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Microsoft Windows XP is the most advanced Windows operating system to date. Its user-friendly interface, with menus that change depending on where you are or what you are doing, means that your time can be spent working or playing rather than trying to figure out how to use your computer. However, the fact that Windows XP is easy to use doesn’t mean that you won’t ever experience a problem while using your Windows XP computer. One of the first things you learn about skiing is how to recover safely and gracefully from a fall; this is also a good thing to learn in computing.
As a Windows XP user, you can get help in a variety of ways. In this chapter, you will learn not only how to get help after a problem has occurred, but also how to keep your system up to date so that problems do not occur in the first place.
See Also
Do you need only a quick refresher on the topics in this chapter? See the Quick Reference entries in Chapter 10 Solving Problems.
Important
Before you can use the practice files in this chapter, you need to install them from the book’s companion CD to their default location. See "Using the Book’s CD-ROM" in Display for more information.
Microsoft Windows Update is an Internet-based service that scans your computer and recommends or installs any updates that are available for your operating system, your software programs, or your hardware. Quite apart from knowing that you have the "latest and greatest," Windows Update ensures that your computer is equipped with security "patches" as they become necessary and available. You can access the Windows Update site at windowsupdate.microsoft.com or through either the Control Panel window or the Help and Support Center.
See Also
For further information about manually updating your operating system, refer to "Updating and Safeguarding Your Computer System" in Chapter 1.
During the update process, Windows Update collects the version numbers of your operating system, Web browser, and other installed software, as well as the Plug and Play ID numbers of the hardware devices that are connected to your computer, and then compiles a list of updates that are available for your system. Some updates are classified as critical and are selected for installation by default. (If you do not want to install an update that is marked as critical, you can remove it from your list of selections.) Other updates are optional and are not selected. Windows Update displays a list of the updates and their descriptions and then installs only those you select. When the update process is complete, the version and ID information that was collected from your computer is discarded.
If you don’t want to bear the responsibility of remembering to manually update your system, or if you want to be sure you have updates as soon as they become available, you can instruct Windows XP to automatically update your system through the Windows Update site. You can choose to have Windows XP install updates automatically, download updates and notify you when they are ready to be installed, or you can choose to be notified before the updates are downloaded.
See Also
For further information about preventive maintenance, refer to "Analyzing Your Computer’s Security" in Chapter 3.
Windows XP prompts you to turn on Automatic Updates the first time you start your computer after installing Windows XP Service Pack 2. If you have not selected an automatic update option, Windows XP displays a security icon in the notification area and prompts you to update your operating system from time to time by displaying a message near the notification area. Clicking the icon or message opens the Automatic Updates Wizard, which leads you through a short process to select your preferred update option. You can change your selected update option at any time through Control Panel or the Help and Support Center.
In this exercise, you will instruct Windows Update to automatically install available software and hardware updates on your computer at the beginning of each week.
BE SURE TO log on to Windows before beginning this exercise. OPEN Control Panel.
Follow these steps:
In the Control Panel window, click the Performance and Maintenance icon.
In the Performance and Maintenance window, click the System icon.
In the System Properties dialog box, click the Automatic Updates tab to display these options:
Select the Automatic option.
The option might already be selected by default.
Tip
If you prefer to have more control over the update process but still enjoy the benefit of automatic updates, select the Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them option. If you select this option, Windows XP downloads available updates to your computer and displays a security icon in the notification area. Click the icon to review and approve or reject the installation of each update.
Click the down arrow to the right of the day box, and then click Every Monday in the drop-down list.
Click the down arrow to the right of the time box, and then click 9:00 AM in the drop-down list.
Click OK to close the dialog box and save your changes.
CLOSE the Performance and Maintenance window.
When your computer crashes, it’s a pretty obvious problem. But if it just seems to be slower than usual, it can be hard to figure out what’s wrong. Windows XP comes with a variety of tools that you can use to find out what’s happening with your computer, including:
My Computer Information, which you can use to find out what programs and hardware are installed on your computer and how much memory is available. You can also review diagnostic information such as the operating system and the speed of your processor.
Network Diagnostics, which you can use to gather information about your computer to help you troubleshoot network-related problems.
