Question for the experts:

In my Windows XP laptop I had a .vbs file that automatically created a
daily system restore point at startup. Can anyone share a .vbs file
that does the same on a Windows 10 (Home) laptop? And where in the
directory does that file need to be placed?

TIA,

George

On 9/10/2023 6:07 PM, George wrote:
> Question for the experts:
>
> In my Windows XP laptop I had a .vbs file that automatically created a
> daily system restore point at startup. Can anyone share a .vbs file
> that does the same on a Windows 10 (Home) laptop? And where in the
> directory does that file need to be placed?
>
> TIA,
>
> George

Here is a test result.

I tossed Notepad into the two Startup folders. One is in Roaming of
my user, the second is a sort of "system" one.

[Picture]

https://i.postimg.cc/0N1jZG3M/startup-folder-test.gif

Each Notepad.exe , on startup, discovers there is no graphics session
for it to connect to. It's an interactive program. That's why the impact
of the program is minimal, because it is immediately exiting.

Your .vbs script may count as non-interactive. Like my Notepad test,
yours would run to completion, and not be searching for graphics.
But it may need a user account to be associated with. The selected
user session won't exist until the login completes. Autologin was
removed some time ago.

*******

Microsoft does not want to admit there is a Startup folder. Because of
the functional issues. Instead, they tout the ability of their Metro.Apps
to be started in that way.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/learning-center/take-control-of-windows-startup

"Can any app be opened at startup?

Not all apps can be opened at startup, so if you downloaded a third-party app off
the Internet, you may not have the option to open it at startup. The apps that can
be launched at startup ["our stinking MetroApps"] will appear under the Startup Apps menu.

Taking the time to organize your computer and customizing which apps should open
at startup can boost your productivity [hah!] and improve the performance of your computer.
{Just try and...] Change your Windows startup programs to get more control over your computer today.
"

You will notice in my result, I did get a response. I did eventually test
in a 22H2 VM and the response was the same. The reason for using the older
version of Win10, was to see if the behavior was "different in an earlier release",
and not appreciably so.

*******

That's why this article is using other vehicles, such as Task Scheduler, for the job.
If a process is started as a service, then it may have different behavior
with regard to the session issue.

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-schedule-system-restore-points-in-windows-10

*******

People try all sorts of crazy stuff here, when the previous link is likely good enough.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31857849/start-an-application-at-system-start-without-login

"So the best way I found was to use a tool like Sysinternal/Autoruns to program
the auto-logon to a specific user (it is a registry setting)... and in the
startup-folder of that user (or any other "autorun/autolaunch" task)... run a script
that first locks the screen... and next runs the other intended programs...
that will run under that user profile..."

Paul

George <null@null.net> wrote:

> Question for the experts:
>
> In my Windows XP laptop I had a .vbs file that automatically created a
> daily system restore point at startup. Can anyone share a .vbs file
> that does the same on a Windows 10 (Home) laptop? And where in the
> directory does that file need to be placed?

Easier to skip the VBS script (as a startup program), and just define a
Task Scheduler event that runs daily to run srtasks.exe with one
argument of ExecuteScheduledSPPCreation. Because it takes only 1
argument, you get no help when you run "srtasks.exe /?" in an elevated
command shell. srtasks.exe is under C:\Windows\System32. See:

https://www.file.net/process/srtasks.exe.html

You can find an example already defined in Task Scheduler under:

Task Scheduler Library -> Microsoft -> Windows -> SystemRestore

I wouldn't touch that entry, because it is likely called by another
process. That's why no trigger is defined for that scheduled task.
Create your own entry under the Task Scheduler Library node. You can
trigger your event to run daily, when you login, and other event types
that specify when to run the scheduled event.

To ensure it can access all files, you might have to define the
scheduled task to run under the SYSTEM account which has more privileges
than ran under an administrator account.

CPU usage will be high while srtasks is creating a restore point.

Whether srtasks creates a restore point or not likely depends on whether
you left enabled or disable System Restore. I have it disabled on all
drives except C: (OS) where is Windows and apps. I mostly consider it a
waste of disk space, and may disable it completely. SR tries to /mend/
a system. It is not an image backup. I schedule daily image backups
(full monthly, differential weekly, and incremental daily), and those
actually restore a partition back to its exact prior state, not try to
patch together a SR point onto the current state of a partition. Also,
SR points do not record everything in a partition. It takes a snapshot
of OS system files and the registry. I believe it also records some
Office settings. Snapshots don't always work to fix a problem, because
they are not complete. Image restores get /everything/ on your drive
back to what it was before.

A bandaid works okay on small abrasions and cuts. They are ineffective
on severe injury. You can try an SR restore, but you may have to resort
to restoring from a prior image backup, anyway.