There are about 7 Windows tools and utilities I would like to cover as you need to be aware of them as a computer owner and operator. The first is the creation and usage of the ERD or ASR. This used in conjunction with your overall backup and recovery plan will solidify your ability to recover from a disaster. Windows 7 has taken this process one step further and has a good built-in Backup and Restore Utility which I highly recommend you take advantage of if you are a Windows 7 owner. These are a couple of tools that can pay off in spades.
There are another Windows tools such as the Event Viewer, which is a log repository for applications and services running on your computer. Generally when something goes really wrong with the actual computer, something about it is written to the Event Log.
I also want to discuss the concept of fragmented files and how to correct that issue, Full System Antivirus scanning, something called the Last Known Good Configuration and the Power of the Reboot. Let's go!!
Creating An ASR Diskette - Automated System Recovery
Have a floppy diskette handy and power on your computer. Go to Start, Accessories, System Tools, and Backup. This will pop your screen with the Backup and Restore Wizard. Towards the middle of that box, you will see the word Advanced underlined, select it. The next pop up window will give you three options with the third being to create your ASR disk. Select this option and follow the wizard. Once you tell it where to store the backup (this is just a backup of system configurations and settings, none of your data!), the backup job kicks off, ending with some information being written to your floppy disk so if your system completely crashes and is no longer able to boot up, you can boot to this floppy diskette and restore your computer.
But like I said earlier, none of your personal data is part of what is restored. Make sure you already have a good backup and recovery plan in place to augment this solution.
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