How to Back up and restore your PC | Technotech Inside

Back up

There are several ways to back up your PC.

Select the Start button, then select Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Backup and Restore.
Do one of the following:

If you've never used Windows Backup before, or recently upgraded your version of Windows, select Set up backup, and then follow the steps in the wizard.
If you've created a backup before, you can wait for your regularly scheduled backup to occur, or you can manually create a new backup by selecting Back up now.
If you’ve created a backup before, but want to make a new, full backup rather than updating the old one, select Create new, full backup, and then follow the steps in the wizard.

Note

Do not back up files to the same hard disk that Windows is installed on. For example, do not back up files to a recovery partition. Always store media used for backups (external hard disks, DVDs, or CDs) in a secure place to prevent unauthorized people from having access to your files; a fireproof location separate from your computer is recommended. You might also consider encrypting the data on your backup.

To make a system image

System images contain all of the info on your PC at a particular state

Right-click the Start button, then select Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Backup and Restore.
In the left pane, choose Create a system image, and then follow the steps in the wizard.

If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Note

To create a system image of a drive, it must be formatted to use the NTFS file system. If you save the system image on a hard drive or USB flash drive, it must be formatted to use the NTFS file system.

Keeping different versions of system images

You can keep several versions of system images. On internal and external hard drives, older system images will be deleted when the drive runs out of space. To help conserve disk space, delete older system images.

If you're saving your system images in a network location, you can only keep the most current system image for each computer. System images are saved in the format of drive\WindowsImageBackup\computer name\. If you have an existing system image for a computer and are creating a new one for the same computer, the new system image will overwrite the existing one.

If you want to keep the existing system image, you can copy it to a different location before creating the new system image by following these steps.

Navigate to the location of the system image.
Copy the WindowsImageBackup folder to a new location.

Create a restore point

You can use a restore point to restore your computer's system files to an earlier point in time. Restore points are automatically created each week by System Restore and when your PC detects change, like when you install an app or driver.

Here's how to create a restore point.

Right-click the Start button, then select Control Panel > System and Maintenance > System.
In the left pane, select System protection.
Select the System Protection tab, and then select Create.
In the System Protection dialog box, type a description, and then select Create.

Restore

Right-click the Start button, then select Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Backup and Restore.
Do one of the following:
- To restore your files, choose Restore my files.
- To restore the files of all users, choose Restore all users' files.
Do one of the following:

To look through the contents of the backup, select Browse for files or Browse for folders. When you're browsing for folders, you won't be able to see the individual files in a folder. To view individual files, use the Browse for files option.
To search the contents of the backup, select Search, type all or part of a file name, and then select Search.

Tips

If you're searching for files or folders associated with a specific user account, you can improve search results by typing the location of the file or folder in the Search for box. For example, to search for all JPG files that were backed up, type JPG in the Search for box. To only search for JPG files associated with the user Bill, type C:\Users\Bill\JPG in the Search for box.

You can use wildcard characters such as *.jpg to search for all JPG files that were backed up.

Restore a backup made on another computer

You can restore files from a backup that was created on another computer running Windows Vista or Windows 7.

Select the Start button, then select Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Backup and Restore.
Choose Select another backup to restore files from, and then follow the steps in the wizard.

If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Find files that were restored from a backup made on another computer

If you're restoring files from a backup that was made on another computer, the files will be restored in a folder under the user name that was used to create the backup. If the user names are different, you'll need to navigate to the folder where the files are restored. For example, if your user name was Molly on the computer that the backup was made on but your user name is MollyC on the computer that the backup is being restored on, the restored files will be saved in a folder labelled Molly.

You can find the restored files by following these steps.

Select the Start button, then select Computer.
Double-click the icon of the drive that the files are saved on, for example C:\.
Double-click the Users folder. You will see a folder for each user account.
Double-click the folder for the user name that was used to create the backup. The restored files will be in the various folders based on where they were located originally.

Restore files from a file backup after restoring your computer from a system image backup

After you restore your computer from a system image backup, there may be newer versions of some of your files in a file backup that you want to restore.

To restore files from a file backup that was created after the system image backup was created, follow these steps.

Select the Start button, then select Control Panel > System and Maintenance >Backup and Restore.
Choose Select another backup to restore files from.

