Starting with Windows Vista, users can restore previous versions of files by right clicking on them in Explorer and choosing "Restore previous versions." This feature however is not built into Windows Vista Basic and Vista Home Premium or Windows 8. The previous versions of the files exist as "Shadow Copies" in the restore points but are inaccessible without programs like this present one and Shadow Explorer, another similar program.

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. This present program 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 rebuilds the index each time you invoke it which is time consuming. Judging by the the length of time Windows takes to 'Restore previous versions' in Vista in and Windows 7 from the right click menu, Windows may doing the same thing. 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 by saved date and file size from your target file. Shadow Explorer requires you to manually 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 than using the present program using as each version of backed up file must be examined. Our program automatically only returns candidates for recovery that are different from the target. This program was previously known as Vista Previous Version File Recoverer and Windows Previous Version Recoverer.

Download and use it now: Previous Version File Recoverer