In Windows Vista, There is no direct method the change these settings to customize System Restore. So here is two Registry Tweaks, that help to change- Used space by restore points and intervals of automatic creation of restore points.

Configure amount of space (In percentage) used by System Restore

1. Open Registry Editor and navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore\cfg

2. Modify a DWORD value named DiskPercent and set the value data from the default setting of 15 to a number you find more reasonable. This percentage applies to all monitored drives and cannot be configured individually.

Or you can do this by executing following command in elevated CMD

Run this command to check used space by system restore.

vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=ForVolumeSpec /On=OnVolumeSpec /MaxSize=MaxSizeSpec

Resizes the maximum size for a shadow copy storage association between ForVolumeSpec and OnVolumeSpec. Resizing the storage association may cause shadow copies to disappear. If MaxSizeSpec is not specified, there no limit to the amount of space it may use. As certain shadow copies are deleted, the shadow copy storage space will then shrink. MaxSizeSpec must be 300MB or greater and accepts the following suffixes: KB, MB, GB, TB, PB and EB.  Also, B, K, M, G, T, P, and E are acceptable suffixes. If a suffix is not supplied, MaxSizeSpec is in bytes.

Example:

vssadmin Resize ShadowStorage /For=C: /On=D: /MaxSize=1024MB

Customize System Restore intervals

Normally, System Restore automatically creates restore points every 24 hours. To adjust this interval, follow these steps:
1. Open registry editor and navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SystemRestore

2. Change the value RPGlobalInterval from its default setting of 86,400 seconds (24 hours) to desired value in seconds. just half, to 43,200, if you want to save restore two times in 24 hours OR triple it, to 259,200, if you want restore points created every three days.

3. Restart Windows to take effect.

Applies To:

• Windows Vista
• Windows Server 2008