Previous Version File Recoverer

Starting with Vista, Windows allows the recovering of previous versions of files without a dedicated backup. These previous versions are stored whenever a Restore Point is made by the system or manually made by the user from the System Protection tab of the System App in the Control Panel.

These previous versions can be recovered in Vista and Windows 7 by merely right clicking the target file and choosing "Restore previous versions." However, the feature is unavailable in Vista Home Basic and Home Premium versions and all of Windows 8 versions, hence the need for this program.

Vista Home Basic and Premium Previous Version File Recoverer works with the other versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7 as well, so if you find it easier to use then right clicking on files in Explorer then by all means do so. The application however rebuilds the index each time you invoke it which is time consuming. Windows however may also do the same thing when displaying previous versions from the Context Menu invocation.

A similar program to this one is Shadow Explorer. You might find that program more comprehensive because it exposes all previous versions of files in an Explorer-like interface. In contrast to Shadow Explorer, the present program only returns previous versions within its GUI window that are different from your target file. Shadow Explorer requires you to choose a Restore Point in date and time and look to see if a previous version is actually different from the file you are working with. Using Shadow Explorer may end up to be more time consuming then using the present program.