Tips to Make Your Blog or Website Popular

Many webmaster ask this question to SEO experts that how to make my website or blog popular quickly. For them I would say that there is no shortcut of success. All you need is to be fair in whatever you do and have patience. You will see the positive results. In this post, i will explain few points, if followed can lead your website to big success.

Unique Contents:

The first and very important step to make your website a big hit is that you should provide unique contents. Never copy the contents from popular website in a hope that you will make your website popular very soon. There are advantages of providing unique contents. All big poplar websites will link back to you if your content is unique and have some importance for their users. More and more popular websites will start linking back to you. Your authority will increase. You will receive more backlinks and hence more Google PageRank value as well as more referral traffic.

Hold Your Visitors:

This is another art you should know. You can get traffic from many sources but if your website is not able to hold this traffic, your website is not able to turn this traffic to re- visitors, your website popularity will never increase. A website is popular because of re-visitors. If users feel that your website is worth visiting again, it's your win and sign of the popularity of your website.

Here are some points on how can you hold your visitors-

• Unique content will hold visitors.
• Website navigation should be easy. User should easily get what they are looking for.
• Never try to make your users fool by providing misleading information.
• Never distract your visitor from your website contents.
• Some kind of regular visitor participation like poll, survey, contest etc.
• Keep away your website from Spamming

Provide New Contents:

Update your contents frequently. Search engines like new contents. Fresh and unique contents will keep your SERP up and high SERP will turn into high traffic and hence more chances of your website to be popular. For a single service or product provider websites, they can focus more on quality of their services. Always try to keep your website search engine friendly in order to achieve high SERP.

Active participation in Related Niche:

Active participation in related niche websites, blogs to pull traffic as well as to put our website in front of users of other websites is required. More exposure your website will get, more likely users will come back to your website. The form of participation could be blog commenting, forum posting and article submission etc.

Social Bookmarking and Social Networking:

Social Networking and Social Bookmarking can bring good amount of traffic to your website and can give exposure to your website. Your next job is to convert this traffic to your regular visitors.

Comprehensive Guide to How to Install Windows 7

 

How to Install Windows 7 - Introduction

There are three main versions of Windows 7 and this guide covers how to install Windows 7 in any of these variants.Actually there is a fourth version, Windows 7 Starter, but this is only available pre-installed on netbooks etc and it is limited in its capabilities compared to the other versions on offer.If you are building a new PC then you can purchase an OEM version of Windows 7.You will find this a much cheaper alternative to the full retail version, the only difference being the lack of telephone or any technical support.
Mountains of support is available on the internet for any problem you are likely to come up against though and unless you really want to pay for this we would strongly recommend that you stick with the OEM version.
We would recommend the ‘Windows 7 Home Premium’ version as the most suitable for home users.The ‘Windows 7 Home Premium’ option gives the best features verses price trade off.
The other thing to consider is whether to opt for the 32 bit or 64 bit version. If you have a 64 bit processor installed in your PC then you will most likely want to purchase the 64 bit version to ensure you make full use of the extra performance available to you. A 64 bit processor and operating system will also allow you to access RAM above 4GB.
Do be aware though that some of your software may not be 64 bit compatible and it is worth checking this out before deciding.Ok, so you are probably going to opt for the OEM version but remember that the OEM version will not come with a pretty box or manual although you will save a truckload of money over the retail version.
If you are constructing a new PC then you will already be performing a clean installation but if you are simply upgrading we would still always recommend a clean installation of Windows 7 rather than an upgrade or re-install over your current Windows Vista installation.
Note that Windows XP users will only have the option to perform a ‘Clean’ install; the upgrade option is only available to Windows Vista users.
Any problems you may have with your current installation may still be there after you re-install / upgrade and some applications may not work correctly requiring you to re-install these anyway.
A clean installation will require that you back up all your files and folders as a clean install will wipe your hard drive of everything including your settings and programs.
You can make use of Windows Easy Transfer (available from the Microsoft site or on the Windows 7 installation DVD) to help you with this. Windows Easy Transfer will help you to copy your data together with your program settings, email, photos etc to an external hard drive, USB drive or on to a DVD.
Windows Easy Transfer can be used for migration of files and settings whether you are currently running Windows XP or Windows Vista.
Even with this facility available to you do please ensure that you have separately backed up any documents photos and music files etc that you simply cannot afford to lose to a safe medium that you are sure you can restore from. See our page on Data Backup to avoid any potential disasters.

How to Install Windows 7 – Installation

You can boot directly from your Windows 7 DVD. Insert the Windows 7 Installation DVD into your optical drive and the installation should begin.Note that you may need to enter your PC BIOS to change the order of boot devices if you are upgrading from Windows Vista or re-installing otherwise your PC may simply start up with your current version of Windows.
The BIOS can be accessed at start up by pressing the Del, F1, F2 or ESC key dependant upon your BIOS version and manufacturer. Once you are in the BIOS look for the ‘Boot Order’ sub menu which you will find listed under one of the main menus – probably listed as ‘Advanced’.
You will need to use the arrow keys and enter/return key to navigate around the BIOS instead of your mouse which will not work.
Now make the CD/DVD drive top of the boot order list by using the + and – keys to sort the boot order of the listed drives.The first screen you will see informs you that Windows is loading files – just sit and wait for Windows to finish, it doesn’t take long.

Windows has now loaded all the setup files into memory and you will now see the ‘Starting Windows’ screen.

When the ‘Starting Windows’ screen disappears you will be asked to select your ‘Language to install’, ‘Time and currency format’ and ‘Keyboard or input method’. Select and then click ‘Next’.

Once you’ve clicked on ‘Next’ you will be presented with a screen inviting you to ‘Install Now’.

Click the ‘Install now’ button and your Windows 7 installation will begin. You will now see a ‘Setup is starting’ screen.

Followed closely by the software license terms which you should read and then tick the ‘I accept the license terms’ box and then click ‘Next’.

Now you have an option of ‘Upgrade’ or ‘Custom (advanced)’. The ‘Upgrade’ option may be grayed out if you have bought an OEM installation disk that is for installation on a new PC only and which will perform a ‘Clean’ installation by default on your hard drive.

The next screen asks you where you wish to install your copy of Windows 7. We only have one option as we have a brand new hard disk drive.Note that if you are installing on and old drive with data already on it you will get the option to install on one of the logical drives (maybe more than one logical drive if the drive has been partitioned). There will also be options available to allow you to format the drive thus erasing all of the data on it or to create, delete or expand partitions etc. Once again, do make sure you have backed up all of your data!
Select the unallocated drive and then click on ‘Next’ and wait while Windows 7 installs itself on your brand new drive.

