by David Hakala
A memory card is essentially portable RAM, electronic memory that you can put in your pocket and plug into various devices to use as storage. A USB flash drive is a type of memory card. So are the wafer-thin cards you slide into digital cameras, game consoles, etc. There are different types of memory cards made for different purposes.
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by James Turner
Let’s face it, bad things happen. Houses burn down. Rivers overflow into basements. Viruses wipe your hard drive. In any case, losing your data can be a painful, costly, time consuming nightmare. Luckily, if you own a Mac, there’s a fairly inexpensive way to get your data out of your house before something bad erases it from the face of the earth.
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by Gabe Goldberg
The best disaster is the one that doesn’t happen. Next best is one that doesn’t matter, because it was anticipated. Worse than that are events that require some recovery time, and worst of all are … well, real disasters.
The most common computer-related advice used to be backup, backup, backup (your data). And when DID you last backup your hard drive? But these days, that advice is equaled by urgent reminders to keep your computer and applications updated and patched against viruses, spyware, and the like.
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by David Hakala
Q: Is the recovery partition of Vista really needed? Can I remove it? If I can remove it, what is a procedure to remove this partition? – Don
Vista’s recovery partition is needed like a car’s spare tire is needed. The car will run fine without a spare tire and you will free up some trunk space by removing the spare tire. You can keep the spare tire in your garage at home, and go get it when one of your tires goes flat. But better hope the car is in your driveway when a tire goes flat.
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by David Hakala
One fine day, it will happen to you: you will turn on your PC and nothing will happen. “Unable to load operating system” or something similar will appear on an otherwise dark, blank screen. The feeling engendered by this experience is somewhat akin to waking up in a hospital and finding one of your limbs gone. But fear not, it can probably be grown back!
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by David Hakala
It may be a pain to back up your data, but some day you will be glad you did. No one goes a lifetime without a fatal computer crash, and a recent backup copy can save precious financial records, irreplaceable photos, and all your other valuables.
Windows XP includes a program called NTBackup.exe that can make backing up your data easy. If you use Windows XP Professional, it’s already installed. If you use Windows XP Home Edition, you will have to install the backup utility from your Windows installation CD. Here’s how:
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by Tina Gasperson
It’s important to keep your important computer files backed up, because almost inevitably your hard drive will fail and all the data on it will be gone forever. In fact, if you can back up your documents, photos, and videos in more than one location, you’ll be doubly safe. Archive CDs and DVDs only last for just so long and can be lost or broken, so having a “backup backup” online might be the solution you need. Fortunately there are many online backup services you can take advantage of. I recommend that you look for a service that has been around for a while and has a good reputation. One such service is Mozy.com.
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by David Hakala
If you plan to sell, give away, or just toss in the trash an old hard drive, you really should erase your personal data from it first. If you’re like most people, your hard drive contains things you don’t want strangers to see: private correspondence, bank account numbers, passwords, your children’s pictures, names, and where they go to school… think about it, then take a little time to wipe that hard drive really clean!
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by Tina Gasperson
If you store photos, videos, and other multimedia files on your computer, or you’re a computer gamer, chances are you’ll need extra hard drive space at some point. You don’t have to buy a new computer to gain that space, or install a new interior hard drive. External hard drives are inexpensive, portable, and very easy to use.
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by David Hakala
Q: Reader John asks two questions: (1) I’m purchasing a new HP Pavilion Desktop with Vista OS. The supplier does not give the original Microsoft Program CD. Instead they include a Restore program on the hard drive. Am I entitled to the original CD? (2) Can the operating system be restored with the non-destructive installation method from the inbuilt “Restore Program”?
To answer the first question, unfortunately, no, you are not entitled to a full, retail copy of Microsoft Vista with the purchase of a new computer. That could be installed multiple times on different computers, depriving Microsoft of its hard-earned money.
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by Tina Gasperson
Q: I’ve been having trouble trying to restore my system to an earlier date. The restore program goes to the point where it says pick a date to restore to. There will be several dates highlighted to pick from, and when I pick one the program goes through its paces and then gives the message that it cannot restore to that date. No matter what date I pick it does the same thing. Is there a way to correct this? — Thomas
Unfortunately, the odds are you will likely not be able to correct this error, since Windows has probably deleted the files. One of the ways this can happen is if you have upgraded your Windows to a newer version. When the files are updated, Windows doesn’t keep old system restore checkpoints since they would not be compatible with a newer version of Windows. Neither can you “degrade” to an older version of Windows with system restore.
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