.