By the way, to make a clean installation over an old one there is no need to delete or format the drive first. Windows will move the older version to a folder called Windows.old thus preserving your data for access later if you should wish. Note though that this version of Windows will then no longer be bootable.That’s it for now, you’re in for a bit of a wait while Windows gets on with installing itself on your hard drive. Time to get a coffee perhaps!

Your PC will restart itself several times during the installation and this is quite normal. After a long wait (may be an hour or longer depending upon your setup) you will be greeted with a ‘Welcome’ screen and ‘Windows is finalising your settings’ screen.

Windows will then invite you to ‘Choose a user name for your account’ and to ‘name your computer’. This name will be used for identifying the PC if it is connected to a network for instance.

There is a password option but if the PC is purely for family use you may not require this.

The next screen will ask you to enter your ‘Product Key’. Enter and tick the activate Windows automatically option if you want Windows to activate itself when you go online for the first time.

The next screen gives you three different security options. The choice is yours. Most people should go for option one and use recommended settings. We will choose option two and ‘Install important updates for Windows only’ as we will be installing our own Internet Security software and do not wish to report problems to Microsoft.

You now have the option to set date and time but you shouldn’t need to do this as you have probably already set this up in the BIOS.Tick the ‘Automatically adjust clock’

If your computer is connected to a network the Windows 7 installation program will detect this and ask you to select the type of network, Home, Work or Public.

Windows will now configure your settings for the network – sit back and relax for a few minutes.

You should now be greeted with a ‘Preparing your desktop’ screen and you’re almost all done!

Windows will now personalize your settings.

Voila! – You have now installed Windows 7!

If you have used Windows Easy Transfer to back up your data you can re-instate files by going ‘Start’ > ‘All programs’ > ‘Accessories’ > ‘System tools’.Now click on ‘Windows Easy Transfer’ to run the program and then click on ‘Next’.Click on the option ‘An external hard drive or USB flash drive’ and then click on ‘This is my new computer’ and you can now proceed to re-instate your backed up files, settings and folders from the backup file you created earlier.

How to Install Windows 7 – Setting up your New Computer

Your new computer is up and running but there is a number of things that you need to do before you can put your PC to good use.

How to Install Windows 7 – Drivers

First off we need to install the correct drivers for the motherboard, graphics card etc.Windows 7 will scan your system to see what hardware you have installed and then install the relevant drivers for these drivers. If it recognises your hardware correctly then this shouldn’t be a problem, but driver updates are pretty frequent and also depending upon what you have bought, you may not have the correct versions of drivers i.e. it may be a Windows 98 or XP driver that has been supplied on your disk and this will not work with Windows 7.
The best advice is to see if you can go to the motherboard, graphics card etc manufacturer web site and then search for your model number. When you get to the details for your device there should be an option to download the latest drivers for your particular operating system. Download these and burn to a disk or copy to a USB stick ready for installation on your new PC.
To confirm that all of your drivers have been installed correctly go to ‘Start’ > ‘Control Panel’ > ‘System and Security’ > ‘System’ > ‘Device Manager’.

You will now be shown a list of all of your installed hardware devices. Click on the ‘+’ sign next to each item of hardware to see full details and look for any yellow exclamation marks that would indicate if the driver is not installed or working correctly.If you find any exclamation marks then simply double click on the device and then select ‘Driver’ where you will be given the option to update the drivers for this device.

How to Install Windows 7 – Anti Virus Protection

Before you go anywhere on the Internet you will need to install some form of anti-virus software. The Internet is rife with Viruses, Trojans, Spyware etc and you would be surprised at how quickly your PC will become infected if you do not have any protection.We at PC Tips and Tricks use Norton Internet Security which is a package containing anti-virus, firewall, anti-spyware and hacker protection all in one package.
There are other companies providing similar packages such as Kaspersky, Bit Defender, McAfee and Panda to name but a few.

How to Install Windows 7 – Firewall

It is a sad fact that the Internet is a haven for malicious individuals who would delight in causing havoc and damage to your PC if the opportunity arose.Windows 7 comes with its own firewall protection and if you do not have another product installed providing you with protection then you should ensure that the Windows Firewall is turned on. It should automatically be on by default but it is worth checking.

How to Install Windows 7 – Recommended Protection

Again, as stated earlier, we at www.pc-tips-and-tricks.com use Norton Internet Security, which in its latest guise provides excellent all round protection.There are also a number of free anti-virus and firewall providers available and many people have found them to give extremely good performance. A very popular firewall protection program that can be obtained for free use is Zone Alarm.
For anti-virus protection you could look at AVG Anti-Virus.

How to Install Windows 7 – Before Connecting to the Internet

So, you have been warned! Do not connect to the internet without installing an anti-virus program and ensuring that you have a firewall set up to protect you from hackers and the like.

How to Install Windows 7 – Internet First Stop

When you do connect to the Internet, the first thing you must do is visit Microsoft Update. Here you need to download the latest patches and updates for your operating system, especially the security updates!You can access this easily from your Start menu. Go Start > All programs > Windows Update to be taken directed straight to the Windows Update webpage.
Here you will be invited to check your PC for the latest updates. You should set your PC to allow Automatic Updates so that you are automatically kept up to date with the latest software patches and security updates.

How to Install Windows 7 – Anti Spyware

Spyware programs install themselves silently on your PC without you realizing just by paying a visit to the right (or wrong!) website.These programs will monitor your browsing habits and history and other details and report back to their user. Some programs will install automatic pop-up adverts, which will become highly annoying and disruptive to your Internet usage.
We at PC Tips and Tricks recommend the use of Spyware and advert blocking / destroying software provided by the following two companies.

How to Password Protect your Files and Folders

Do you have files and folders on your computer that you absolutely don’t want anyone else to see? Or do you even carry important documents on those easy-to-misplace USB drives?
If the answer is yes, you should definitely download a copy of SafeHouse Explorer – it’s a free and incredibly easy-to-use file encryption utility that will hide all your private files from prying eyes in few easy steps. You may use the tool to password protect files that are residing on your computer’s internal hard disk or even on external USB drives.

Tutorial: Encrypt and Password Protect your Files and Folders

SafeHouse Explorer, in simple English, works something like this. It creates a hidden storage area on your disk to hold all the files that you want to protect. These files and folders are hidden from normal view and will only become visible when you enter the correct password.
Here’s a more detailed tutorial on how you can protect your files with SafeHouse Explorer.
Step 1: Download and install SafeHouse Explorer to your hard-drive.

The software works with XP, Vista and Windows 7 (both 32 and 64-bit editions). It is also portable so you may run it directly without installation.
Step 2: Once the installation is complete, click the “New Volume” button to create your hidden storage that will house your various files and folders.
You may either create one large volume to store all the “private” files or you can create multiple smaller-size volumes each corresponding to the type of files that they’ll store. For instance, you may have one volume for storing confidential documents and spreadsheets while another one could be for hiding those “personal” pictures and so on.