Advanced System Information, which links you to specialized information that a technical support person might need in order to solve a particularly difficult problem.
All these tools are available through the Help and Support Center.
In this exercise, you will gather diagnostic information about your computer.
BE SURE TO log on to Windows before beginning this exercise.
Follow these steps:
On the Start menu, click Help and Support.
The Help and Support Center window opens.
See Also
For more information about the Help and Support center, refer to "Helping Yourself" later in this chapter.
In the Help and Support Center, click Use Tools to view your computer information and diagnose problems.
On the Tools menu in the left pane, click My Computer Information.
The My Computer Information tool opens in the right pane of the Help and Support Center. Five options are available:
Click View general system information about this computer.
Windows XP polls your computer for general information and generates a report displaying this type of information:
When you finish looking at the report, click the Back button on the toolbar.
Click View the status of my system hardware and software.
Windows XP generates a report displaying this type of information:
When you finish looking at the report, click the Back button.
Click Find information about the hardware installed on this computer.
Windows XP generates a report displaying this type of information:
When you finish looking at the report, click the Back button.
Click View a list of Microsoft software installed on this computer.
Tip
The name of this link is somewhat misleading, because the report includes all the software that runs automatically when you start your computer, and non-Microsoft software is not excluded from that list.
Windows XP polls your computer for software information and generates a report like this one:
When you finish looking at the report, scroll down the Tools menu and click Network Diagnostics.
The Network Diagnostics tool opens in the right pane of the Help and Support Center. These two options are available:
Click Set scanning options.
A list of options replaces the command.
Select all the check boxes, and then click Scan your system.
Windows XP gathers information about your hardware, software, and network connections, and then generates a report:
CLOSE the Help and Support Center when you finish looking at the report.
Every time you open a file, access a Web page, install a program, or download a file, a temporary file is created on your computer. Most of these files are deleted automatically when they are no longer needed. However, poorly behaved programs sometimes don’t clean up after themselves, resulting in megabytes of unnecessary files on your hard disk.
Other types of unused files can also clutter up your hard disk. A common culprit is the Recycle Bin–by default, deleted files are stored in the Recycle Bin until you empty it.
Tip
To delete a file without temporarily storing it in the Recycle Bin, press SHIFT+DELETE instead of DELETE. To always bypass the Recycle Bin, right-click the Recycle Bin, click Properties, select the Do not move files to the Recycle Bin check box, and click OK.
You can use Disk Cleanup to free up space on your hard disk by removing downloaded program files, temporary files, and offline files; compressing old files; and emptying the Recycle Bin. It is a good idea to run this utility at least once a year, or as often as once a month, to keep your drive in good order.
Tip
You can schedule Disk Cleanup or any other installed programs to run at regular intervals through the Scheduled Task Wizard. To start the Scheduled Task Wizard, on the Start menu, click Control Panel, and then click Performance and Maintenance. In the Performance and Maintenance window, click the Scheduled Tasks icon. In the Scheduled Tasks window, double-click Add Scheduled Task.
In this exercise, you will run the Disk Cleanup utility on your computer.
Tip
Depending on the number of files to be compressed and deleted, Disk Cleanup takes approximately one to ten minutes to run.
BE SURE TO log on to Windows before beginning this exercise.
Follow these steps:
On the Start menu, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup.
After calculating the amount of disk space the utility can free up, the Disk Cleanup dialog box appears:
Select the check boxes of all the categories that have files available for deletion.
The total amount of disk space that you will gain is recalculated to reflect your selections.
To view a description of the files that will be deleted, click each file type (not the check box).
The description is displayed below the check boxes. If a list of the files that will be deleted is available, a View Files button is also displayed.
Click View Files if it is available.
The selected files are displayed in Windows Explorer.
Click the More Options tab to display other types of files that can be deleted to free up space on your computer.
The Clean up buttons in each area open dialog boxes that lead you through separate file clean up procedures:
Click the Disk Cleanup tab. After you have selected all the files you want to delete, click OK.
Click Yes to confirm that you want to delete the selected groups of files.
As Disk Cleanup completes the selected operations, a progress bar indicates how the cleanup is proceeding. You can cancel the cleanup at any point during the operation. The Disk Cleanup dialog box closes when the operation is complete.
