Dave Bloodgood's List: INSTRUCTIONAL

There may be times when you want to change the direction of text in Word. This is easily done using text boxes or shapes or using cells in a table. We will show you both methods for changing the direction of text.

Change the Direction of Text in a Text Box or Shape

To change the direction of text using a text box or shape, insert a text box using the Text Box tool in the Text section of the Insert tab or a shape using the Shapes tool in the Illustrations section of the Insert tab. Enter text into the text box or shape. Make sure the text box or shape is selected and click the Format tab under Drawing Tools.

In the Text section of the Format tab, click Text Direction and select an option to rotate the text. Symbols next to the options show you how the text will display after applying each option.

The text is rotated and the text box is reshaped accordingly.

You can also select Text Direction Options from the Text Direction drop-down menu to rotate text.

Select an Orientation on the Text Direction dialog box. A Preview displays on the right side of the dialog box. Click OK to accept your selection.

Change the Direction of Text in Table Cells

You can also change the direction of text in one or more table cells. To do so, select the cells for which you want to change the text direction and click the Layout tab under Table Tools.

Click Text Direction in the Alignment section of the Layout tab.

Each time you click Text Direction, a different direction is applied. Keep clicking the button until the desired direction is applied.

You can also right click on the selected text in the table cells and select Text Direction from the popup menu to change text direction in a table.

There’s more to CCleaner than clicking a single button. This popular application for wiping temporary files and clearing private data hides a variety of features, from fine-grained options for tweaking the cleaning process to full drive-wiping tools.

CCleaner is easy for beginners to use – just launch it and click the Run Cleaner button. But there’s a lot more you can do with it.

Consider What You Delete

CCleaner clears a lot of stuff by default. You might want to reconsider clearing the browser caches (Temporary Internet Files for Internet Explorer). Browsers store these files on your system to speed up browsing in the future. When you revisit a site, the site will load faster if images and other files are cached on your system. Clearing these will free up some space and increase your browsing privacy, if you’re worried about that, but frequent cache cleanings can slow down your web browsing.

Erasing the thumbnail cache (under Windows Explorer) can also slow things down – if you open up a folder with a lot of image files, it will take some time to recreate the cache. Clearing it does free up space, but at the cost of recreating the cache later.

Many other options clear most-recently-used lists (MRUs) in Windows and other programs. These lists don’t take up much space, but can be privacy concerns – if there’s a most-recently-used list you rely on, be sure to uncheck it.

Whitelist Important Cookies

CCleaner clears all cookies by default, but you might want to keep some. If you find yourself always logging into your favorite websites after running CCleaner, open the Cookies pane in the Options section.

CCleaner can help you with this whitelisting – right-click in the Cookies pane and select Intelligent Scan. CCleaner will automatically add Google, Hotmail, and Yahoo Mail cookies to your whitelist.

You’ll probably want to add other cookies to the whitelist, too. For example, locate the howtogeek.com cookie in the list and click the right arrow button to add it to your whitelist. CCleaner will leave your How-To Geek cookie alone, so you don’t have to log back into How-To Geek after clearing your cookies.

Beware the Registry Cleaner

While CCleaner does include a registry cleaner, I’d recommend against running it. The Windows registry contains hundreds of thousands of entries; removing a few hundred (at most) won’t give you an increase in performance. Registry cleaners can accidentally remove important registry values, however, so there’s risk with little reward.

That said, if you’re dead set on running a registry cleaner, CCleaner is one of the safer ones. If you do run the registry cleaner, ensure you back up any changes you make. You can restore the deleted registry entries from the backup file if you encounter any problems.

Manage Startup Programs

The Startup panel in the Tools section allows you to disable programs that automatically run when your computer starts. To avoid losing an autostart entry that may be important, use the Disable option instead of the Delete option. You can easily re-enable a disabled autostart entry later.

Wipe Drives

When Windows or another operating system deletes a file, it doesn’t actually wipe the file from your hard disk. Instead, the pointers to the files are deleted and the operating system marks the file’s location as free space. File recovery programs can scan your hard disk for these files, and, if the operating system hasn’t written over the area, can recover the data. CCleaner can help protect against this by wiping the free space with its Drive Wiper tool.