For step 2b, choose a volume size based on the size of the folders that you’ll be storing inside that volume. The “Pre-initialize Volume with Random Data” basically means that your virtual drive will be filled with random data if there aren’t enough files to fill complete that volume. Use the default “on” setting.
Step 3. Now that your volume is created, open Windows Explorer (Win+E) and you’ll see a new “virtual drive” under My Computer. Just drag and drop any of your folders and files into this virtual drive and they’ll instantly get protected using encryption.
Once you have added all the files to the “protected” volume, make sure you delete them from the original location as the original copy is unencrypted and therefore anyone can open it without requiring a password.
Step 4. Switch to SafeHouse Explorer and choose File –> Close Volume to lock up the files. Congratulations. You have successfully created your first encrypted and password-protected folder on your computer that you can only access after typing the correct password.

To access your protected files, simply navigate to the folder that houses your SafeHouse volumes and double-click the corresponding volume file to open it. Type the password and you should see all the files and folders under a virtual drive in Windows Explorer again.
Encryption is obviously a complex subject for most of us but what you’ll really like about SafeHouse Explorer is that it hides all the technical details from the end user.

Encrypt your USB Flash Drive and Email Attachments

The tool will also be extremely handy for people who carry around important and confidential files on USB drives and external hard disks.
Instead of copying files and folders to your external disk directly, first encrypt these files on the hard-drive (as explained above) and then copy the encrypted volume (the .sksk file) to your external disk. Now even if the drive gets misplaced, the finder won’t be able to read any of your files and, since the software uses 256-bit encryption, it will be nearly impossible for anyone to crack your password.
Similarly, you can add an extra layer of protection to your sensitive email attachments with SafeHouse. Encrypt the files, send them as email attachments and communicate the password to the recipient over another medium (like phone).

How to Check the Health of your Hard Drive

Hard disk failure is possibly the worst thing that can happen to your computer and it often occurs without giving any warning signs.

Test Your Hard Drive for Impending Problems

You may however run certain tests on your computer beforehand to get an idea about the current condition of your hard disk. This should in turn help you decide whether a replacement drive is necessary or not.

Step 1: Check your hard disk for errors

All recent versions of Windows include a utility called Chkdsk.exe that can check your hard disk for any bad sectors.
You may either run Chkdsk from the command line (see details) or launch Windows Explorer, right click the drive that you wish to examine and choose Properties. Switch to the Tools tab and click the “Check Now” button under Error checking. Select “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors” to perform a thorough disk check.

Step 2: Understand the sounds of your disk

Do you sometimes hear strange sounds coming out of the CPU box? Well, if the hard drive is making those sounds, it could be an alarming situation and your best bet would be that you turn off the computer before any further damage is done to the disk.
But how do you distinguish between sounds coming from a hard disk with noise that’s made by the fans or the power supply? Here’s a useful page where you can listen to recorded sounds of various hard drives that have lead to a crash. If your disk is making a similar sound, get a replacement quickly.

Step 3: Catch errors before they happen

Disk Checkup is a free hard disk monitoring utility that displays tons of diagnostic data about your disk. While the level of detail it provides may easily confuse even tech-savvy users, just ignore the numbers and keep the utility running in the background.
It monitors your disk’s temperature, read and write error rate, etc. and will alert you when the values of any of these parameters approach dangerous levels. These may be signs of an impending disk failure. Disk Checkup is free for personal use.

Step 4: Thoroughly test your Hard Disk

SeaTools is free diagnostic tool that can completely test your hard drive regardless of the OS installed on it. The tool is provided by Seagate but it works with non-Seagate  disk drives as well.
To get started, you need to download the ISO image of SeaTools for DOS and create a bootable CD. Now boot the computer with the CD in the drive, accept the license agreement and run a long test (the full scan). If any defects are found, a list will be offered at the end or after aborting the disk scan.
Other computer vendors /disk manufactures including Samsung, Hitachi, Toshiba (Fujitsu), Western Digital, Lenovo, Dell, etc.  too offer diagnostic tools that work only with their own brand of hard drives. If you are having frequent computer problems (like system hangs or fails to boot up), you may run these tools to confirm if the problems are hard drive related.

How to Research Domain Names on the Web

Researching domain names on the web is often frustrating because all the good names that are in your mind have already been taken. There are however tools that you help you brainstorm new ideas for domain names and you may sometimes strike gold.
The IANA maintains a complete list of top-level domains (like .am for Armenia or .be for Belgium) that you may consider registering in case the usual .com and .org addresses for your domain are not available.
It’s obviously not easy for anyone to search through dozens of domain extensions manually so a tool like iWantMyName should help. With a single click, iWantMyName lets you check the availability of a domain name against most of the international domains* from one place.
Another excellent tool for researching domains is Domai.nr. Give it any word and Domai.nr will suggest some really creative domain names around that word.
For instance, if you are looking for a domain like “awesome”, Domai.nr will check the availability of generic domains (like awesome.com) as well as unconventional domains like aweso.me, aws.me, aw.sm, etc. which also make lot of sense in case the original one is not available.
You may also use characters from Arabic, Hindi and other non-Latin scripts when searching for domains on both Domai.nr and iWantMyName.
Wolfram Alpha, the versatile and intelligent search engine, is also a pretty handy tool for discovering clever domain names on your own.
For instance, if you are looking to book a .in domain, you can use a query like words ending with in to determine all the proper English words that can go with the .in extension. Similarly, a query like words containing news will find English words that contain the letter news thus helping you find more variants of the domain name that you may have in mind.
Finally, you should also check out Domize – it may look like any other domain search tool but Domize is actually quite powerful under the hood.
Domize lets you search domains in bulk and that too in a very interesting manner. You can say [parrots,pigeons,crows] in one query and it will find the domain availability for all these words separately but in one go. Or you can frame a query with a set of words like [red,blue][balls,berries] and Domize will check the availability for all the various combinations like redballs, redberries, blueballs, etc.
Domains expire after some time and if the current owner chooses not to renew them, they are released in the open market for others to grab. You can use a tool like Domain Monitor to track the status of one or more domains and the service will send you instant email alerts as soon as the status /whois information of any of these domains is changed.