There can be times when, although there is nothing specifically wrong with your computer, it is not operating at its peak efficiency. You might think that your computer is simply not as fast as it used to be, and although perceived speed can be a function of your own level of patience, it might also be true that your system has slowed down since it was new. Unlike a sewing machine or a blender, a slow computer probably isn’t due to the parts getting old and worn out; it might simply be that your hard disk has become cluttered and fragmented.
You can use Disk Defragmenter to analyze all the data stored on your hard disk and then consolidate fragmented files and folders into contiguous chunks to create the largest possible areas of available space. Your hard disk drive is organized into one or more volumes that can each be defragmented separately. Each volume has a drive letter assigned to it.
Troubleshooting
You must be logged on to your computer with administrative privileges to run Disk Defragmenter.
In this exercise, you will run the Disk Defragmenter utility on your computer.
BE SURE TO log on to Windows before beginning this exercise.
Follow these steps:
On the Start menu, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.
The Disk Defragmenter dialog box appears:
Click the C: volume to select it for defragmentation, and then click Analyze.
Disk Defragmenter analyzes the volume and then recommends whether you should defragment the disk.
Click View Report to see information the program collected.
If defragmentation is recommended and you want to do it at this time, click Defragment. Otherwise, click Close to close the report window.
If you choose to defragment the volume, click Close to close the Disk Defragmenter dialog box when the defragmentation process is complete.
It is fairly common for people to purchase furniture, toys, bikes, or other things that require assembly, and then neglect to read the instruction manual until they actually have a problem. Along the same lines, many people never consult a software program’s Help file, because they don’t realize how much good information can be found there.
Windows XP takes the concept of the Help file to new heights with the Help and Support Center. As the name implies, the Help and Support Center is the place to go when you’re having trouble–you can help yourself, or you can ask other people for help. The help offered is more than just a common Help file: It includes multimedia product tours targeted at different audiences, general and specific articles, a comprehensive glossary, tutorials and demonstrations, and links to most of the tools that you need to keep your computer running smoothly. You can choose from a list of common topics on the main page of the Help and Support Center, search the database by keyword or phrase, or look up specific topics in the index or table of contents. When you’re connected to the Internet, you can easily include the Microsoft Knowledge Base in your searches as well.
When you search for information, your search results are divided into three areas:
The Suggested Topics listing displays topics that are most likely to be of interest to you, because the search terms you entered match the keywords defined by the topic’s author.
The Full-text Search Matches listing displays all the topics in which the individual words of your search terms appear.
The Microsoft Knowledge Base listing displays articles that pertain to your search phrase from Microsoft’s online database of product support information. This listing is available only when you are online.
You can search the entire support database, and you can conduct a subsequent search within the results of a previous search, thereby narrowing down the search results to define your problem.
If you can’t solve your problem on your own, you can communicate with other Windows XP users and experts through online newsgroups, consult online with Microsoft support personnel, or request remote assistance from a friend or co-worker. Using Remote Assistance, you can allow another person to connect to your computer over the Internet and take control of your computer to figure out what the trouble is.
The Help and Support Center links to Web-based information to ensure that it is always up to date. This means that you don’t have access to all the features of the Help and Support Center when you are offline.
There are two ways to access the Help and Support Center:
Click Help and Support on the Start menu.
Press the F1 key. Depending on what area of Windows you are in, this might open the Help and Support Center to a page that is specific to that area. For example, if you press the F1 key from within Control Panel, the Help and Support Center opens to the Control Panel topic.
Tip
Pressing the F1 key opens the Help file for the currently active Microsoft application. Pressing the F1 key from within a Microsoft Office Word file opens the Word Help file; pressing the F1 key from within a Microsoft Office Excel file opens the Excel Help file, and so on. Many software manufacturers have made their context-sensitive help available through the F1 key, which is why context-sensitive help is often referred to as F1 Help.
In this exercise, you will open the Help and Support Center and search for useful information.
BE SURE TO log on to Windows before beginning this exercise.
Follow these steps:
On the Start menu, click Help and Support.
The Help and Support Center window opens:
A list of available topics is displayed.
Click the Home button.
The Help and Support Center appears again.