While some people believe that multiple passes are necessary to irrecoverably delete files, one pass should probably be fine. If you’re disposing of a hard drive, you can also perform a full erase of all the data on the drive with this tool.

You can also have CCleaner wipe free space every time you run it by enabling the Wipe Free Space checkbox under Advanced in the Cleaner section. Enabling this option will make CCleaner take much longer to clean up your system – CCleaner recommends leaving it disabled.

Securely Delete Files

You can have CCleaner delete files securely, effectively using the Drive Cleaner tool on each file it deletes. Bear in mind that this is slower than deleting the files normally – that’s why operating systems don’t securely delete files by default. If you’re concerned about privacy, enable this option from the Settings tab in the Options section.

Include Custom Files

If you use a program that isn’t included in CCleaner’s list of applications, or you have a temporary file directory you want cleared regularly, you can specify custom folders and files in CCleaner. CCleaner will delete these files and empty these folders when you run it.

To add a custom folder or file, open the Options section and use the options on the Include tab. Be careful when adding folders or files; you could accidentally add important files or folders and lose them.

The custom files you specify here are only cleaned if the Custom Files and Folders checkbox under Advanced is enabled.

Exclude Files

Likewise, if CCleaner keeps clearing something you don’t want it to clear, you can add an exclusion in the Options section. You can exclude an entire drive, folder, file, or registry key. You can also restrict the exclusion to specific file extensions.

Manage Installed Programs

CCleaner’s tools include the Uninstall panel, which lists your installed programs. This panel includes a few more features than the default Windows one – you can rename or delete the entries here and any changes you make will also appear in the Windows Control Panel.

You can also save the list of installed programs to a text file – an easy way to keep a list of your installed programs in case you need to remember and reinstall them from scratch.

Once you’ve got CCleaner set up, you can run it automatically each night or create a shortcut or hotkey to run it silently.

The automatic white balance in digital cameras is, in most cases, a close-enough-but-not-quite solution. Read on as we show you how to use a white balance cap (both commercial and DIY) to achieve perfectly balanced color.

What’s a White Balance Cap and Why Do I Want to Do This?

There are several different techniques you can use to set the white balance in your camera (and later, in post-processing). The simplest technique, although rarely the most successful, is to just let the camera automatically set the white balance. The problem, however, is that Automatic White Balance more often than not is Automatic Wrong Balance.

Don’t get us wrong, modern digital cameras are absolute marvels of technology and use brilliant algorithms to manage all manner of things from image compression to exposure, but white balance is a very tricky thing to get just right. As a result, it’s extremely common for photos to have a very slight color cast in the best case scenario, and a horribly obvious color cast when the white balance has been set incorrectly or the automatic algorithm as outright failed.

In place of automatic white balance, you can manually set a white balance either by using one of the presets in the camera (most DSLRs have a wide variety of presets for various lighting conditions) or by setting your own preset using a gray card. The problem with the former is that you’re relying on what the camera’s engineers think the lighting conditions are like and not what the lighting conditions are actually like at that very moment. The problem with the latter is that taking the time to pull out a large gray card, take a shot to set a custom white balance, and pack the card up again is a hassle.

Alternatively, you could include a white card in a few of your early shots during that session and then use the white card as a reference point in post-processing to provide a white balance value for the remaining photos shot under the same conditions. This method is quite effective when done correctly, but it’s both time consuming and expensive (as basic photo editing software doesn’t include the kind of functionality you need to apply a custom white balance value across a whole set of photos). Another issue with this workflow is that just changing the angle the white card is photographed at can significantly change the values it produces in the photo. Using a white card appears quite simple but it actually a tricky skill to get just right.

So if the automatic white balance is suspect, the presets aren’t much better, and setting custom values with a gray and/or white card is a pain, where does that leave us?