If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
In Backup Period, select the date range of the backup that contains the files that you want to restore, and then follow the steps in the wizard.

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How to Back Up Your Android Phone | Technotech Inside

How to Back Up Your Android Phone?

Just a few years ago, mobile phones were basic devices that could send and receive voice calls but not do much else. These days, smartphones are about as significant as full-fledged desktop PCs and laptops, and are filled with valuable email messages, contacts, videos, photos, and documents.

People depend on their smartphones every day, and losing the data those devices contain can be as disastrous as suffering through a hard-drive crash on a proper PC. That's why it's important that you back up your phone as regularly and carefully as you do your other devices.

Most major smartphone platforms can back up their data to a computer or to the Internet. In the event of a crash--which, for phones, could literally mean crashing onto the floor and shattering--the data can be easily restored when the device is repaired. Here are a couple of resources you can use with popular Android smartphones to ensure that all of your data is properly backed up.

Let Google back up your settings

Google's Android offers the ability to seamlessly save certain settings like wireless network preferences, bookmarks, and custom dictionary words to their servers using your Google account. To enable it:

Go to Settings, Personal, Backup and reset, and select both Backup my data and Automatic restore.
Go to Settings, Personal, Accounts & Sync, and select your Google account.
Select all of the option boxes listed, to ensure that all available data is synced.

Though the specific procedure may slightly vary between Android devices, the process is generally the same. The above example is for Google Nexus S devices.

Back up additional settings

For data that Google doesn't directly back up (such as SMS/MMS messages, playlists, and alarms), you can use third-party software. One popular choice is MyBackup Pro, which allows secure backups to remote servers or your own memory card, and automated scheduling.

The software isn't free (it costs $4.99), but you can try it free for a trial period to see whether it meets your needs. To begin backing up, simply download the MyBackup Pro app from the Google Play store, and then launch the app from your phone.

Back up pictures and videos manually

For your other important data, you can back up your smartphone to your computer manually.

Connect your phone to your computer via a USB cable, and it will show up as an external hard drive. For Macs, you may need to first download a tool called Android File Transfer.
Select the disk, and navigate to the DCIM folder. This folder contains your video and picture data.
Select the data files that you want to back up, and drag them to an area on your computer, such as your desktop. The selected files will copy over to your computer.

Back up pictures, music, and videos automatically

If the manual process above is too cumbersome, you can use third-party software to automate copying your smartphone data to your computer.

One popular method is to use AirSync from DoubleTwist, which will sync data between your computer (Mac or Windows) and your smartphone, similarly to the way iTunes works for iOS users. AirSync can also sync wirelessly over your network.

Another notable piece of software is The Missing Sync for Android--an all-in-one sync and backup program that is easy to use (and again offers wireless syncing), but has a higher price tag than other choices.

If these options don't appeal to you, consider signing up for free services like Google Music and Picasa, which make backing up your music, photos, and videos to their Internet services easy.

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How to change your Apple ID password | Technotech Inside

Change your Apple ID password

Follow these steps to change your Apple ID password.

Your Apple ID is the account you use to access Apple services like the App Store, Apple Music, iCloud, iMessage, FaceTime and more.

If you want to change your password

If you know your Apple ID password and want to change it, follow these steps.

On your Mac

Sign in to your Apple ID account page.
In the Security section, click Change Password.
Enter your current password, then enter a new password and confirm the new password.
Click Change Password.
Sign in with your new Apple ID password to access Apple features and services.

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 10.3 or later

Tap Settings > [your name] > Password & Security.
Tap Change Password.

3. Enter your current password or device passcode, then enter a new password and confirm the new password.

4. Tap Change or Change Password.

5. Sign in with your new Apple ID password to access Apple features and services.

Learn more about how to change your Apple ID and update other account information.

If you forgot your password

If you don't remember your Apple ID password, follow these steps to reset it. After you reset your password, you need to update your Apple ID and password in each service that you’re signed in to.

Learn more about passwords and your Apple ID

When you create a new password, keep the following in mind:

Your new Apple ID password must contain at least eight characters, a number, an uppercase letter, and a lowercase letter.
You can't use spaces, the same character three times in a row, your Apple ID, or a password you've used in the last year.

Learn more about password requirements and how to keep your Apple ID secure.

FaceTime is not available in all countries or regions.