unfortunately disaster strikes us all eventually here are a few steps to help prepare you for when it hits your new windows 7 rig.
if you bought your pc from an oem manufacturer odds are it didn't come with a recovery disk, creating one should be near the top of your priority list when setting your new computer up. your computer will have included tools to help you do this many available from an annoying command center interface that pops up on boot until disabled. after creating your system restore media store it away in a safe location keeping the disks protected, this is essential as often this step can only be done one time.
back up your data. and do so on a regular basis, i recommend using an external drive for this. at very least a internal drive. most external drives will include a tool for backing up your data but if you need another solution i recommend syncback freeware available at http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html how frequently you need to back up will depend on your own personal use so i'll let you be the judge of how frequently to do so.
if your storing a lot of pictures or other files it may be a good idea to keep your data offsite. Photo Books, Photo Cards & Stationery, Photo Printing and Photo Share Sites | Shutterfly will allow you to save an unlimited number of photo's to their site, for other data i highly recommend SkyDrive - Windows Live it gives you 25gb for data storage and can be accessed with your msn live account. there is also Dropbox - Home - Secure backup, sync and sharing made easy. but i there free option only gives you 2gb of storage.
protect your pc. set up your favorite A/V software, firewalls and any other security measures you feel you need. remember though the best protection is going to be using safe browsing habits. practice these and you will have much fewer problems with all of the baddies out there.
make a list of all of your hardware don't know it use this SIW | System Information for Windows by Gabriel Topala having your pc's hardware specs is crucial when seeking help for many problems and the more information you can give about what is in your system the better. just incase store a copy of this information off your computer as well so that you can access it during the worst of problems.
i hope that someone will find this useful and that many will adopt some of these practices. being prepared today will make things much easier on you in the future.
if you bought your pc from an oem manufacturer odds are it didn't come with a recovery disk, creating one should be near the top of your priority list when setting your new computer up. your computer will have included tools to help you do this many available from an annoying command center interface that pops up on boot until disabled. after creating your system restore media store it away in a safe location keeping the disks protected, this is essential as often this step can only be done one time.
back up your data. and do so on a regular basis, i recommend using an external drive for this. at very least a internal drive. most external drives will include a tool for backing up your data but if you need another solution i recommend syncback freeware available at http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/681-startup-repair.html how frequently you need to back up will depend on your own personal use so i'll let you be the judge of how frequently to do so.
if your storing a lot of pictures or other files it may be a good idea to keep your data offsite. Photo Books, Photo Cards & Stationery, Photo Printing and Photo Share Sites | Shutterfly will allow you to save an unlimited number of photo's to their site, for other data i highly recommend SkyDrive - Windows Live it gives you 25gb for data storage and can be accessed with your msn live account. there is also Dropbox - Home - Secure backup, sync and sharing made easy. but i there free option only gives you 2gb of storage.
protect your pc. set up your favorite A/V software, firewalls and any other security measures you feel you need. remember though the best protection is going to be using safe browsing habits. practice these and you will have much fewer problems with all of the baddies out there.
make a list of all of your hardware don't know it use this SIW | System Information for Windows by Gabriel Topala having your pc's hardware specs is crucial when seeking help for many problems and the more information you can give about what is in your system the better. just incase store a copy of this information off your computer as well so that you can access it during the worst of problems.
i hope that someone will find this useful and that many will adopt some of these practices. being prepared today will make things much easier on you in the future.
My Computer
- Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
- Custom
- OS
- Windows 7 Ultimate Signature Edition
- CPU
- Intel Core i7 Extreme 3.33GHz
- Motherboard
- EVGA X-58 SLI Classified
- Memory
- 12GB DDR3
- Graphics Card(s)
- 2x EVGA 285 2GB in SLI
- Sound Card
- Creative Labs X-Fi ExtremeGamer
- Monitor(s) Displays
- 30" Viewsonic
- Hard Drives
- 2x1TB Western Digital 7200RPM in RAID 0/1TB WD My Book External HDD
- PSU
- Thermaltake 1000w supporting quad SLI
- Case
- Thermaltake Armor Full Tower
- Cooling
- Thermaltake V1 CPU+DIY Liquid cooling