It leaves us in the realm of white balance caps which, when used correctly, are the easiest and most fool-proof way to enjoy consistent in-camera white balance and color correction. A white balance cap is lens cover that is fitted with a semi-translucent material that serves as a reference point the camera can use as a neutral color value.

In technical terms, a properly constructed white balance cap will allow light to pass through it onto the camera’s sensor which recreates a perfectly neutral 18% gray (just like the 18% gray reference cards photographers have used for decades). The image above is an actual photograph taken through the white balance cap post in-camera calibration; it shows just how even and neutral gray the light is once the camera operator has used the cap to calibrate the white balance.

The reason the white balance cap is so effective is that instead of trying to calculate the white balance based off of the light bouncing off the subject (which is the case with both the automatic white balance in the camera and using a white card as a reference point in post processing), the white balance cap turns the camera into what is known as an incident meter. Instead of measuring the light bouncing off the subject, you instead measure the light falling onto the subject (the incident light) to determine the temperature of the light itself.

A Look at Commercial and DIY White Balance Caps

White balance caps sound pretty awesome, right? So what’s the catch? The catch is that they can be pretty darn expensive for what amounts to a little camera cap with a piece of plastic in it.

The top of the line white balance cap on the market is the Expodisc and, depending on the size and model type, runs anywhere from $70-120 or so. Then there are low-end knock offs of the Expodisc, most notably the Promaster, which runs around $10-15. In the same price range is the DIY variety, which requires two UV filters and some filler material (two simple UV filters will run you around $10 for most lens setups).

In order to give you the best recommendation, we decided to put these white balance cap options to the test, comparing the in-camera automatic white balance, and the white balance calibration provided by the Expodisc, a Promaster cap, and our own DIY white balance cap under the same conditions in a variety of settings.

What exactly do you get for your money with each of these options? Let’s take a look at the spec sheets, so to speak, of each type of white balance cap.

The Expodisc is a very sturdy machined aluminum cap with a very user-friendly mount system–the rim of the cap has little spring loaded bearings that make it super speedy to snap the cap on and off the threading of your lens without actually having to thread it on or fiddle with any sort of latch. The diffusion material is multi-layered and includes several layers of semi-opaque plastic topped off with a plastic diffuser like you would find in a shop light. The main ring has a lanyard attachment point. The entire thing is hand assembled and calibrated (the calibration/test card is included in the box) in California. You certainly pay a premium for the Expodisc, but it’s a very sturdy and well constructed device. Further, it’s the only white balance cap that is actually laboratory tested and certified to meet any sort of light transmission rating.

The Promaster cap is entirely plastic and consists of one layer of the light diffusion material embedded in a plastic cap that attaches using the sort of push-in tension clips found on a standard lens cap. The plastic is particularly thin and you can actually see the outline of objects through it (in otherwords it doesn’t offer complete and clean light diffusion). It doesn’t feel particularly sturdy and we could see it getting damaged fairly easily if mishandled (but, then again, you can buy 8-10 Promaster caps for the price of one Expodisc).

The DIY cap is pretty darn sturdy, as it’s constructed from two aluminum filter rings and their respective UV glass. You would probably have to throw it on the ground forcefully or step directly on the glass to damage it. The light diffusion material is, as we’ll explain in a moment, whatever material you put between the two sheets of filter glass.

Before we dive into the sample photos, let’s take a closer look at how we constructed the DIY filter:

The DIY cap is a really simple affair.  In fact you could DIY by simply holding the light filter material over the lens itself (which is a great way to test materials before taking the time to actually build the finished product). All you need is two identical UV filters, sized for the thread mount on your camera lens.

In the case of our test lens setup, we used two 52mm Tiffen brand UV filters. To turn this filter set into a white balance cap, you’ll need a filler material. There are tutorials galore to be found online recommending everything from white coffee filter paper to tissue paper to dusk mask filters. Because it’s so cheap to try a variety of materials in DIY cap, we strongly urge you to do so.

