1. Make a system restore or recovery disk
A restore or recovery disk is a copy of the restore partition that comes
with most PCs. Few manufacturers provide a Windows installation disk or
even a restore disk with a PC these days so you have to make your own.
If your hard drive ever fails, you’ll be glad you did. How to make a
restore disk in Windows 7 is described here and for Windows 8 in this
article. Also, many PCs come with OEM software for creating a restore
disk from the restore partition. It won’t replace an up-to-date full
backup but it’s a lot better than nothing.
If you are more ambitious, you can periodically create a new drive image
with all your latest files. You can use one of the free disk imaging
programs reviewed here. Making an image of an entire hard drive should
be done on an external hard drive.
2. Back up your data
This may seem like stale advice but it has to be repeated. Everybody knows they should back up but they don’t.
Back up seems to rank in popularity with the advice to
get more exercise and eat more vegetables.
Neglected it may be but backing up personal data and files is a must.
Look what happens over and over. Somebody’s hard drive crashes or they
lose their personal data to some malware infection and there go all
those precious photos or other important files. Don’t let that happen to
you.
Data backup is a simpler and quicker process than imaging a full disk so
it can and should be done frequently. Personally, I use several
external hard drives in rotation but a USB flash drive is also a
convenient place to put data backups. Free software for creating
backups is reviewed here.
3. Write down the Windows product key
It seems to happen all the time. People’s system gets bollixed and they
need to reinstall Windows. Then they discover that they do not know the
product key for the original installation. On laptops, it may be on the
bottom of the case but often is not or is undecipherable. So record your
product key in a safe place somewhere. If you don’t know what it is,
this article gives some ways to reveal your Windows product key.
4. Make an emergency Windows boot or startup disk
Sometimes it happens that a PC won’t boot or load Windows when you turn
it on. An emergency repair disk that can be booted can be a lifesaver
when that happens. Both Windows 7 and Windows 8 provide for the creation
of a CD or USB key to be used to repair a Windows installation that has
corrupted system files and won’t boot. This is a much smaller disk than
a full installation or restore disk and is just a set of tools to help
repair the Windows system. Instructions for Windows 7 are in this
article and for Windows 8 are here.