Uninstalling software to free up hard disk space for increasing computer performance is a common practice. In Windows XP when the machine runs slow accidental software application removal or uninstall could happen. This is especially when your machine is kind of slow and clicking the remove software buttons in the Add / Remove software list lags. You’ll just be surprised later to find that the wrong application software was uninstalled and removed. These sorts of accidents do happen.

I got this frantic call about accidental removal of Dreamweaver CS3 software from Windows XP. It sounds like end of the world for user. There’s enough reason to be worried since the installation software could not be located. Moreover there are many different connection settings that have already been set in the system.

The only solution initially I thought was to undelete files or recover deleted files from the computer. I am well aware that data recovery process takes time. I tried using the open source software test-disk, but it took too much time. I aborted the process and did some check on the system where luckily I found that Windows XP system restore function was turned on.

A check on the System Restore window revealed several restore points listed. I was glad to see that Windows XP have done a restore point prior to Dreamweaver CS3 uninstall process. Restoring the system to the previous state was a breeze and it worked fine.

After restarting the desktop computer the Dreamweaver CS3 software appeared to run again find together with all the connections settings that were there before. I am glad that Windows XP’s system restore worked in retrieving back uninstalled / removed program.