This artilcle was taken from Lockergnome. I felt it covered and important topic and wanted to pass it along. Here is the link to the origional article. http://www.lockergnome.com/it/2010/04/14/customize-system-restore-in-windows-7/
Many of us have, at one point or another, installed a program or made some change that was harmful to our computers. For such times, you can use Windows 7’s System Restore to restore your computer to a previous point in time without having to reinstall the operating system.
Unlike Windows Vista, Windows 7 provides a few options for configuring the System Restore option. For example, you can prevent System Restore from backing up your Registry, which means the restore points won’t consume as much disk space.
To access the configuration options:
- Click the Start button.
- Right click the Computer and click Properties.
- Click System Protection.
- Click Configure.
The configuration options available are summarized below:
The Restore Settings let you configure what you want to restore. The three options available include: Restore system settings and previous versions of files, Only restore previous versions of files, and Turn off system protection.
The Disk Space Usage setting lets you adjust the maximum amount of disk space used for system protection. A larger value allows more restore points, while a smaller value saves disk space.
Finally, you can delete all the restore points by selecting the Delete button.