Castellan
Overview · Watchman
The Watchman, which keeps a way back from a bad update
How the Watchman keeps restore points before updates, and how to remove an update, make a restore point, or restore Windows from its page.
- Article
- 2701
- Applies to
- Watchman 0.1.0
- Last reviewed
- For
- For everyone
What the Watchman does#
The watchman walked the town by night with his lantern, so nothing went wrong unseen. The Watchman keeps a way back from any update: restore points before updates, and a plain undo.
It holds the Lamplighter's office on an everyday PC, with the Lamplighter behind it. On a gamer's PC, the Lamplighter holds it. The Watchman uses no AI, and changes nothing until you press a button.
The Watchman comes with the Household license.
The guard#
Turn the guard on once, from its page: Turn on the guard, and Yes at Windows' administrator prompt. It's a small Windows script, which looks two minutes after start-up, when Windows Update starts or finishes installing, and every 6 hours:
- System Protection: if it's off on the Windows drive, it turns it on, so Windows keeps restore points at all. Never when your organization turned it off.
- A restore point when the newest is more than a day old. Once System Protection is on, Windows makes its own before installing updates; this is the daily fallback.
- What was installed: the last 20 restore points, and what Windows Update installed in the last 60 days.
Undo a bad update#
From its page, each through Windows' administrator prompt:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Remove, beside an update | Removes that update. Some can't be removed on their own, such as a big monthly update: it says so, and that a restore point from before it is the way back. |
| Make one now | Makes a restore point. Windows makes at most one a day this way, and the page says when it made none. |
| Restore to this, beside a restore point | Puts Windows back as it was then. The PC restarts at once. Your files are left as they are; apps, drivers and updates installed since are removed. |
Its page#
The Watchman's page is at http://watchman.localhost:21111/, and Open on its card in Castellan goes there. It shows your way back (System Protection and the newest restore point), the recent updates with Remove, the restore points with Restore to this and Make one now, what it did last, and the guard.
Its settings#
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Keep System Protection on | On | The guard turns it on when it's off. |
| A restore point every day | On | The guard makes one when the newest is more than a day old. |
The guard takes a changed setting when it is set up again: Turn off the guard, then Turn on the guard, each with Windows' administrator prompt.
What it can't do#
- Drivers aren't removed here: a restore point from before one is the way back. The Lamplighter rolls graphics drivers back by itself.
- Restore points take space on the Windows drive, as much as Windows decides.
- Turning the guard off leaves System Protection and the restore points as they are.
Related articles
Is this page right?
If something on it is wrong or out of date, tell us and we'll fix the page.
Still stuck? Write to support@castellan-software.com and mention article 2701. Every version of Watchman, and what changed in it, is in its release notes.