though I do not know how to use that to restore my system when needed.
I believe you boot from the installation media and follow the steps outlined here
Restore your computer from a system image backup - Windows Help
However, a lot of folks have complained about the reliability of the Windows System Image Recovery, so I wish you good luck with that.
You might want to try something like Acronis True Image. I've found that very reliable and I believe they have a fully functional free trial although the time limit for which you can use it has been cropped from 30 days to something less I believe.
It's relatively simple to use.
Install it, run it, Disk and Partition Backup, switch to "Disk Mode", select your disk, select your...