System Restore

[#1]

What should I see happening when I use System Restore? My wife's laptop went wrong (blue screen with a lot of writing which started with something along the lines of "If you haven't seen this problem before, restart your pc"). I restarted it, but it went into a boot loop, rebooting each time it got to just after the icons appear on the desktop. I started it again, but in Safe Mode, and initiated System Restore. System Restore has gone through until the desktop wallpaper is visible, then nothing happened for several minutes, not even flashing activity LEDs. Then the Hard Drive Activity LED flashed rapidly for a few minutes, but now that has stopped for at least quarter of an hour.
Is this normal for System Restore? What else should I expect to see? Anything else I should try?
Thanks

[#2]

Had to give up waiting for help, and power off and on the pc. System Restore cured the bootup loop for a short while, but when the problem restarted I went into Safe Mode again. This time I didn't use System Restore, but as this problem had started just after my wife had updated Avast on the pc, I removed Avast, and restarted in Normal Mode. No loop since then, but only time will confirm it is solved.

[#3]

using system restore should just return you to a calender date at which time the restore point was set,you don't say which os your running,however using xp with some anti virus software has causes problems here.
you certainly shouldn't be having blue screen problem's with a restore point.

[#4]

I don't know about Avast but many anti virus products have a self defence mechanism which stops effective use of the windows restore system
This is why I have regular full backups with Acronis on both my computers (one XP one Win 7)

[#5]

The laptop (OS is XP) has had avast running on it for a couple of years without problem until yesterday. It was only after the avast update was installed that the blue screen and the bootup loop started. Now I've uninstalled avast, the blue screen and bootup loop have gone (fingers crossed). The System Restore was my first attempt at solving those problems. It didn't solve them, so I removed avast, and so far the signs look good. Now I am relying on Microsoft Security Essentials.
However, there is one curious thing. According to Windows Security Center on the laptop, Microsoft Security Essentials is reporting it is Off, but when I click on the Microsoft Security Essentials icon at the bottom of the screen, Microsoft Security Essentials states that it is On. How do I get Windows Security Center to also say that Microsoft Security Essentials is On?

[#6]

I've seen that sort of thing before but never found a precise cause or solution; you've probably got some remaining "debris" from Avast that is confusing things.
Is there an Avast "cleanup" tool that removes all traces of it?
If so, I'd remove MSE, then run the Avast cleanup and finally reinstall MSE with fingers crossed. Lots of boots in between.
You might even (if you dare!) reinstall and remove Avast at a suitable stage (with NO other A/V installed at the time).

[#7]

First things first before attempting to install a second resident AV
Make sure you update and run a full AV Scan with Avast
Run a few online AV scanners
D/load and install the free version of Malwarebytes to make sure that no malware could be affecting and interrupting  any of the system restore core file(s)
D/load the setup files of your preferred choice of AV from only the AV makers website
You must remove the old resident AV In this case Avast (Avast Removal Utility)
I have been using Avast for many a year and not had any issues other than having to redeploy the latest set of updates or program update where required after a M/S system restore
Disconnect from the internet to prevent any possible remnant of malware etc from calling home to install more malware etc
Reboot PC
Open command prompt with right click > Admin Privileges > Type "sfc /scannow" without the quotes ( notice the single space between sfc and the /)
Try system restore if still required,
if it still fails try running it in Safe mode (make take longer to run but usually affective)
Install fresh AV (reboot PC if /  when it asks)

[#8]

Remember that this is only to get Windows Security Center to know that Microsoft Security Essentials is "On". Reloading/running/removing Avast, then running System Restore, and then running "sfc /scannow" - is that overkill? If it isn't then I'll have a go.
Incidentally, since removing Avast using the "Control Panel/Add or Remove Programs", I uninstalled Microsoft Security Essentials, then loaded the avastclear.exe, went into Safe Mode, and ran it. I then rebooted, and reloaded Microsoft Security Essentials, but there is no change - Windows Security Center still states that Microsoft Security Essentials is reporting as "Off".

[#9]

Hi penneck
I have dealt with these type of issues many a time
The above may appear to look like overkill,
however, we have to eliminate any possible malware that could be causing your issue(s)

[#10]

Hi, just a thought.  Do you have anything important or vital on there, not backed up?  If not, you may be able to reload from partition. Start totally fresh. Depends on your laptop & set-up. I did this on a laptop I was locked out off (forgotten password). 

[#11]

You might want to try deleting the folder C:\Windows\System32\wbem\Repository then rebooting.  But you need to stop the Security Center Service first.  There are instructions here: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=5sg71fta9s6eodif631ucf9ll1&topic=23457.0

[#12]

Thanks everybody, but I followed TORPC's method about 7 o'clock this morning, and it did the trick. There was one slight wobble - once I had re-installed Avast, the bootup loop started again so I couldn't get to the point where I did an Avast scan before removing Avast. I had to go into Safe Mode to break the loop, but this time I went into Safe Mode with Network. In that state I was able to download and run Avastclear.exe. It removed Avast, then when I rebooted the loop had gone. I downloaded and installed Microsoft Security Essentials. Now when I boot, Windows Security Center doesn't come up stating that Microsoft Security Essentials is "Off".
Thanks to all, particularly TORPC. Happy New Year everyone

[#13]

Hi Penneck
Your more than welcome
Glad to see you finally up and running
for some strange reason M/S SC does not like to play nicely with some AV Vendors Avast not being the only 1 tbh
My thoughts and are the same as several others are
M/S wants you to only use their product
I have seen this happen on test rig(s) with only a fresh install of M/S Operating Systems and their own built in programs, and a fresh install of AV, eliminating conflict(s) from 3^rd party programs
May 2014 be a happy trouble free surfing and computing year for all of us
Happy new year to all from TORPC Towers xx