View Full Version : All system restore points deleted, weird network device in Network folder
outlawzgosu
2017-11-14, 04:33
I had multiple manual and automatic restore points created since last Monday (about 10). I've checked my system restore settings and they're still the same as before (Image: https://imgur.com/FhxzjAF). I have about 300gb free on the C: drive so I don't know why Windows would delete these restore points, which makes me think that it was some kind of malware. I'm still able to create new restore points though (https://imgur.com/X2AieA0).
I looked at the windows Event Log and I saw these entries: https://imgur.com/T5XqOL0. All of the "Information" entries have the same message, while the "Error" entry has this message: https://imgur.com/RaKp5Yg.
From what I've read on system restore point automatic deletion, the oldest are removed when the user defined settings aren't enough to store new ones, no storage space left on the hard drive, and they're older than 90 days. If it was a "user defined settings" issue, why would windows delete ALL of the restore points?
Another issue I noticed is that there's this new icon in the "Network" window without a name (Image: https://imgur.com/e14NCOK). When I open it's properties, it's not showing anything besides a MAC address. I've checked my router's log and I can't find any device that connected to my network with this MAC address. Any idea what this is or how to find out what it's doing? I checked my other computers and none of them are showing this icon, only this one.
I don't know if both of these issues are related, but I noticed the network device issue at around the same time as the system restore points issue.
Thank you.
For the generic network device:I've never looked any up before, so take it with a grain of salt, but when I used the MAC Address and OUI Lookup it's saying that it's for Vizio, Inc:
https://aruljohn.com/mac/A48D3B
Could it be your TV?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vizio
Tablets, Ultrabooks, Mobile phones, Google TV, Sound bars are also listed on wikipedia, could the generic network device be related to one of those?
The Volsnap 36 error just really turns up a lot of suggestions to allocate more space when I search, and then anything else seems kind of vague. I'm with you, if there isn't enough User Allocated space, why would all restore points be removed, why not just some of them? But I couldn't find out whether that is the norm or not. I see disk space usage is at 8% (37.22GB). I guess it couldn't hurt to slide it over a tiny bit more if you'd like to.
So, what operating system do you have? And has the Max Usage been at 8% for a long time, or had you changed it pretty recently?
Have you noticed anything else that seems not quite right with your computer? Any other things happening that made you sort of suspect malware?
outlawzgosu
2017-11-25, 02:01
Sorry for the late reply, I didn't have access to the internet (unrelated to the above problems).
Anyway, on the system restore deletion, I'm still not sure what happened. I've been making new restore points since then and they haven't been deleted yet. I have about 50GB dedicated for system restore with 30GB used. I'm still gonna wait and see what happens when all 50GB are taken up. Will windows delete all of the system restore points or just the oldest one. (It should be the oldest from what I've read). If I figure it out I'll post it here.
On the unknown network device issue. I'm suspecting that it's something related to a router update that didn't work right. (I have a Verizon Fios Quantum Gateway G1100)
I ended up disabling all of my computers. I would turn on one computer, check for the device, and turn the computer off. I did this with every computer I had, and every single one was showing the unknown device in the Network folder. Then I was thinking that it could be someone connected to my network from the outside using a wireless connection (have 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies enabled). I have WPA2 enabled on both frequencies with a long password, so I changed the password on both. The device was still showing up. This pretty much ruled out someone connected to my network since I doubt they would be able to bypass WPA2 like that.
Then as a last option, I disabled wireless completely and the device was gone. I turned on every computer like before just to confirm and it wasn't showing. I then enabled only the 5GHz channel and it was showing, I then disabled the 5GHz and enabled only the 2.4GHz, it was showing.
From the looks of it, it's something with my router's wireless. Unless there's some virus that all of my computers got, but I doubt that since all of my computers have NOD32 installed that's kept updated. I also tried HitmanPro and it didn't detect anything besides tracking cookies.
Sorry for the late reply, I didn't have access to the internet (unrelated to the above problems).
No problem. :)
That does seem like the unknown wireless network device might be related to wireless since it disappeared when you disabled wireless, and reappeared when you re-enabled wireless.
There is an article here about when system restore points are deleted, but most don't really apply to you and/or you have checked it out yourself. I'll put the link just so you can look, though:
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/system-restore-points-deleted-in-windows-7-troubleshoot-and-fix
There is an article here about restore points being deleted that is related to third-party disk defragmenters, in case that might apply:
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2010807/solve-the-mystery-of-lost-system-restore-points.html