I recently came across a website offering 2GB of free space to back my files up. This was fantastic because I love free technology stuff, but also because this ensures that even if the remote hard drive I am backing my files up to dies their technology will still be able to recover all my files. The downside to backing up your files to an external drive, or flash drive, is that if your main HD and your external HD could both go bad, and lose your flash drive, then you would be without any files. Another great thing about this website is that you can access your files from any computer that has an internet connection.

The website is http://www.idrive.com/. When you sign up you automatically get 2GB for free. However, you could get up to 10GB if you put in your email info and SPAM the people in your friends list. If you don’t feel comfortable with that go create a new email address that has no contacts and use that. Easy peasy!

While it may not make since to use it at home for the common user there are many practical uses for it. Say you upgrade your home PC or laptop before your work laptop and you need to use software on your home machine that is not compatible with Windows 7. Just use the “XP Mode” (a virtual machine) to run the software. It is also good vice versa.

There are several companies offering virutalization. You can use the VMWare player and the Sun Virtualbox for free. You will need a product key on operating systems that require it.

To use the backup and restore feature all you need to do is run it! It does not require you to save the backup on separate media like many of the other backup applications you can use. You can save the backup file directly to your hard drive if you wish, but I would not recommend you keep it there long. The whole point of the backup file is to have it if the hard drive crashes, and if it crashes then you won’t be able to get to that backup file if it was only stored on your hard drive. I would suggest investing in an external hard drive that you can buy at pretty much any tech department in any department store.

The backup and restore feature is fairly dynamic. It will allow you to create incremental, differential, or full backups. To use the incremental and differential you MUST first do a full backup (called normal in the backup and restore wizard). After you have your full backup then you can set your scheduled backups to backup incrementally or differentially. Incremental means that if you take your full backup on Sunday then starting Monday your backup will include only the files that were saved or changed on Monday. Then on Tuesday your backups will include everything from Monday as well as Tuesdays new and saved documents and so on throughout the week. Differential backups will only backup the files that were changed on that day. Both incremental and differential have their plus and minuses so play around with it and find the best way for you. I would recommend incremental though.

The way you get to the Backup and Restore feature click on Start->programs->accessories->system tools->backup. When you get to the point where it wants to start the backup there will be an advanced button. You will need to hit advanced if you want to set the parameters on whether to do a full(normal), incremental, or differential backup.

To restore your files you will need to get the Backup and Restore feature again by following the above path. Instead of allowing the wizard to do a backup you would select the restore option. Check the folder you want to restore and allow the restore wizard to do the rest.

Most people don’t know how simple it really is to make a backup of their hard drive so give them my website if they would like to learn! You can also submit a help request and schedule a time for me to come out to your house. I service the surrounding areas of: Carrollton, Dallas, Douglasville, Hiram, and Villa Rica.

The File and Settings Transfer wizard is a great tool for the PC user who is especially weary about change. This transfer wizard will capture all of your files and settings and allow you to by either a direct cable connection or over a network connection. For the average user the network transfer might be a little hard to understand at first but as long as you know your way around My Network Places you should be able to browse to a shared folder over a network. For direct cable connection I would suggest a dual male ended USB cable. Windows will auto detect the connection once it is made. Once the transfer is complete then all you need to do is run the file and settings transfer wizard from the new PC and it will auto-migrate your data into the new PC.

Microsoft has an alternative method of transferring your files and settings. They have a program now called the Windows Easy Transfer.

The best way to troubleshoot any software related issue is to reinstall the program. You will either need to find the application media (CD, DVD) or go and download the installer from the website that you found the application. Once you have reinstalled the application then try to run the program again. If you still have issues running the program you might want to try to completely remove the program from your computer from the Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. Once you have removed the program it is good practice to reboot your machine before trying to install it again. Once your computer has rebooted you can now try to install the application once again. I have found that 70-80% of application issues are resolved by either repairing the installation or completely reinstalling the application.

If you are unfamiliar with any of the above steps from the above article then feel free to contact me through email or phone. If you live in my service area (Carrollton, Dallas, Douglasville, Hiram, or Villa Rica) the call or email to submit a request to schedule a time for me out to your computer and take a look at your software issue.