diff --git a/utils/common b/utils/common
index 45b7998..99d8b77 100755
--- a/utils/common
+++ b/utils/common
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 #                       Author: Ethan Smith-Coss                        #
 #                            Version: 0.1.4                             #
 #                    Created: 2021-05-20T16:47+0100                     #
-#                 Last Modified: 2021-06-13T21:36+0100                  #
+#                 Last Modified: 2021-06-21T15:06+0100                  #
 #                                                                       #
 #                 ####################################                  #
 #                                                                       #
@@ -48,7 +48,21 @@ function archive_system {
 	local archive_output="/tmp/microsoft-edge-autoupdater/$(echo $1 | sed 's/\//_/').tar.gz"
 	[[ -f "$archive_output" ]] && return 0
 	
-	grep 'usr/.*' "/tmp/microsoft-edge-autoupdater/Contents-amd64" | tar --overwrite -czf "$archive_output" "/opt/$1/" > "/tmp/microsoft-edge-autoupdater/tar_dump.log" 2>>"$log_out"
+	usr_files="$(grep -E '^usr/.*beta.*$' "/tmp/microsoft-edge-autoupdater/Contents-amd64" | awk '{print "/" $1}')"
+	opt_files="$(ls -1 "/opt/$1/" | sed -E "s/^(.*)$/\/opt\/"$(echo $1 | sed 's/\//\\\//')"\/\1/g")"
+	## :@Ethan: we need to identify all the symlinked files and store them in a record. When we decompress we reinstate the symlinks.
+	## This file is included in the archive and tar will dereference symlink files.
+	symlink_record="/tmp/microsoft-edge-autoupdater/symlink-record"
+	ls -l $opt_files $usr_files | grep -Eo ':.*->.*$' | sed 's/\s->\s/:/g' | cut -d' ' -f2- > "$symlink_record"
+
+	## remove identified symlink files from lists
+	while read -r record ; do
+		record=$(echo "$record" | cut -d: -f1)
+		[[ "$record" =~ \/usr\/ ]] && record=$(echo $record | sed 's/\//\\\//g') && usr_files=$(echo "$usr_files" | sed "s/^"$record"$//") && continue
+		[[ "$record" =~ \/opt\/ ]] && record=$(echo $record | sed 's/\//\\\//g') && opt_files=$(echo "$opt_files" | sed "s/^"$record"$//")
+	done < <(cat $symlink_record)
+
+	tar --overwrite -czf "$archive_output" $opt_files $usr_files  > "/tmp/microsoft-edge-autoupdater/tar_dump.log" 2>>"$log_out"
 	exit_code=$?
 	[[ ! $exit_code -eq 0 ]] && { log "ERROR" "(Archive) There was an issue creating the archive file of system. Returning...(10)" "$log_out" ; return 10 ; }
 
@@ -58,13 +72,29 @@ function archive_system {
 function restore_files {
 	local log_out=$(realpath "${0%/*}/.log.1")
 	[[ -e $1 ]] && log "ERROR" "Restore function was called without any arguments." "$log_out"
-	local backup_file="/tmp/microsoft-edge-autoupdater/$(echo $1 | sed 's/\//_/').tar.gz"
+	local backup_file="/tmp/microsoft-edge-autoupdater/$1.tar.gz"
 	[[ ! -f "$backup_file" ]] && { log "ERROR" "There is no backup of Microsoft Edge (Beta) identified. Restoration not possible." "$log_out" ; return 12 ; }
-	tar -xzf "$backup_file" "/" > "/tmp/microsoft-edge-autoupdater/tar_dump.log" 2>>"$log_out"
+
+	tar --overwrite -xzf "$backup_file" -C "/" > "/tmp/microsoft-edge-autoupdater/tar_dump.log" 2>>"$log_out"
 	exit_code=$?
 	[[ ! $exit_code -eq 0 ]] && { log "ERROR" "There was an issue restoring pervious files to system." \
 		"The backup created will not be removed to allow for manual restoration. Returning...(12)" ; return 12 ; }
 
+	log "DEBUG" "Re-establishing symlinks..." "$log_out"
+	symlink_record="/tmp/microsoft-edge-autoupdater/symlink-record"
+	while read -r record ; do
+		symlink="$(echo $record | cut -d':' -f1)"
+		symlink_to="$(echo $record | cut -d':' -f2)"
+		## :NOTE: symlinks may already exist from new update and theoretically could be different in a newer version. Remove them first
+		rm "$symlink"
+		## create new sylinks based on the restored files
+		ln -s "$symlink_to" "$symlink" >/dev/null 2>>"$log_out"
+		exit_code=$?
+		[[ ! $exit_code -eq 0 ]] && { log "ERROR" "There was an issue trying to create a symlink to "$symlink_to"" "$log_out" ; continue ; }
+		log "DEBUG" "Successfully created symlink: "$symlink" -> "$symlink_to"" "$log_out"
+	done < <(cat $symlink_record)
+	log "DEBUG" "Symlinks re-established." "$log_out"
+
 	return 0
 }