DavidR
7
Yes it is possible to leave system restore off, but not unless you have something to help you recover from problems. I take regular images of my HDD partitions, if I experience a serious problem, it takes less time to restore my last image than trying to fight with system restore.
System Restore isn’t perfect, but if you have nothing else to compensate for it, then I would suggest you need it enabled.
SYSTEM RESTORE - Info - Troubleshooting
There are many, many reasons why a System Restore may fail. For example, see “Why are previous restore points not working?” in the “Troubleshooting” section of this official Microsoft page:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/plan/faqsrwxp.mspx
There’s lots more on that page that’s worth reading too. Note especially the sections on “Does System Restore protect personal data files?” (the short answer: no); “What should I do if System Restore does not work?”; “Why are my restore points missing or deleted?”; “Why does the System Restore Wizard lockup?”; and so on. Just a few minutes on that page ought to convince just about anyone that System Restore is not intended for heavy-duty system protection!
More info:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_restore.htm
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinME/Q_20718080.html
http://www.google.com/search?q=system+restore+fail