Everytime you
boot, you get the
dreaded Blue
Screen of Death.
Or, though your PC does boot, you
never get to see the desktop or use
your applications and files. Everyone
gives you the same verdict—
re-install everything.Try these five
steps before doing that to save both
time and your data.
For some of these to work, you
should take preventive measures
earlier.Each of these can be implemented
without using any software
or tool other than that on your
Win XP CD-ROM.
System Restore
Where to find it: Start>Programs>
Accessories>System Tools
This is the fastest recovery
route, since Win XP already does
most of the groundwork for you.
All you have to do is to make sure
that System Restore is turned on.
To do this, open Control
Panel>System.Click on the System
Restore tab and check off the ‘Turn
off System Restore’ box.If you have
more than one hard drive, you will
get a box with each drive and its
setting listed. Click on each one,
then click on Settings and set up
the amount of space it should use.
Now, each time your system
reaches specific checkpoints—
such as software installation, uninstallation
and hardware
change—Win XP will automatically
save important system files
and settings.You can also create a
specific restore point by launching
System Restore and choosing ‘Create
a restore point’.
Now, if the system becomes unusable,
launch System Restore.
Choose ‘Restore my computer to an
earlier time’ and click on Next. Select
the date when you last used
your PC without problems and XP
will automatically restore the files
and settings from that date. Note
that you can only select dates
shown in bold. You would need to
reboot your PC after this is done to
finish recovering your PC.
Backup and Restore
Where to find it: Start> Programs>
Accessories>System Tools
This is a manual method.After
launching it, click on Backup and
check on the specific drives or folders
to back up. To back up the system-
state (same as System
Restore), check on the ‘System
State’ option under ‘My Computer’
in the left-side tree.At the bottom
of the box, select a path and provide
a file name for your backup
(.bkf ) file. Click on ‘Start Backup’
to begin.
To restore, simply return to this
utility in Safe Mode.Select the ‘Restore
and Manage Media’ tab. Select
your backup file from the pane
on the right and click on ‘Start Restore’.
It’s a good idea to reboot
your PC when this finishes.
ASR (Automated System Recovery)
Where to find it: Backup Utility,
Win XP installer
To use ASR, you need to create
an ASR floppy disk.To use this ASR
floppy, you need to boot the Win
XP installer in the Recovery mode.
Hardware profiles
Where to find it: Control
Panel>System>Hardware
Hardware profiles help you
start your PC using a different
hardware configuration. For example,
if you have a notebook that
connects to your office network
and a home LAN,then you can use
the hardware profile system to
store different profiles for each of
these environments.This can also
be used to recover your PC to a
previous profile.What happens is
that for more than one hardware
profile created on your PC, when
XP boots up,you will be prompted
to select a profile to use.
To create a profile, access the
utility and create a copy of the default
profile (‘Profile 1′). If you’re
using a notebook, select each profile,
click on Properties and check
on the ‘This is a portable computer’
box.If you are using a docking port
with this notebook, check on the
‘The computer is docked’.To make
Win XP display this profile when
booting, check the ‘Always include
this profile as an option when Windows
starts’ option on.Click on OK
throughout.
To set up the hardware for each
profile, you need to reboot the PC
after the above step, in one of the
other hardware profiles.Now,go to
Device Manager (Control Panel>
Administrative Tools>
Computer Management).
Select the hardware,
right click on it
and select Properties
from the menu. If you
want to use this hardware
in this profile, select
‘Use this Device
(enable)’ in the ‘Device
Usage’ drop down at
the bottom. If you
don’t want to use it in
the current profile, select
‘Do not use this
device in the current
hardware profile (disable)’.
Selecting the
last option will disable
the device in all profiles,
making it unusable.
Click on OK when done.
Now when booting,XP will display
the created profiles for 30 seconds
(by default). If you don’t
make a selection, it will boot the
one already selected on screen.
Windows File Protection
Where to find it: Start>
Run>SFC
Win XP includes a background
process called ‘Windows File Protection’
to restore corrupt system
files automatically. This software
has a front end named SFC (System
File Checker). To manually
launch SFC, in the Start>Run box,
enter:
SFC/SCANNOW
Click on OK. A small progress
bar will be displayed depicting
scanning and restoring your system
files.You should have your Win
XP CD-ROM handy. To enable
proper working of this tool, start
your PC in Safe Mode (without networking).