Create and Save Custom Views for Windows 7 Event Viewer

If you spend much time in Event Viewer or have a particularly troublesome program or device that sends you back to Event Viewer, creating ad-hoc filtering, grouping, and sorting criteria becomes tiresome. Custom views can be a huge help!
To create a custom view:
1. Open Event Viewer, click Action on the menu bar and select Create Custom View.
You’ll see a dialog box nearly identical to the Filter Current Log dialog box. One key difference here, however, is the Event Logs list is available, and you can specify any or all logs to include in your custom view.
2. Specify the filter criteria for your custom view, as you normally would.
3. After you specify filter criteria and click OK, you need to specify a name and location for your custom view. You can store your custom view in the Custom Views folder or any of its subfolders. (To create a subfolder, click New Folder.)
If you want any user on the computer to be able to view the custom view, select the All Users option. Clear this option if you want the view to appear only when you log onto the system.

You can now display your custom view by selecting its name in the console tree.

Best of all, you can apply sorting and grouping, and those changes will be stored as part of the custom view.
To modify the filter criteria, click Filter Current Log. To change the name or description for your custom view, click Action and select Properties.

3 stubborn PC problems you can fix

However, don’t take a hammer to your PC just yet. The following is a list of common symptoms and treatments to help even the most troublesome PCs. You don’t even have to be a psychologist (at least not yet) to deal with your PC’s neuroses.
Windows 7 and Windows Vista usually manage this automatically, but overall you’ll find that these tips work for all versions of Windows, from Windows 95 to Windows 7.

1. You keep getting a “your system is running low on virtual memory” message

Perhaps you’re more than familiar with this scenario: You’re working on your PC and notice performance getting gradually slower and slower. Programs become harder to open and close. You wait forever for Web pages to be displayed. And then, you get some serious-sounding “virtual memory is too low” message, like the one in the following graphic.
Don’t worry: This message isn’t as scary as it sounds.

Virtual memory is the space your computer uses when it’s short of RAM (Random Access Memory), which is the memory used when running programs like Microsoft Office Word or Microsoft Office PowerPoint.
So what can you do to correct this problem and prevent this message from coming up in the future? The following are some solutions to keep your computer from displaying the “virtual memory minimum is too low” message.
Solution 1: Bump up the virtual memory size on your computer
The first solution is to increase your computer’s virtual memory settings. To do so, you first need to determine how much RAM you currently have.
Windows 7
1. On the Start menu, click Control Panel, then click System.
2. In the left pane, click Advanced system settings. If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
3. On the Advanced tab, under Performance, click Settings.
4. Click the Advanced tab, and then, under Virtual memory, click Change.
5. Clear the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives check box.

6. Under Drive [Volume Label], click the drive that contains the paging file you want to change.
7. Click Custom size, type a new size in the Initial size (MB) or Maximum size (MB) box, click Set, and then click OK.
Note Increases in size usually don’t require you to restart your computer for the changes to take effect, but if you decrease the size, you’ll need to restart your computer. We recommend that you don’t disable or delete the paging file.
Solution 2: Add more RAM to your computer
If you keep getting that dreaded “Your system is running low on virtual memory” message even after you increase your computer’s virtual memory then you may need to buy more memory for your computer. To really work well:

• Windows 7 needs at least 1 GB of RAM to run. See more system requirements for Windows 7.
• Windows Vista needs at least 512 MB of RAM to run, but for some applications (like gaming) 1 GB or more of RAM is recommended.
• Windows XP needs a minimum of 256 MB of RAM.

The more RAM you have, the better.
Find out how much RAM you have in your computer
1. On the Start menu, click Control Panel, then click System.
2. Under System, next to Installed memory (RAM), you can see the amount of RAM your computer has.
Note In some cases, Windows reports both the amount of memory that’s installed on your computer and the amount of memory that’s usable. If you’re using a 32-bit version of Windows, the amount of usable memory might be less than the total amount of memory installed.
If you’re at work, contact your company’s IT administrator before updating the memory on your computer. They may have some memory available and can help you install it.
If you do need to purchase some more memory, stop by your local computer shop. You can probably buy memory from them, and they’ll probably install it for you. Or, you can buy memory online.

Free Windows XP and Windows Vista

Microsoft continues to offer free copies of its Windows operating systems, a “tradition” that the company started back in 2006 after the release of Internet Explorer 7. The software giant is attempting to compensate for the shortcomings of the Windows design in older releases of its platforms, in which a single version of Internet Explorer can be installed at a time. This limitation makes it difficult for developers building websites to test their code in different IE versions on Windows Vista and Windows XP.
This is where the Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image comes in. This download offers free, virtualized copies of XP and Vista, each with different versions of Internet Explorer. There are no less than five downloads available, all free of charge.
The VPC Hard Disk Images are time bombed, and only allow usage for a limited period of time. However, for the past few years, Microsoft has updated the Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image downloads without fault, just ahead of their expiration date.
In Windows 7, Internet Explorer 8 can be turned off, a move which is roughly equivalent to having the browser almost completely uninstalled. At the same time, the next generation of IE, Internet Explorer 9 can be deployed alongside older versions of IE on top of Windows 7 and Vista.
“This download page contains different VPC images, depending on what you want to test.
- IE6-on-XP-SP3.exe contains a Windows XP SP3 with IE6 VHD file. Expires October 1, 2010
- IE7-on-XP-SP3.exe contains a Windows XP SP3 with IE7 VHD file. Expires October 1, 2010
- IE8-on-XP-SP3.exe contains a Windows XP SP3 with IE8 VHD file. Expires October 1, 2010
- IE7-VIS1.exe+IE7-VIS2.rar+IE7-VIS3.rar contain a Vista Image with IE7 VHD file. Expires 90 days after first run.
- IE8-VIS1.exe+IE8-VIS2.rar+IE8-VIS3.rar+IE8-VIS4.rar contain a Vista Image with IE8 VHD file. Expires 90 days after first run
For The Vista image, you will need files in that set, downloaded and in the same directory, then run the EXE in the root directory,” Microsoft stated.
The Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image are available for download list:
IE6-on-XP-SP3
IE7-on-XP-SP3
IE7-VIS1
IE7-VIS2
IE7-VIS3
IE8-on-XP-SP3
IE8-VIS1
IE8-VIS2
IE8-VIS3
IE8-VIS4

Two Ways To Upgrade From Windows XP To Windows 7

Windows 7 is till now the best Windows operating system released till date, as per the user feedback, sales numbers and experience it has got some very positive comments.

All those user who are still using XP and may want to upgrade to windows 7 are out of luck, as Microsoft does not allow to upgrade from XP to windows 7 as both are vastly different OS in terms of feature and their structure.

However there are 2 ways with which you can partially upgrade from XP to windows 7, but both of these method will require some input from your side.

The first method is to install windows 7 in dual boot, after running the setup from Windows XP so it will get added to the boot loader. But it will result in wastage of disk space and it will require a different partition also to get installed this way.

