This program works in the background periodically creating snapshots, known as System Restore Points, of your settings. If your computer starts to experience problems, then you can choose a System Restore Point that was created before the problems started. Selecting a previous Restore Point will roll back your  computer’s settings to before the problem – letting your computer run normally again.

Step-by-step: Roll back system settings with System Restore

1 Launch System Restore
Before you roll back your system you’ll need to launch the System Restore program. In Windows Vista and Windows 7 click Start, type ‘system restore’ into the search box and then press Return. In Windows XP go to Start ➜ All Programs ➜ Accessories ➜ System Tools ➜ System Restore.

2 Scan for affected programs
Using System Restore doesn’t affect your documents or files such as music and photos. Recently installed programs and drivers might be uninstalled, however – as they could be causing the problem. Click Next then select a Restore Point and click Scan for affected programs to find out what will be removed.

3 Select a Restore Point
Choosing the right Restore Point to roll back to is vitally important. Go too far and you might lose settings and programs that haven’t caused any problems. To help you select the correct point you can see when and why it was created. Click Show more restore points to see older points.

4 Confirm your Restore Point
Select the Restore Point and click Next. Now confirm your selection and create a password reset disc if you regularly change your password – System Restore might roll back to a time when you had a different password. Click on Create a password reset disk or click Finish to begin the roll back.

5 Check your system
Once the System Restore process is underway you won’t be able to stop it. Windows will apply the changes and restart. You’ll then get a dialogue box letting you know that System Restore has completed successfully. Take time to make sure that the problem you were experiencing has been fixed.

6 Undo changes made by System Restore
If System Restore hasn’t fixed the problem – or in rare cases, if it has caused more – then you can easily undo all the changes made. Open System Restore as shown in Step 1 and just select Undo System Restore. If that option is not there, click Next. You should see the last time you used System Restore. The Description should be Restore Operation and the Type should be Undo. Select that and click Next and then Finish.

7 Create a System Restore Point
It’s always a good idea to create a System Restore Point that you can roll back to if you encounter any future problems. Click Start then right-click on Computer ➜ Properties. Click System Protection and then Create… Type a description into the text box. Click Create when done.

8 Enjoy your problem-free PC!
Now your PC should be running without problems again and your files and photos will be unaffected. Windows will continue to create System Restore Points in the background whenever you make changes so you don’t have to worry if things go wrong – just use System Restore to save the day!

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If you don’t, you could lose everything on your PC for ever. Creating a backup doesn’t require any specialist knowledge and takes the same amount of time as it does to watch an episode of Coronation Street.

The initial backup takes a little while to complete, but after this backups don’t take anywhere near as long, because you’re only backing up files you’ve recently changed or added. To do a backup you need to find something to save your files on. Most people use an external hard drive because they’re cheap, have a very large storage capacity and you can plug them in with a USB cable and use them immediately.

Step-by-step: Create a backup right now

1 Choose a drive
To start backing up your PC, click on Start ➜ Control Panel ➜ System and Security ➜ Backup and Restore. Click on Set up backup and select your external hard drive from the list of destinations. Make sure that the external hard drive you’re backing up to is bigger than the internal drive you’re backing up.

2 Different location
If you have more than one PC, you might prefer to back up to a network drive because all the PCs on your network can access the same drive. To save files to a network drive, click on Save on a network. Enter the location of the network (browse for it on your PC), then enter the username and password.

3 Back up everything
Select what you want to back up. The easy option is to select Let Windows choose. This backs up most of your files and folders, except ones that aren’t needed, or can’t be backed up. It also creates a system image, like a mirror of your PC, so if there’s a problem with your PC, you can easily restore it.

4 Pick and choose
If you only want to select a few folders to back up rather than most of what’s on your PC, select the Let me choose option from the list. This also gives you the ability to change when you perform a backup. Click on Next and select the folders that you would like to include in your backup.

