A system and method for protecting software components of a software system can be used to guard against faults which might occur during the execution of a software component. A software component which is particularly prone to faults may be designated for protection. Faults occurring during execution of these protected software components can be detected, execution of the protected software component can be halted, and the software system may be restored to the state it held before execution of the protected software component commenced. The software system can then resume executing in a normal manner. Furthermore, a default value for the protected software component may be assigned in the event that a fault is detected during execution of the protected software component.