Another method would be to backup all user data and settings with windows easy settings transfer and do a clean install after removing Windows XP completely, in this case you will be requiring to install the old software which you used to use again in the new Windows 7 OS.

We would suggest you to use Windows 7 upgrade advisor to check for issues and problems with devices and software that might occur after installing windows 7, so that you can come to know whether your system can run windows 7 smoothly or not.

Start with a thorough XP system checkup

Check the hardware.
Hardware? Yes! No operating system can be better than the hardware on which it’s installed, and older systems are prone to age-related problems. One often-overlooked problem is dust buildup, which can cause chips and drives to overheat and malfunction. These hardware errors can masquerade as software problems, causing you to waste time troubleshooting the wrong thing.
It’s easy to clean your PC. Consult my how-to article, “Getting the grunge out of your PC.” (It’s a few years old, but still completely apt.) While you have your PC’s case open, make sure that all plug-in cards and socketed chips are fully seated and all cables firmly connected.
Check your hard drive’s “physical” health.
Most new and XP-era drives are equipped with Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology, also known as SMART reporting. SMART data is stored within the hard drive itself and can often alert you to impending problems before they get serious.
It’s easy to check the SMART data. Two tools I like are PassMark’s DiskCheckup (info/download page) and Active@ DiskMonitorFree (download page). Both programs are free for personal use and also come in commercial versions for organizations.
Check your hard drive’s “logical” health
Run chkdsk.exe to check the integrity of your hard drive’s files and to repair any errors.
Click Start and Run, then type chkdsk c: /f into the Run dialog box. Hit OK.
Chkdsk may tell you that it can’t check the drive because the drive is in use. It will then offer to check the drive at reboot. Type Y (yes) and hit the Enter key.
Repeat for all drives/partitions on your system.
Correct driver errors now, while you can
Just as Microsoft is providing less support for XP, third-party vendors are withdrawing support for older hardware. Someday soon, you may discover that the drivers you need are no longer available. Fix problems now!
Boot XP and right-click My Computer. Select Properties, Hardware, then Device Manager. (Or, click Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager.) Click View and select Show hidden devices to make sure you’re seeing everything.
Correct any problem indicated by a yellow exclamation mark or a red X; in most cases, you should get correct or updated drivers from the hardware vendor’s site.
It might also be wise to save copies of any special drivers your systems needs; burn ‘em to a CD or DVD, and tuck the disc away in a safe place.
Patch and update XP and apps
Starting with Windows Update, make sure your operating system is fully up-to-date with all necessary patches, fixes, and updates. Do the same for all your non-Microsoft software, visiting the vendor sites to download any new updates and patches for your applications and utilities. A tool such as Secunia’s outstanding, free-for-home-use Personal Software Inspector (PSI) (download page) can make this step a breeze.
Verify system security
Regardless of the antivirus and anti-malware tool(s) you’re using, visit a competing vendor’s site and run their free live or online scan to verify that nothing slipped past your usual defenses.
Next, check that your firewall is providing the protection it should. There are many good, free, online firewall-test sites, such as Hackerwatch, Gibson Research ShieldsUP, and AuditMyPC.
Take out the trash all of it
Needless file clutter makes a system harder to use and slower to operate. For example, AV scans and Windows’ indexing both take longer when they have many junk files to process.
Start by deleting old $NtUninstall{xxx}$ files from XP’s C:\Windows folder; these files can occupy a shocking amount of space! You need these files only when a Windows Update fails and you (or the OS) have to roll back your system. If your system is working fine, $NtUninstall files serve no purpose.
Next, wade through your hard drive, folder by folder, making sure files are where they’re supposed to be and that you’re not storing needless duplicates or other useless files.
Next, uninstall obsolete or unused software.
Finally, use a tool such as Piriform’s free CCleaner (site) to rid your drive of useless junk files and broken or obsolete Registry data.
Rein in XP’s three worst space-hogs
System Restore, the Recycle Bin, and browser caches are like black holes for data, and your system can run better if you limit their voracious appetites.
System Restore is at best a limited recovery tool, so I don’t feel it’s worthwhile to devote vast amounts of disk space to it. The Kellys-Korner article, “System Restore for Windows XP,” tells you how to manage it.
Windows’ default Recycle Bin can consume hundreds of gigabytes on a large drive. Pare this down to a reasonable size by right-clicking the Recycle Bin and selecting Properties. Reduce the size of the Recycle Bin to a smaller percentage of the total disk space. (Click the disk tab — e.g., Local Disk (C:) — to determine its reserved Recycle Bin space in gigabytes.) I set it to around 500 MB (0.5GB) on large disks and 250MB (0.25GB) on smaller ones.
To reduce Internet Explorer’s cache size, click Tools and Internet Options. Then, under the Browsing History section, click Settings and adjust the cache size downward to, say, 50MB.
For Firefox, click Tools/Options and then click Advanced. Under the Network tab, look for the settings box in the Offline Storage section.
Chrome’s cache-size adjustment uses the command line, as described on a Chrome Help forum page.
Defrag
Once your disk is rid of all unnecessary files and is organized the way you want, run your defragmentation tool to reorder your files for optimal performance. If your disk was badly fragmented, it may take several iterations of defragging to achieve maximum benefit.

Five ways to speed up your PC

By following a few simple guidelines, you can maintain your computer and keep it running smoothly. This article discusses how to use the tools available in Windows 7, Vista, and XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) to more efficiently maintain your computer and safeguard your privacy when you’re online.

1. Free up disk space

The Disk Cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk to improve the performance of your computer. The tool identifies files that you can safely delete, and then enables you to choose whether you want to delete some or all of the identified files.
Use Disk Cleanup to:
* Remove temporary Internet files.
* Remove downloaded program files (such as Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets).
* Empty the Recycle Bin.
* Remove Windows temporary files such as error reports.
* Remove optional Windows components that you don’t use.
* Remove installed programs that you no longer use.
* Remove unused restore points and shadow copies from System Restore.
Tip: Typically, temporary Internet files take the most amount of space because the browser caches each page you visit for faster access later.
To use Disk Cleanup
Window 7 users
1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, then click Disk Cleanup. If several drives are available, you might be prompted to specify which drive you want to clean.
2. When Disk Cleanup has calculated how much space you can free, in the Disk Cleanup for dialog box, scroll through the content of the Files to delete list.

3. Clear the check boxes for files that you don’t want to delete, and then click OK.
* For more options, such as cleaning up System Restore and Shadow copy files, under Description, click Clean up system files, then click the More Options tab.
4. When prompted to confirm that you want to delete the specified files, click Yes.
After a few minutes, the process completes and the Disk Cleanup dialog box closes, leaving your computer cleaner and performing better.
For Windows XP users
1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup. If several drives are available, you might be prompted to specify which drive you want to clean.
2. In the Disk Cleanup for dialog box, scroll through the content of the Files to delete list.
3. Clear the check boxes for files that you don’t want to delete, and then click OK.
4. When prompted to confirm that you want to delete the specified files, click Yes.
After a few minutes, the process completes and the Disk Cleanup dialog box closes, leaving your computer cleaner and performing better.

