Restoring PC back a couple of days

libra10

Using Windows 11, would this affect my emails in Thunderbird?

Thanks for advice.

debitcardmayhem

Not if you use imap.

libra10

Not sure whether I use imap, it's quite a while since I set up the programme,

debitcardmayhem

Ok let’s see how you wish to restore by a couple of days? Is it burgered or do you just want to revert a system update. The safest way is back up now, probably overkill for a full back up, or just to make sure you don’t lose emails in which case you just back up your thunderbird data. Of course if the pc is dead then save what you can using webmail on another device. Tell more about the need/method

libra10

Thanks for replying.
My PC is working fine, using Chrome.  Yesterday I accidentally deleted a bookmark folder containing lots of links, and unable to recover it.
A couple of days ago I set up a new restore date, and wondered whether restoring back to this would bring back my deleted folder.
My emails and folders are also on my ipad and iphone.  I'm thinking they should be safe.

Neil_Jones

Bookmarks in Chrome are stored off a folder or few down from your AppData folder.  On Windows, Google Chrome's bookmarks are stored in C:\Users\(YourUserName)\Local\Google\User Data\Default in the "bookmarks" file.

I believe a good chunk of the C:\Users folder (and its subcontents) is not restored with System Restore, as otherwise it would restore old copies of documents and stuff that had been deleted.  It may or may not restore the bookmark file you're after.  You can try it, but no guarantees.

That being said if you're using your Google account it should be on there, though I dare say most people don't even use this feature:

https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/10248834?hl=en-GB

debitcardmayhem

Aaah I see, I use firefox and my bookmarks get saved every day, but as Neil said chrome may have similar

libra10

Thanks for the information, will read later.
Have just checked my previous restore points area, and it seems there are no previous restore points!  
This is strange, as I regularly create new dates, and system has always confirmed that it has worked.
Have read info giving possible reasons for this, and it seem that if you have updated PC from previous operating system,
the feature may not work.
When the PC was new it had Windows 10 installed, then I later updated to Windows 11.  Wondering whether this is the
reason for the failure.
It looks like my PC has a worse problem than losing a bookmark folder, which I will have to look into.

grumpycrab

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80025519#Comment_80025519

System restore covers system files, not personal files. So (possibly) useful if you think you've been hacked or an update has caused problems. Microsoft turn this feature off after an update probably because the previous system retore points are invalid for the new OS. But not very helpful if you use this functionlity.

libra10

Thanks for replying @grumpycrab Contrary to my previous post, I do have the restore points which I had previously created. Not sure how I failed to find them yesterday.

However, from what everyone says, restoring back a couple of days wouldn't bring back my lost bookmark folder. I'm going to have to be more careful in future. You would think that Google would make it easier to restore items deleted in mistake.

Thanks everyone for your input.

[Deleted User]

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80027691#Comment_80027691

They do.

First, open your bookmarks manager (ctrl-shift-O) then click on any folder on the left then ctrl-Z to undelete.

Only works during the same session so too late for you now, but if you had done that before closing Chrome it would have worked.