System protection creates and saves information about your computer’s system files and settings. It can also save previous versions of files that you’ve modified.

I’ve posted previously about being able to restore previous versions of folders or files in Windows 7. For the Previous Versions function to work on Windows 7 you need to have System Protection enabled. By default, when you install Windows 7 System Protection will already be enabled but if you have extra partitions install you will need to enable System Protection for each partition.

How to enable System Protection in Windows 7

The process is very simple and only takes a few steps, here is how:

Step 1: Open control panel and click on System. You should see a window displaying basic information about your computer (see below image).

Step 2: On the left click on System Protection. You will now be taken into the System Protection screen of the System Properties as shown below.

Step 3: Under the Protection Settings & Available drives select the drive you wish to have System Protection enabled on. In my case this would be the C: drive. When you have selected the correct drive click the configure button.

Step 4: Select either “Restore system settings and previous versions of files” or “Only restore previous versions of files”. I prefer using the 1st option. After selecting either option click on Apply and then OK.

You will now be taken back to the previous screen and should be able to see that System Protection is enabled, as shown below.

Once enabled your system will start to make restore points. These restore points can be used to restore previous versions of files as I’ve mentioned already.