In the Search box, type
getting help, and then click the Start searching button.The results of your search are shown in the Search Results pane. The total number of "hits" is displayed at the top, and the suggested topics are shown by default.
In the Search Results title bar, click Tips to display a list of useful search tips.
When you finish reviewing the search tips, click any topic title in the Search Results pane to display that topic in the right pane.
Click the Locate in Contents button to display the topic in relation to the table of contents.
You can use this feature to locate related information without going through another search.
Click the Back button to return to the Search Results pane.
In the Search Results pane, click the Full-text Search Matches bar.
The bar slides up to display the listing.
In the Search Results pane, click the Microsoft Knowledge Base bar.
Again, the bar slides up to display the listing.
CLOSE the Help and Support Center window when you finish browsing the Help file.
Windows newsgroups are online forums where Windows XP users and experts from around the world interact to discuss their experiences with Windows XP. These newsgroups are not officially monitored by Microsoft, and Microsoft is not responsible for any of the information available there. You can find discussion threads about many common and uncommon problems. You might find an answer to a question or an interesting discussion that you want to keep up with or join.
Newsgroups are free of charge, and you can join or quit them at any time. You can link to the newsgroups through Microsoft Outlook Express or through a Web-based news-group reader. After joining the newsgroup, you can interact with a newsgroup in several different ways:
You can visit a newsgroup to read messages.
You can post a new message and wait for a response, either in e-mail or in the newsgroup.
You can post a reply to a message to the newsgroup; your message then becomes part of the discussion thread and is available to anyone who visits the newsgroup.
You can send an e-mail message to the person who posted a specific message, or forward the message to someone else through e-mail.
You can subscribe to a newsgroup and have all its messages sent to you.
You can subscribe to a specific discussion thread, in which case you will receive an e-mail message notifying you when a new message has been posted to the thread.
A word of warning about newsgroups: Some people see them as a forum for blowing off steam without actually communicating information that is useful or interesting to anyone else. You might find that it takes quite a while to wade through all the available messages before you find information that is pertinent to your situation. On the bright side, although Microsoft does not officially monitor the newsgroups, there do appear to be a fair number of "experts" who post useful information or respond to valid queries.
In this exercise, you will investigate the available Windows XP newsgroups using a Web-based newsgroup reader.
BE SURE TO have an active Internet connection available before beginning this exercise.
Follow these steps:
On the Start menu, click Help and Support.
Under Ask for assistance in the Help and Support Center, click Get support, or find information in Windows XP newsgroups.
In the Support pane, click Go to a Windows Web site forum.
This Windows Newsgroups page opens:
Click Go to Windows Newsgroups.
The Windows XP Newsgroups Web page opens:
Click the Maximize button to expand the window.
You can read the messages of each newsgroup either in Outlook Express or in your Web browser. If you a newsgroup name or the Use Web-based reader link below it, the messages are displayed in your browser. If you click the Open with newsreader link under the newsgroup name, it opens in your default newsreader (such as Outlook Express).
Select an interesting newsgroup from the list, and click the Use Web-based reader link under the title of the newsgroup.
A new Web page opens with all the messages to that newsgroup shown, something like this:
You can click any message to view it in the preview pane at the bottom of the window. You can then post a reply to the message or send an e-mail to the person who posted the message, using the buttons in the preview pane.
CLOSE the Web page, and then close the Help and Support Center.
The product support offered by software and hardware companies varies wildly depending on the type of product, the price you paid, and the company. Microsoft has traditionally offered very good product support, though getting help often involved a long telephone call, with the technician on the other end spending quite a while determining the status of your system and your actual problem.
Microsoft Online Assisted Support is the relatively new face of product support at Microsoft. You can use Online Assisted Support to log specific problems with the Microsoft support staff, who then reply to your problem online. This method of handling product support is very efficient, both for you and for Microsoft.