5 Make an image
Keep the Include a system image of drives tick box checked if you want to be able to easily restore your PC if something goes wrong. Then click Next and confirm that you’re backing up the right folders. If you want to change how often you back up your PC, click on Change schedule.

6 Change schedule
By default, backup is set to run once a week, but if you use your PC quite a lot, it might be a good idea to increase the frequency of backups. Conversely, if you don’t use your PC much, you can reduce how often you perform a backup. The best time to do a backup is when you’re not really using your PC, such as overnight or when you’re at work, especially if you have a lot of files to back up. Use the drop-down menus to change the schedule. Click on OK and your PC now begins backing up.

7 Resurrect your PC
When you want to restore your PC using your backup, go to the Backup and Restore Center and click on Restore my files. If there’s a serious problem and you can’t access Windows, press F8 on your keyboard before the Windows logo shows during startup, insert your Windows 7 disc and choose Repair your computer.

8 Breathe a sigh of relief
You should be feeling more confident because your PC is a lot safer. You’ve created a backup of your PC on to an external hard drive, network drive or some DVDs, and you can restore your PC to its old settings if anything gets wiped or you have a more serious problem that prevents you loading Windows.

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It’s not worth deciding on some convoluted back-up plan that you’ll never keep up. If all you need to save is your Documents folder, making complete system images every week is a waste of time. You’ll give up long before you have your system crash, and lose everything.

2

It’s always worth keeping at least two copies of your files, one on a physical medium such as a DVD or external hard drive, another in an online backup service – so if your home is damaged by fire or flood, you’ve still got your documents.

3

Online backup services are generally reliable, but they rarely make a cast iron guarantee that your data will be safe, or offer any comeback if they lose it. This is especially true with free ones, which might disappear, be bought out, or change focus at any time.

4

Never keep your backups on your main computer. A virus, an accident or a hard disc crash could easily destroy them along with the original versions.

5

Your files matter, your Windows 7 installation doesn’t. Reinstalling may be a pain, but you’ll be back up and running in minutes. You can’t replace lost photos or documents.

6

You can’t back up programs by just copying their folder from Program Files – at least, not all of them. Most require registry entries, drivers and other bits from around your system. Only a system image is guaranteed to restore settings.

7

Restoring previous files can be a lifesaver, but don’t get into the habit of thinking of it as a safety net. If you’re going to be making big changes to a document that you may or may not want to undo, the best way is always to save it as a new copy until you’re sure.

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Download the original article from Windows Vista: The Official Magazine, Issue 1.
(PDF Format, 697kb)
Requires Adobe Reader.

Alternatively, buy the issue here.

The Backup and Restore Center in Windows Vista provides a place to manage safeguarding and restoring your files. Anyone can easily configure a backup using the Backup Wizard, while more technically adept users have the ability to access advanced options. And owners of Windows Vista Ultimate can take advantage of Complete PC Backup, which takes a snapshot of your entire system – programs, settings, files and everything else.

When it comes to finding files on your PC, Search has been really beefed up. You can now enter searches into windows such as Documents, Pictures and Music – and even search straight from the Start menu. From there, you can open applications, documents, emails and much more – it’s a far quicker way of getting access to things you need.

The new Search also looks inside documents, so if the most you remember about an email is that it mentions summer, for example, simply type ‘summer’ into the Start menu search box, and it will appear.

Once you’ve mastered Search at a basic level, you’ll want to start taking advantage of some of the Windows Explorer commands that get you the files you’re after even more quickly. For instance, typing ‘Tag:Holiday’ in the Search box returns images tagged ‘holiday’. How about finding files created on a certain date? Just type ‘Created:Yesterday’ or ‘Created:15/10/06’ and you’re there.

Backing and up and restoring your files

Six steps to help you safeguard your precious documents, photos and videos

1. Set and schedule backup

Type ‘backup’ into the Search box

To configure and schedule a backup, type ‘backup’ into the Start menu Search box and select Backup and Restore Center. Now click the Back up Files button. Select where you want to save: to CD or DVD, or to an external hard drive.