2. Speed up access to data

Disk fragmentation slows the overall performance of your system. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. The response time can be significantly longer.
Disk Defragmenter is a Windows utility that consolidates fragmented files and folders on your computer’s hard disk so that each occupies a single space on the disk. With your files stored neatly end-to-end, without fragmentation, reading and writing to the disk speeds up.
When to run Disk Defragmenter
In addition to running Disk Defragmenter at regular intervals—monthly is optimal—there are other times you should run it too, such as when:
* You add a large number of files.
* Your free disk space totals 15 percent or less.
* You install new programs or a new version of Windows
To use Disk Defragmenter:
1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.
2. In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, click the drives that you want to defragment, and then click the Analyze button. After the disk is analyzed, a dialog box appears, letting you know whether you should defragment the analyzed drives.
Tip: You should analyze a volume before defragmenting it to get an estimate of how long the defragmentation process will take.
3. To defragment the selected drive or drives, click the Defragment disk button. In the Current status area, under the Progress column, you can monitor the processas it happens. After the defragmentation is complete, Disk Defragmenter displays the results. 4. To display detailed information about the defragmented disk or partition, click View Report.
5. To close the View Report dialog box, click Close.
6. You can also schedule the Disk Defragmenter to run automatically, and your computer might be set up this way by default. Under Schedule, it reads Scheduled defragmentation is turned on, then displays the time of day and frequency of defragmentation. If you want to turn off automatic defragmentation or change the time or frequency, click the Configure schedule (or Turn on Schedule, if it is not currently configured to run automatically). Then change the settings, then click OK.
7. To close the Disk Defragmenter utility, click the Close button on the title bar of the window.
To use Disk Defragmenter:
1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.
2. In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, click the drives that you want to defragment, and then click the Analyze button. After the disk is analyzed, a dialog box appears, letting you know whether you should defragment the analyzed drives.
Tip: You should analyze a volume before defragmenting it to get an estimate of how long the defragmentation process will take.
3. To defragment the selected drive or drives, click the Defragment button. Note: In Windows Vista, there is no graphical user interface to demonstrate the progress—but your hard drive is still being defragmented.
After the defragmentation is complete, Disk Defragmenter displays the results.
4. To display detailed information about the defragmented disk or partition, click View Report.
5. To close the View Report dialog box, click Close.
6. To close the Disk Defragmenter utility, click the Close button on the title bar of the window.

3. Detect and repair disk errors

In addition to running Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter to optimize the performance of your computer, you can check the integrity of the files stored on your hard disk by running the Error Checking utility.
As you use your hard drive, it can develop bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing (such as file saving) difficult, or even impossible. The Error Checking utility scans the hard drive for bad sectors, and scans for file system errors to see whether certain files or folders are misplaced.
If you use your computer daily, you should run this utility once a week to help prevent data loss.

4. Protect your computer against spyware

Spyware collects personal information without letting you know and without asking for permission. From the websites you visit to usernames and passwords, spyware can put you and your confidential information at risk. In addition to privacy concerns, spyware can hamper your computer’s performance. To combat spyware, you might want to consider using the PC safety scan from Windows Live OneCare. This scan is a free service and will help check for and remove viruses.

5. Learn all about ReadyBoost

If you’re using Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you can use ReadyBoost to speed up your system. A new concept in adding memory to a system, it allows you to use non-volatile flash memory like a USB flash drive or a memory card to improve performance without having to add additional memory.

 

5 productivity tips for Windows

Print more easily, find files faster, and send email right from your desktop.
1. Print from Windows Explorer
If you need to print a document, let’s say a Microsoft Word document, there’s no need to launch Word first. Browse your hard drive for the file that you want to print, right-click its icon, and then click Print. This will automatically send the document to your printer without launching Word.
2. Pin programs to the Start menu
Want to add your favorite programs to the Start menu? From the Start menu, click All Programs. Locate a favorite program,
right-click the program’s icon, and then click Pin to Start menu. That’s it.
You can also pin an application by dragging and dropping its icon from All Programs to the Start menu. The program is now “pinned” to your Start menu. To remove it, right-click the program icon on the Start menu and then click Unpin from Start menu or click Remove from this list.
3. Use small icons on your Start menu
After you install a few dozen applications, your Start menu can become very crowded. One way to reduce the clutter is to use small icons.

• To switch to small icons, click the Start button, right-click in the Start menu, and then click Properties.
• Click the Start Menu tab, and then click Customize.

Windows 7 and Windows Vista users: Scroll to the bottom of the list, clear the Use large icons check box, and then click OK twice.
Windows XP users: Select Small icons, and then click OK twice.
4. Search a folder
When I’ve misplaced a file, I almost always know which folder it’s in, but it’s usually lost in a maze of documents or buried in a subfolder. I just can’t remember which subfolder. This is a great way to search a folder quickly.
Windows 7 and Windows Vista users: Locate the folder where you think the file is located. Use the Search box at the top of the open window to search the contents for the selected folder. Type part or all of the name of the file or folder, or type a word or phrase that is in the file. The results list will be updated as you type.
Windows XP users: Locate the folder where you think the file’s located, right-click
the folder, and then click Search. A Search window will open, ready to search for the selected folder and only that folder. Type part or all of the name of the file or folder, or type a word or phrase that is in the file. This is much quicker than launching Search and navigating your hard drive to the folder.
5. Send an email attachment from anywhere on the desktop
Here’s a really handy tip.

• Locate a file anywhere on your hard drive that you want to email, right-click the file’s icon, click Send To, and then click Mail Recipient. A new mail message will open with the file attached and ready to send. But what’s really speedy about this tip is that your mail program doesn’t open. This action creates only a single new mail message.
• To send your attachment, type the recipient’s email address in the To text field, add any accompanying message, and then click the Send icon. The subject and attachment fields are already set.

How To Find the Windows Vista Product Key Code

If you’re preparing to reinstall Windows Vista you’ll need to locate your copy of the Windows Vista product key. Normally this product key is on a sticker on your computer or located with the Windows Vista product manual.
If you’ve lost your product key, it’s located in the registry but is encrypted and not readable, making finding it difficult. The key was not encrypted in previous versions of Windows like Windows 98.
Follow the steps below to locate your Windows Vista product key code.

Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: Less than 15 minutes
Here’s How: souece and more:http://pcsupport.about.com/od/tipstricks/ht/findvistakey.htm

Installing Windows XP Using A USB Flash Drive

Removable flash memory sticks are pretty much one of the most handy little pieces of technology to come along in the last couple of years. They come in various shapes and their storage size can range from a measly 128 MB to a whopping 32 GB. And you’re not restricted by what you are able to put onto these devices either. Which got me thinking today. I am regularly installing fresh copies of Windows onto new built PCs, so I look for any way to increase the speed at which my work gets done without compromising quality, of course.

So I thought, with the speed of flash drives today, it could be possible to install Windows XP onto those PCs in a much faster time than with optical media (CD/DVD). Plus with all the motherboards I use, I always make sure that the motherboards support booting from USB as it’s a very handy feature. So I decided to look into the various guides that can be found on the Internet. Originally meant for the EEEPC, I found a guide that I was able to understand. Because of the way it was written it took me longer than 10 minutes to understand the whole procedure and I’m sure the average geek would be completely confused before they had reached the second line, simply because of the total lack of explanation on the part of the guide’s creator for those who do not usually do this kind of thing.

Anyway, as with all guides, you have to realize that there is a certain amount of risk involved with the procedures I am about to give you details for and that you use this guide at your own risk; I will not be held accountable for any damages done to your hardware if something should go wrong. It will involve the use of the command prompt and it has the possibility of damaging your flash drive. Although I believe that the chances of that happening are quite slim, there is always the possibility, so I thought I would warn you before you decide if you’re going to use my guide. Now with the pleasantries out of the way, let’s get down to business. There is some preparation needed before we can start this procedure. First off you need to make sure you have the following available to you:

1. An unmodified, legal copy of Windows XP Home or XP Professional
2. USB memory stick (2 GB recommended – 1 GB minimum)
3. A motherboard that is capable of booting from a USB drive (check your motherboard manual if not sure)

As long as you have all three points above met, then you are ready to start. Just so you know, in this process your USB flash drive will be formatted, so do not use a USB that contains data vital to you. As for a motherboard that is capable of booting from a USB drive, most modern motherboards offer this as a standard feature. If your motherboard is less than two years old, chances are that the motherboard you have supports this feature.

Okay, now we have made sure that your computer is capable of installing XP from a USB disk. The next thing we need to do is to download and extract three tools that are going to help us in this procedure. You can find download links to these files below:

1. USB_Prep8
2. PEtoUSB
3. Bootsect

I suggest you download these files directly to the root of your hard drive. In other words save them to a folder on the same drive that contains your operating system — for most people this will be the C: drive. Once they are all downloaded, go ahead and extract PEtoUSB and USB_Prep8 to separate folders. Once this is done you should take the contents of the PEtoUSB folder and copy them into the USB_Prep8 folder. Once this is done, you should go back to the root of your drive and extract Bootsect to the root of the drive (program files and Windows folder is stored in this area). We do not need to worry about the Bootsect program for now, however that is simply preparation for later. And as another matter of preparation I suggest you insert your Windows XP CD, create a folder on the root of your drive, name it XP, and then copy the contents of your Windows XP CD into that folder as you will need these files soon.

Okay, now that all the preparation is out of the way, we’ll start the process. It will take on average about 20-25 minutes to complete this process depending, of course, on the speed of your PC and of the USB stick you are going to be using. I must warn you now that you should NOT close any of the windows generated by the programs I am showing you how to use until you reach the point in this guide when I tell you to do so. This is quite important because, if you happen to close any of the following windows, it is possible that you can screw up the procedure and you will have to start again. With that out of the way, as long as you follow the instructions below, everything will run smoothly.

1. Go into the folder named USB_Prep8 and double-click the following: (usb_prep8.cmd)
2. Make sure you select the newly created command prompt window and click any key to continue
3. A new program is started (PeToUSB). Do not change any of the settings; just click start and let it run
4. Once PeToUSB is finished, DO NOT CLOSE any of the windows the program created
5. Go to your start menu and click run if you’re using the classic start menu
6. Enter the following command into your run window: (CMD)]
7. Once you have run that command, a new window will appear with the words command prompt
8. Provided that you have used the file setup I suggested, input the following: ( cd \bootsect )
9. Type in the following: ( bootsect /nt52 :R ) Replace R with the drive letter of your USB drive
10. You will see the message (Bootcode was successfully updated on targeted volume) if it worked right
11. You may NOW close all the windows except for the window that was created when you ran USB_Prep8
12. Providing you closed all the right windows, the USB_Prep8 Window will now contain seven options
13. Press 1 on your keyboard — this will bring up a window. Locate your XP folder and highlight it. Click OK
14. Press 2 on your keyboard — the program will ask for a unused drive letter (example: T or Z)
15. Press 3 on your keyboard — the program will ask for your USB Stick drive letter; enter it now.
16. Press 4 on your keyboard to start the USB_Prep8 process
17. The program will ask you if it is OK to format a drive contained in the letter you gave in #14; click yes
18. The program will start to copy the needed files; be patient
19. The program will then ask you if you wish to copy these files to the USB stick; click yes.
20. Finally, once it has finished copying the files, it will ask you if you want to make the stick the preferred boot drive. Click yes, after which it will ask if you wish to un-mount the USB stick. Click yes

And that’s all there is to it. The USB flash drive is now ready to install XP to any hardware that is supported by the Windows XP CD. However there are some minor differences to installing Windows XP this way than if you would with an optical drive, which I am going to go into. Of course, as I have said before, the speed at which Windows XP installs is MUCH faster when installing using a USB stick than if you were using an optical drive (CD/DVD). But the speed comes at the price of you needing to pay a little more attention to the install itself. Now from this point on, I am going to assume that your motherboard does in fact support booting from USB and that you have gone into your BIOS and have set the USB flash drive as the first drive to be booted from (make sure the flash drive is connected before you turn power on — it helps). I cannot give a generic answer to where that option is in your BIOS; I suggest you look up in your motherboard’s documentation.

Providing it boots from the USB flash drive, you will now be shown two options. One with the words GUI and one with the words Text Mode. Choose the Text Mode option first. Now you will see what you normally would see during a CD install of XP. Just follow the on-screen instructions as always. One note is that, if you need to create a new partition for your new Windows XP installation, once the partition is fully formatted, instantly turn off the PC as the install will need to be restarted so the flash drive can recognize the layout of your partitions correctly. Follow the instructions below:

1. Create a new partition and format it as normal
2. Once the partition is formatted, restart your PC and when the options come up again choose Text Mode
3. Highlight the newly formatted partition, press enter, move down to make no changes, and press enter

Okay, now after that all goes through and the PC restarts, simply chose the GUI option on the menu and let the Windows XP install go along as it would normally do. I must advise that you DO NOT REMOVE the USB stick until you’re actually past the setup stage. Once you have just booted into Windows XP for the first time, you can go ahead and remove the USB stick. Congratulations! You have just installed Windows XP without the need for a CD/DVD drive.