The diagnostic tools included with Windows XP make it easy to send all the information your product support technician needs to diagnose the problem and offer a useful solution. You can either allow your system information to be collected automatically, or you can stipulate which information can be sent to Microsoft. Your Product ID code and operating system version are the only required information. Optional information includes:
Computer manufacturer and model
Processor model and speed
Amount of random access memory (RAM)
General system information
Information on your system files
If you want, you can review all the information before it is sent. You are not required to send any information other than your Product ID and Windows XP version number, but it can be useful to the technical support people to have a more complete understanding of your computer system, because known issues often affect only certain computer models, sound cards, graphics cards, and so on. You can also send file attachments that aren’t specifically requested; for example, you might send a screenshot of an error message that will help to explain the problem.
After you complete and submit an Incident Form, your data is collected, compressed, and sent to Microsoft, and an Incident Number is assigned. You can use this tracking number to follow up on your request for help at a later date. You don’t usually need to keep the tracking number, but it does assure you that your problem has become part of the product support database.
Troubleshooting
If for any reason the Incident Form is not successfully submitted, your data is saved on your computer so that you can quickly submit it later.
When you have your Incident Number, you can return to the Online Assisted Support site at a later time to view the results, or you can ask to be notified by e-mail when an answer has been posted.
In this exercise, you will walk through the process of creating an Online Assisted Support Incident report.
BE SURE TO have an active Internet connection and a Passport account available before beginning this exercise.
Follow these steps:
On the Start menu, click Help and Support.
On the toolbar, click the Support button.
In the Support pane, click Get help from Microsoft.
Windows XP checks your Internet connection and then connects you to the Microsoft Online Assisted Support Web site, which opens within the Help and Support Center.
Click the Sign In button, and enter your Passport sign-in name and password when prompted:
Click Ask a Microsoft Support Professional for help.
The first time you request Online Assisted Support, you see the End User License Agreement (EULA):
If the EULA is displayed, read it and then click the I Agree button.
The next page prompts you to indicate the computer where you are experiencing the problem. If you are reporting a problem from the computer on which it occurs, the Online Assisted Support program can gather information about your computer that will help solve the problem:
Barring a major system failure, you will generally be reporting a problem from the computer on which it occurs. Select the The problem occurs on this computer option, and then click Next.
Online Assisted Support polls your computer and generates a list of the installed programs.
If you select the The problem occurs on a different computer option, you are prompted for information about the computer.
In the drop-down list, click the version of Windows XP that is installed on your computer, and then click Next. Repeat the process in the secondary drop-down list that appears.
You are prompted to choose from the available support options:
Select the support option you want, and then click Next.
If you are prompted to install the Web Response File Transfer Control from Microsoft Corporation, click Install.
Tip
Your security settings might require your permission for the installation of new controls on your computer.
A new Incident Form opens.
If the form window is not already maximized, click the Maximize button to expand the window so you can see as much of the form as possible.
The form looks like this:
Look through the input requested on the form so that you are aware of all the options. If you’re actually having a problem at this time, fill out and submit an Incident Form.
CLOSE the Help and Support Center when you finish looking at the site.
If you’ve tried to solve a problem on your own and simply have not been successful, Windows XP makes it easy to turn to someone else for help. You have the choice of contacting Microsoft Product Support Services or asking a friend or co-worker to help you.
You can use Remote Assistance, an exciting new feature of Windows XP, to invite another person who is running Windows XP and is connected to your intranet or the Internet to view your computer screen and use Windows Messenger to chat with you about the problem. If you want, you can then give that person permission to work remotely on your computer from his or her own desk.
To initiate a Remote Assistance session, you send an invitation to the other person. You can limit the chance that someone could fraudulently gain access to your computer through the invitation by specifying the duration of the invitation, from 1 minute to 99 days. You can also require that the other person enter a password to access your computer, in which case you would supply the password separately.
In this exercise, you will request and receive Remote Assistance from another person.
BE SURE TO have an active Internet connection, a Passport, and an online buddy who is also running Windows XP available before beginning this exercise.
Follow these steps:
On the Start menu, point to All Programs, and then click Remote Assistance.
The Help and Support Center opens to the Remote Assistance page:
Click Invite someone to help you. If a Sign In button appears in the Windows Messenger area, click it to sign in and display your online contacts.
Your Remote Assistance options are displayed:
Click the name of the person who you are going to invite to help you; or type his or her e-mail address in the Type an e-mail address box, and then click Invite this person. If you used Windows Messenger, skip to step 10.
