TechComm Labs

Are you one of those who automatically heads for the bookstore when you get a new system or some heavy duty software? Those days are changing as you can often find good books online. They don’t have the charisma of a bound book but they are convenient and often free.

Koroush Ghazi has an online book at the Tweaking Guide that you should check out if you want to learn about Vista (or XP). These books might be considered teasers to encourage you to buy the deluxe edition but the tease is good solid stuff.

The TweakGuides Tweaking Companion (TGTC) is the complete system optimization guide for Windows users. Designed for novice and advanced users alike, it is written in plain English to help you genuinely understand all aspects of Windows and your PC. The guide covers every major topic, from the correct installation of Windows and critical drivers and software, through to recommendations for every significant setting and feature, all the major performance and convenience tweaks and customizations, as well as detailed troubleshooting advice. There are also links to a range of reliable free applications for optimizing and maintaining your system, as well as to important resources for finding out even more about Windows and your PC.

The free download is 268 pages of solid, no holds barred, text. No frills, no page after page of dialog boxes and screen captures, just a solid rundown of the various aspects of your system, what they do, how they work, and what you can do with them to improve your system.

A book like this is a good one to have available to read in small chunks. Pick and choose topics and get an overview of some aspect of your system. There are links to utilities that you can use to start a deeper exploration.

Other resources:

Tweak Hound – has some Linux stuff, too

John Barnett Computer Journalist, Windows Vista™ Support – check out the FAQ and the how-to guide sections.

Star Support Vista Tips – a list of nifty tips

A backup is insurance against loss or device failure. With a good backup, you can rebuild your system so it is just like you had it at some point in time. There are number of different types of backup that serve different needs.

The device backup is one that doesn’t understand the data on a storage device. It just understands the device and how data is stored on it. These are sometimes called image backups. They store and image of the data on the device. Where these are particularly useful is for making copies of a new device before you do anything to it, like a new computer with a system on its hard drive, or for a system you customize and want to copy on like hardware.

The system backup is used to be able to restore critical system files and settings. Since systems may make the computer unusable, these backups often have their own limited system so they can be booted separately from the normal system. That allows them to repair or replace the normal system to bring it back to a known good state.

The data backup copies the files on your computer that don’t involve system settings and are usually created by the applications you run. These are your documents, pictures, and other data that are important to you but not needed to make the computer function properly.

Every backup needs a device that can store the backup copy. This ranges from the side by side copy that many applications make when they modify a file to a file on a permanent media like a CD-ROM that is stored off site in a safe and secure place. There are a number of companies that also provide their backup media that is available over the I’net so you can use the web to backup your data.

There are variations and options and flavors of these three basic types of backup. Some device backups do know about the data on the device so they can compress it to make smaller backup sets. Later versions of Windows have restore points that texas holdem poker online gratispoker bonus ohne einzahlenpoker kostenlospoker sign up bonuspoker game setpoker real money bonuspoker texas online gamebwin pokeronline poker without downloadlimit texas holdempsp poker spielonline poker kostenfreinetzwerk poker spielpoker strategy netpoker online spielen ohne geldpoker spielen ohne anmeldungempirepoker bonusparty poker deposit bonus codepoker game sharewarestrip poker pc spieltexas holdem kostenlos downloadentexas holdem online spielenpoker gratis downloadspoker strategienpoker 10 bonuspoker game freewarewww party pokervc poker bonus codetexas poker netgratis online poker,gratis online poker ohne anmeldung,gratis online poker gamesomaha poker online spieleonline poker usapoker turnierepoker regeln full houseparty poker casinopoker gratis deutschpoker spiel geldpoker online spielen texas holdplay omaha poker onlineholdem poker online spielenparadise poker bonuspoker spielen im internetonline poker browserpoker texas holdem downloadenpoker downloadenonline poker flashtexas holdem poker online spielenonline games poker texasregistrierungs bonus code party pokerpoker sets allow undoing system changes. The Mac has its TimeVault which is a periodically updated snapshot of selected data, similar to using rsync on a Linux system.

In an Ubuntu Linux environment, PartImage anc Clonezilla are useful for device backup. For system backup, remastersys will allow you to create a bootable DVD to restore your system. Data backup with periodic snapshots is well handled by rsync with a shell script. Foogazi describes 5 possible options for backup, too.