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Leo Laporte A technology journalist, author and broadcast personality. His specialties lie in computers, the Web, video games, digital music and consumer electronics. |
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Amber MacArthur An experienced Web content and usability strategist, Amber is also a tech journalist who specializes in Internet, software, and gadget trends and tips. |
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Backing Up Your Files
Lisa, Brantford, ON
Q: I often hear of how important it is to back up your files in case your pc crashes or there is a house fire or some other sort of disaster….the problem is I have no idea how to go about doing this…can I burn all my files to a cd or a dvd-r..Honestly its a huge concern for me..but I cant seem to get a good answer..is there a way to do it for free?? That would work best for me. I am sure I am not the only PC rookie who would love info on this..thanks Lisa
Sean’s note: If you have a DVD burner, you can certainly back up using blank media, just by saving the directories where all of your important files are kept. Typically you con’t have to save the applications if you have the installer CDs handy, because you can reinstall those programs easily enough. The key thing here is if you’re worried about keeping your files safe through fire or floods, you’ll want to make sure you have an offsite location where you can store your DVD copies, like a safety deposit box. You’ll also want to make sure you use good-quality media: cheap media can degrade quickly, and then you’ll lose the backup too.If you have a lot of data to backup and it won’t all fit on a DVD (DVDs are 4.7 or 8.5 gigabytes depending on whether you have single or dual-layer media), you may want to look into an external hard drive. You can get one for a couple hundred dollars that will have more than enough space to back up your entire computer, and then you can unplug it between backups to make sure viruses/spyware/etc don’t have access to that data. Again, for extra safety, find an off-site location for the drive if you really don’t want to lose the data to a fire, flood or other such incident.
Javascript Errors
Judith, Montreal, QC
Q: I have a large Webpage and 4 Blogs. When I open Java Script Console in Firefox a bunch of "error" come up. Otherwise everything is functioning well. What do I do with the errors? Can you help, please? Thanks.
I’m not sure. It's likely that the Javascript is coming from your host and not you, so there’s not much you can do about it.wordpress.org or wordpress.com for all your blogging needs, and every plugin you can imagine!
Running Windows From A USB Key
Jim, Hamilton, ON
Q: I would like to install Windows onto a USB key so I can use it to boot a computer that has corupt boot files.
Most PCs can’t boot from a USB key, but if you have one that does you can install Windows on the key using a program called BartPE, http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/This article describes how to do it: Tomshardware.com/2005/09/09/windows_in_your_pocket/