When the remote assistance invitation opens, type an explanatory message in the Message box, and then click Continue.
You are prompted to specify the duration of your invitation.
Accept the default of 01 Hours.
If you want to use a password, enter the password in the Type password and Confirm password boxes, and then relay that password to your Remote Assistance buddy. If you do not want to use a password, clear the Require the recipient to use a password check box.
When you are ready to send the invitation, click Send Invitation.
Your invitation is initiated through Outlook Express or your default e-mail program. You are notified that a program is attempting to send a message in your name.
Click Send.
When your invitation has been sent, you will see a confirmation.
Click View invitation status to view your invitation, which looks something like this:
You can review, expire, resend, or delete invitations from this page at any time.
When your invitation is received and accepted by your Remote Assistance buddy, a Remote Assistance message is displayed on your computer screen.
Click Yes to allow your buddy to view your screen and chat with you.
This Remote Assistance window opens on your computer:
A window also opens on your buddy’s computer. At this point, the two of you can chat by typing messages, or, if you both have microphones and speakers, by talking. You can also send files.
Your buddy can see everything you do on your computer, so you can open files or demonstrate the steps that lead up to a problem and then ask for advice.
In the chat session, tell your buddy to take control of your computer.
He or she will need to click the Take Control button on the Remote Assistance toolbar. You will then receive a message asking if you would like to share control of your computer.
You both now have control of the mouse on your computer. However, you should not both try to move it at the same time.
When you decide that you no longer want to share control of your computer, click the Stop Control button in the Remote Assistance window.
You now have exclusive control of your mouse.
When you finish the Remote Assistance session, click the Disconnect button.
CLOSE the Remote Assistance window and the Help and Support Center.
When file and folder were terms used to describe things made of paper, it was possible for your important documents to be permanently destroyed by fire, water, coffee, accidental shredding, or a variety of other natural and unnatural disasters. With the advent of electronic files and folders, your data can still be destroyed, but the damage doesn’t have to be permanent.
The Backup or Restore Wizard creates a copy of the files and folders on your hard disk. If your data is lost or damaged, you can restore it from the backup file. It is advisable to regularly create a backup of any files and folders that are important to you. The frequency of the backup depends on the frequency of changes to the files, because if you lose your data, you will have to re-create anything that has occurred since the last backup. For this reason, many companies back up their important files on a daily basis.
You can select from different backup options, depending on your needs:
Normal backs up all selected files and system settings for a specific folder or drive and marks each file as backed up.
Copy backs up all selected files and system settings for a specific folder or drive, but does not mark the files as having been backed up.
Incremental backs up only the files that have been created or modified since the last normal or incremental backup and marks each file as backed up.
Differential backs up only the files that have been created or modified since the last normal or incremental backup, but it does not mark the files.
Daily backs up only those files that were created or modified today, but it does not mark the files.
The type of backup you perform determines how complex the restoration process is. To restore after several incremental or differential backups, you must restore the last normal backup and all the incremental or differential backups since then.
When you back up your data, you designate a file name and location for the backup file. By default, backup files are saved with a .bkf extension, but you can specify any file extension you want. Your backup file can be saved on your hard disk, on a floppy disk, or on any other type of removable media. Considerations when choosing a backup location include the size of the backup file, the types of media you have available, and whether you want to store the file separately from the computer in case of disaster.
In this exercise, you will back up the files contained in a directory that was installed from this book’s CD-ROM.
USE the documents in the practice file folder for this topic. These practice files are located in the My DocumentsMicrosoft PressMicrosoft Windows XP SBSSolvingBackup folder.BE SURE TO have a formatted 3½" floppy disk with 150KB of free space available before beginning this exercise.
Troubleshooting
If your computer does not have a 3½" floppy disk drive, substitute an alternate storage device in the exercise.
Follow these steps:
On the Start menu, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup.
The Backup or Restore Wizard starts.
Click Next to begin the process of backing up your files.
The Backup or Restore page opens:
Select the Back up files and settings option, and then click Next.
The What to Back Up page opens:
Select the Let me choose what to back up option, and then click Next.
The Items to Back Up page opens:
Browse to My DocumentsMicrosoft PressMicrosoft Windows XP SBSSolvingBackup by clicking the plus signs to the left of the folders to expand them.