2. Select file types

Work out your file types

Decide which types of files you want to include in the backup. Hovering over each category reveals more details about what is included.

3. Select a frequency

Decide how often you want to back up

Choose how frequently you want to perform the backup. This will depend on how often you add to or change files on your hard drive.

4. Ready, set, go

Click save and Windows Vista will scan your files

Click Save settings and start backup and Windows Vista will scan your files and copy them to your backup device. If you chose to back up to CD or DVD, you’ll be prompted to insert a blank disc before the backup proceeds.

5. Restoring files

You can restore the latest file, or an older version

If you need to restore your files later, plug the backup drive into a Windows Vista PC, or put the backup DVD into the DVD drive, go to the Backup and Restore Center, click Restore Files, and choose to restore the latest or an older backup.

6. Add files to restore

Files can be restored to a new location

Click Add files… and browse the files on your backup drive. Once you’ve selected the files to restore, click Next, choose whether you want to restore the files to their original location or a new one, and then click Start restore.

James Senior contributes to Windows Vista: The Official Magazine, and works as a technical specialist at Microsoft UK.

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The idea behind BitLocker is a simple one: it uses a technique called encryption to scramble the data on your hard disk, and once the data is encrypted it can’t be accessed by other people – even if they use hacking tools or run a different operating system. You can still access your data, but other people can’t.

BitLocker has been designed to work with PCs that include a TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chip, and if your PC has such hardware then you’ll be able to log on normally when BitLocker is running. If you don’t have a TPM chip you can still use BitLocker, but you’ll need a USB flash drive. Your BitLocker password will be installed on this drive, and you’ll need to insert the drive every time you boot your PC.

Although many firms now offer TPM-enabled hardware, such PCs are still relatively rare – so in this tutorial we’ll show you how to use BitLocker with a USB flash drive. Before you start, make sure you’re logged on as the system administrator.

Missing chip

Because we’re not using a TPM-enabled PC, we need to make a few changes to Windows Vista before we can use BitLocker. Click on Start and in the search box, type gpedit.msc. Press Enter and then click Continue if the User Account Control dialog pops up.

Change the policy

Click on Local Computer Policy > Administrative Templates > Windows Components and double-click on BitLocker Drive Encryption.

Enable advanced options

Click on Control Panel Setup: Enable advanced startup options. This will display the advanced startup dialog box.

Enable the USB

Click on Enabled and make sure Allow BitLocker without a compatible TPM. This means you’ll be able to use BitLocker with your USB flash drive. Click on OK.

Apply the changes

Click on the Start menu and then type gpupdate.exe in the Search box. Press Enter and wait for the “User Policy update has completed successfully” message. BitLocker is now ready to use.

Click on Start > Control Panel > Security > BitLocker Drive Encryption. You’ll see that BitLocker is currently switched off; to turn it on, simply click on Turn On BitLocker.

The BitLocker preferences screen will now pop up. Put your USB drive into a spare port and then click on Require Startup USB key at every start-up.

BitLocker will now ask you to select the appropriate drive; on our PC, it’s drive F. Click on Save.

You’ll now be asked where BitLocker should save the recovery password – you’ll need this if changes are ever made to the system start-up settings, or if the drive is moved to another computer. The more copies of the password you have, the better.

There’s one final step, which is a system check that makes sure BitLocker can read your keys – if it can’t, you could lock yourself out of your own system. Make sure Run BitLocker System Check is ticked and then click Continue. Your PC will now restart and check your USB key – if everything’s OK you’ll see the “remove storage media” message and Windows Vista will load normally.

Once you’ve logged in, click Start > Control Panel > Security > BitLocker Drive Encryption and you’ll see that BitLocker is busily scrambling your data. From now on, you’ll need to plug in your USB key every time you boot your PC. If you don’t, you’ll be locked out – so make sure you don’t lose your flash drive!

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