The benefits of installing from USB are plentiful and, providing you take the time to follow the instructions above, you need never worry about scratching your Windows XP CD again. I hope that the time I spent writing this guide will help you all to decrease the amount of time you spend having to install Windows XP when you have to. Peace!

Hard Disk Drive Maintenance Tips | HDD

Maintain Hard Disk Drives in Top Condition

You must have often seen your new computer beginning to crawl from those blistering speeds that you were once proud of. Well the good news is you can get those speeds back with some simple maintenance tips and tricks.
There are some simple maintenance tools available with every operating system(OS).

• Disk Cleanup
  Each time you install applications or simply work and surf the Internet it creates temporary files on the disk. Once you exit your work these files are no longer needed. Over time this burgeoning data fills up your hard disk drive and causes fragmentation of data. This is the main cause that puts chains on your nimble footed beauty. You have to just run this utility to restore its pride. Here is how- Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup. On the dialog box that pops up select drive C to be cleaned (the OS drive).
• ScanDisk
  This utility determines any errors on your hard disk drive and repairs the same. Unscanned disks can have bad sectors and any data written on these can result in data loss. To scan any drive - Go to Windows Explorer, right click and select Properties. Click Tools[/] tab and under [i]Error Checking, click "Check Now". Bad sectors if any will be repaired or marked up. No data will be written onto these bad sectors henceforth.
• Disk Defragmentation
  Fragmentation results when data on disk is dispersed on the hard disk due to prolonged read and write operations as also while installation of large applications. With passage of time the free space on the hard disk drive does not appear in a chunk, but in smaller chunks and when you install applications data is written in available free space. You can well imagine what happens when the disk head has to scurry from one location to another to launch applications. Disk Defragmentation organises and moves around data files together so that read and write operations happen faster. Here is how to start the defragmentor - Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Defragmentor. Running this utility once a month is recommended. However do not overuse this utility.

These maintenance tips should keep your hard disk drives in top notch condition.

Back up your files

As our world becomes more digitized, the files we store on our computers are becoming increasingly more important. Instead of keeping handwritten letters in a shoebox, we correspond with family members using e-mail. If we use digital cameras, we often keep our photo albums on our computers.
Unfortunately, computers (and particularly the hard disk drives that hold your files) can fail. Your computer might run for a decade with no problems, or it could fail tomorrow—there's no way to tell. To make sure you don't lose important files if your computer stops working, you should back up your computer on a regular basis. The backup process copies your files to a safe place so that even if your computer fails, you won't lose them.

Choose backup storage

It doesn't make sense to back up your files to the hard disk drive inside your computer, because if your computer were to fail, you would also lose your backup. Instead, you should back up your files to an external hard disk drive or removable disk drive, such as a CD. If your computer does fail, you can then connect the external hard disk drive or use the CDs to restore your files to your new or repaired computer. (This article describes how to back up your files to an external hard disk drive, which is the easiest way to do a full backup of all your files. If you decide to use CDs, you'll need to choose which files to back up and then manually insert and remove CDs as they are filled.)
If you decide to get an external hard disk drive, choose one that is at least as large as the hard disk drive inside your computer. For example, if your computer has a 100-gigabyte (GB) hard disk drive, choose a 100-GB or larger external hard disk drive. Then connect the external hard disk drive to your computer. Make a note of the drive letter (such as E:, F:, or G:) assigned to your new hard disk drive.
With an external hard disk drive, you can manually back up your files, or you can schedule automatic weekly backups.

Top of page

Manually back up your files

To back up your files to an external hard disk drive

1.	Click Start, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup. If the Backup option does not appear on the System Tools menu, you can install it.
2.	The Backup or Restore Wizard appears. Click Next.
3.	On the Backup or Restore page, click Next.
4.	On the What to Back Up page, click All information on this computer, and then click Next.
5.	On the Backup Type, Destination, and Name page, click Choose a place to save your backup, and select your external hard disk drive. Then click Next.
6.	On the Completing the Backup or Restore Wizard page, click Finish.
7.	Windows Backup saves a copy of your files to your external hard disk drive. When the backup is complete, click Close.

If your computer stops responding, you will be able to restore your files to the state they were in when you completed the backup. However, any new files you have created and any changes you have made to existing files since the backup occurred will not be saved unless you back up your files again. For best results, back up your files every week or immediately after creating important files, such as after you copy pictures from your digital camera.
For an additional layer of protection, purchase a second external hard disk drive and perform another backup of your hard disk drive. Store this external hard disk drive in a different location, such as at a family member's house, to protect your files from theft, fire, or natural disasters that might damage both your computer and your backup.

Top of page

Schedule backups

If you're busy, you might not have time to manually back up your files every week. Fortunately, you can schedule backups to occur automatically. This takes a few minutes to set up, but once you've done so, you'll be protected indefinitely.
To schedule a weekly backup

1.	Click Start, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup. If the Backup option does not appear on the System Tools menu, you can install it.
2.	The Backup or Restore Wizard appears. Click Next.
3.	On the Backup or Restore page, click Next.
4.	On the What to Back Up page, click All information on this computer, and then click Next.
5.	On the Backup Type, Destination, and Name page, click Choose a place to save your backup, and select your external hard disk drive. Then click Next.
6.	On the Completing the Backup or Restore Wizard page, click Advanced.
7.	On the Type of Backup page, click Next.
8.	On the How to Back Up page, click Next.
9.	On the Backup Options page, select Replace the existing backups. Then click Next.
10.	On the When to Back Up page, click Later. In the Job name box, type Backup. Then click Set Schedule.
11.	On the Schedule tab in the Schedule Job dialog box, click the Schedule Task list, and then click Weekly.
12.	In the Start time box, specify a time of day when your computer will not be used for several hours, such as 3:00 AM. In the Schedule Task Weekly area, select the day of the week you want to back up your files. If you are backing up files overnight, remember to leave your computer running the night before.
13.	Click the Settings tab. Select the Wake the computer to run this task check box.
14.	Click OK.
15.	In the Set Account Information dialog box, type your password in both the Password and Confirm password fields. Then click OK.
16.	On the When to Back Up page, click Next.
17.	In the Set Account Information dialog box, type your password in both the Password and Confirm password fields. Then click OK.
18.	In the Account Information Warning dialog box, click OK.
19.	On the Completing the Backup or Restore Wizard page, click Finish.

Your computer will automatically back up your files to your external hard disk drive every week at the time you specified.