And now for something completely different ...

One magical piece of software that I have never seen discussed here is Rollback RX. It sounds impossible but it can store an almost infinite number of snapshots of your system without using perceptible disk space, and you can restore your computer to any one of those snapshots in literally just a few seconds and the time it takes to reboot. There are, inevitably I guess, a few restrictions you have to comply with and they are the reason I no longer use it - no booting from boot disks and no restoring of images created more conventionally, such as with Acronis.

I have a cheaper version of this software called Wondershare Time Shuttle which I bought in 2010. It worked exactly as described here and I still consider it the most remarkable piece of software I have ever used.

That's the background, and the reason I am raising it now it is I would like to see if it can work in a VM as opposed to risking the whole system on it never misfiring. VMs can be completely deleted and set up again, either from scratch or from a copy taken before the program was ever installed, so the risks are removed - if it will work that is :eek

Has anyone ever taken a step down this road?

 

Windows also had a program called Steady State, you might still find it out there.
Here is another article how to DIY
http://blogs.technet.com/b/panosm/archive/2011/07/07/windows-7-steadystate-solution-simplified.aspx
also
http://www.steadierstate.com/

But I test plenty of stuff in VM, you can create a snapshot of the VM, before installing the test software in case it blows up.

I tried a snapshot program that I got as a giveaway and it chewed up my disk space, then I uninstalled it (could find any documentation about uninstalling) and it set my computer back months to when I installed it. User beware!!!

 

Steadier State looks to be close to what I want for what-iffing and I'll be taking a look at it - thanks. My old snapshot program does run in Win 7 VM but for 30 days only - the reg code won't allow another install, the authors don't list the program now and I'm not getting any response from them. I'm almost certain they either copied or reverse engineered the Rollback RX code and got caught in the act.