Select the check box preceding the practice file folder, and then click Next.
Tip
If the folder structure is too wide for the pane it appears in, drag the pane’s right border to the right to widen the pane.
The Backup Type, Destination, and Name page opens:
In the Choose a place to save your backup drop-down list, click 3½ Floppy. Accept the default file name ( Backup). Insert a formatted floppy disk into the floppy disk drive, and then click Next.
Review the backup settings, and then click Finish to start the backup.
The Backup Progress dialog box displays the status of the backup process:
When the backup process is complete, click Close.
On the Start menu, click My Computer, and in the Devices with Removable Storage list, double-click 3½ Floppy.
The Windows Backup File is displayed.
Tip
You can launch the Backup or Restore Wizard and select an existing backup file at the same time by double-clicking the backup file in Windows Explorer.
CLOSE Windows Explorer.
In the beginning, you had a clean computer with a brand-new operating system. As time goes by, you install new programs, delete programs, change your system settings, and upgrade to new versions of programs. Gradually, things change.
Sometimes you might find yourself wishing you could go back to the way things were, and now you can! You can use System Restore Wizard to roll back your system to the condition it was in at a prior point in time. You can roll back to any of these types of checkpoints and restoration points:
An initial system checkpoint is created the first time you start a new computer, or the first time you start your computer after you upgrade it to Windows XP.
Automatic update restore points are created when you install updates that are downloaded through Windows Update.
Backup recovery restore points are created when you use the Backup or Restore Wizard.
You can manually create your own restore points (manual checkpoints) at any time from the System Restore Wizard.
Program name installation restore points are created when you install a program using an installer such as Install Shield or Windows XP Installer.
Restore operation restore points are created each time you perform a restoration; if you are not satisfied with the results of the restoration, you can roll back to this point.
System checkpoints are scheduled restoration points that your computer creates regularly, even if you have not made any changes to the system.
Unsigned device driver restore points are created when you install a device driver that has not been signed or certified.
System Restore generally saves one to three weeks’ worth of restoration checkpoints. The number of restoration checkpoints available at any given time is limited by the amount of space you allocate to the System Restore function. The maximum space you can allocate is approximately 12 percent.
Restoring your computer restores Windows XP and the programs that are installed on your computer to the state they were in at the time of the selected restore checkpoint. Your personal files (including your saved documents, e-mail messages, Address Book, Internet Explorer Favorites, and History list) are not affected. All the changes made by System Restore are completely reversible, so if you don’t like the results, you can restore the previous settings and try again.
In this exercise, you will see how to restore your computer to a previous state.
Troubleshooting
System Restore restarts your computer, so be sure to close any open programs before running it.
BE SURE TO close any open programs before beginning this exercise.
Follow these steps:
On the Start menu, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click System Restore.
Tip
You can also access System Restore by clicking Undo changes to your computer with System Restore in the Help and Support Center, or by clicking System Restore in the See Also area of the Performance and Maintenance window.
The System Restore Wizard starts:
Select the Restore my computer to an earlier time option, and then click Next.
The Select a Restore Point page opens, displaying a calendar. The days on which restoration checkpoints were created are indicated on the calendar by a bold date.
Click each of the bold dates to see the checkpoints that were created on that day:
On the calendar, click a date that has a restoration checkpoint.
In the description pane, click a specific restoration checkpoint.
Click Next.
System Restore displays information about your selected checkpoint.
Click Next.
System Restore logs off of Windows XP, restores your files to their condition at the time of the selected checkpoint, and then restarts your computer.
If you usually log on to your computer with a user account name and password, you will need to enter them.
Depending on the types of changes that were made since the chosen restoration checkpoint, you might notice a visible difference when the computer restarts.
Automatic Updates ensure that your computer operating system always has the latest security updates installed.
You can clean up and compress the files stored on your computer so that it operates at peak efficiency.
If you need help with Windows XP you can consult the local or online Help file or get help from other people through a newsgroup, online assistance, or Remote Assistance.
It is a good idea to periodically back up your important files in the event of a system error. If you have a serious computer problem, you can restore your files or even restore your operating system to an earlier state.