PC Maintenance Class 4

We covered two topics that we started on last week, splitting the session in two, a lecture type discussion on Windows Security, and a hands on practical session involving what I referred to as a 'problematic' laptop.

We had discussed the various types of virus that can effect Windows computer, and we dug further into this subject by touching on this again with a presentation on general security, concentrating on online security. We covered the topics of Cyberbullying, Phishing, Online fraud, Spam, Protecting your identification.

Cyberbullying is the use of the Internet and related technologies to harm other people, in a deliberate, repeated, and hostile manner. As it has become more common in society, particularly among young people, legislation and awareness campaigns have arisen to combat it.

One of the key factors in looking after your computer, as mentioned in the presentation was to make sure your computer is updated with Windows Update and that you take every effort to backup the machine. This being the case, we then switched briefly to our hardware project. The laptop from last week. Having taken the laptop away to attempt to get the user data off it and failed,  we were faced with having to do a factory restore.

The first thing I needed to do was alter what is known as the computer's Boot Sequence. This is done by entering the BIOS menu, upon boot. This process is known as booting, or booting up, which is short for bootstrapping.

The BIOS software is built into the PC, and is the first code run by a PC when powered on ('boot firmware'). When the PC starts up, the first job for the BIOS is to initialise and identify system devices such as the video display card, keyboard and mouse, hard disk drive, optical disc drive and other hardware. The BIOS then locates boot loader software held on a peripheral device (designated as a 'boot device'), such as a hard disk or a CD/DVD, and loads and executes that software, giving it control of the PC.

BIOS software is stored on a non-volatile ROM chip on the motherboard. It is specifically designed to work with each particular model of computer, interfacing with various devices that make up the complementary chipset of the system. In modern computer systems the BIOS chip's contents can be rewritten without removing it from the motherboard, allowing BIOS software to be upgraded in place.

In the BIOS menu, I had to set the DVD drive as the first boot device, so that when I put the Recovery DVD in the drive, the computer would boot up from the optical disk rather than the C: drive.  The further settings of BIOS is something we will look at in a later class. Understanding it, can help you learn more about how the computer works, however changing settings in it, can be at the detriment of your computer if you are a novice. By all means have at look at your computer's BIOS settings, but don't change anything if you are unsure.  Entering setup on most machines involves pressing something like F2 or DEL, this is usually presented on screen briefly before Windows loads.

Continuing, the machine booted up, and the Recovery process was able to start 'recovering the computer' to its factory settings.

Jumping back into the subject of Backups, we then finished the sesssion, by looking at how the automated Backup and Restore Centre in Windows 7 works. 

The Windows 7 Backup and Restore centre.

Backup and Restore is run through the Windows Control Panel.  One of the first things I pointed out, was the ability to make a Windows System Repair Disk. This involves placing a blank disk into the computer and allowing Windows to make the disk for you. To make one, or more information, click the link below...

• Making a Windows System Repair Disk

One of the other function available, which we will look at next time, is the option to create a System Image, information on this can be found by clicking the link below. In a nut shell though, the System Image is used in conjunction with the System Repair Disk to do a full system restore. Usually the System Image is best stored on external USB Harddisk, but can be spanned across multiple DVDs depending on the amount of data on your computer.

• What is a Windows System Image?

Setting your computer to backup on a schedule is dead easy. For the first time you click on Set up Backup. And simply follow the wizard. If you have an external drive plugged into your computer (which is the preferred means of backup) it will automatically identify it. The next screen will ask 'what' you want backed up, then finally, you are able to set the time and frequency of the backup. The default is every Sunday at 19:00.  I decided to set the laptop in class to backup everyday at 22:00.

This is an external USB drive.  This particular model is one of the Seagate FreeAgent Go range. Powered through the one USB cable, it just plugs into a free USB port on your computer, 
and simply appears in My Computer.

The first backup takes some time, it copies everything you selected, however subsequent daily backups, in this scenario, are incremental, and only the differences are backed up, making the daily task of backing up, minimal. Then once a month a new 'backup set' is created and is stored seperate to the first, this continues the cycle until the backup drive is full, and then the oldest backup set is deleted.  Progress and details of backups can be reviewed in the main screen of the Backup and Restore centre.

After Half Term, because we are away next week, we will look at those settings and explore how we can manage our backups, and most importantly, how we restore data if we lose it!

See you in a fortnight!