To create the DIY cap, simply place one of the UV filters on your material (e.g. the dust mask filter material), trace the filter with a pencil, and then cut it out (staying slightly inside the line made by the filter as the inner diameter of the UV filter is smaller than the outer circle you traced). Then just place your freshly cut out disc inside one of the filters and screw the other one over it, effectively sandwiching the material between the stacked elements like so:

That’s all there is to the DIY cap. Assembling it isn’t tricky, but finding the right material to put inside is definitely a challenge.  In our experiments, we found that coffee filter paper was too warm, tissue paper was too cool, and the filter material from a white dust mask (available at any hardware or home improvement store) was very close to neutral with just a tiny hint of coolness. To be honest, we never really found a material we were extremely happy with, so for demonstration purposes we opted to use the dust mask material as it is one of the most widely recommended filler materials.

Now that we’ve taken a look at the price tags and construction of the various white balance caps, let’s go over how to use one and check out the results.

Using Your White Balance Cap

As we mentioned earlier in the guide, the purpose of the white balance cap is to turn your camera into an incident meter that measures the light as it falls onto the subject instead of measuring the light as it bounces off of the subject. In this fashion you are able to calibrate your camera to the temperature of the light itself and not the temperature of the light bouncing off the subject and the surrounding objects.

To achieve this end, you need to actually put the camera where the subject is and point it back to the position you will be shooting from. In other words, if you’re standing on a football field taking a portrait of an athlete leaning against the goal post, you do not take your white balance reading from the 20 yard line looking at the athlete, you walk to where the athlete is standing and meter the light as it falls on him from the direction you intend to take the photo.

Every camera is different, so you’ll need to consult the manual for your specific model, but typically you need to go into the camera settings, look for a white balance entry, and then select custom white balance (as opposed to automatic or a preset like Incandescent). Put the white balance cap on, aim at the location you’ll be shooting from (not the position you’ll be shooting, remember) and take your reference photo. This reference photo will tell the camera what neutral color looks like with the exact lighting conditions you’re working under.

So what does the difference between letting the automatic white balance best-guess and setting a custom white balance using the white balance cap look like? In the photo below you can see a familiar sight, an intersection Stop sign:

These two photos were taken in the late evening on an overcast day. The natural light of was a very warm tone. The photo on the left shows the in-camera white balance. The sign has a blue tint, and the foliage and other background objects seem a bit sterile–that’s not at all what the scene, however simple it was, actually looked like. After popping on the Expodisc and taking a white balance reading, I snapped the second picture. The colors are significantly more true to life and the photo no longer has that sort of sterile blue cast to it.

With a general sense of how the white balance cap functions, let’s take a look at how the different caps stack up against each other under different lighting conditions. If you’ve read any of our other white balance tutorials, you’ll know what comes next; our trusty photography side kick and all around upstanding action figure Spawn is going to lend a hand.

The following photos were taken on a sunny day, in the shade of large tree against a white building:

Under those lighting conditions, the automatic white balance was a bit cool and the Promaster was outright icy cold. The DIYdisc was barely a hair warmer than the camera’s automatic white balance. The only white balance option that actually warmed the image up was the Expodisc. Hands down the most accurate color reproduction in the Spawn-against-the-white-wall test was the Expodisc.

Let’s look at another test. In the following sequence, we photographed a common lily against the green and white backdrop of the lily foliage and the wall:

Again, as with the previous sample, we find that the automatic white balance and the DIYdisc offered similar cool tones. In this setting, however, the Promaster fared much better and came very close to recreating the warm tones of the Expodisc.

As you can see, however, there is a problem with consistency emerging that hinges on the thickness and quality of the filter material. The DIYdisc has a very thick piece of filter material in it and the Expodisc has a several layers of plastic, where as the Promaster is very thin. So thin, in fact, that you can look through it and see the outlines of whatever is in the background (be that buildings, clouds, or the treeline). The Promaster appears to let just enough through that it probably isn’t giving a perfectly consistent read when the camera attempts to meter the neutral color of the incident light.

Our Verdict

If you search for DIY Expodisc tutorials, you’ll find dozens of them. Almost every one of them slams the company making the Expodisc for marketing an overpriced piece of crap that anyone could make themselves. We think that judgement is a bit harsh. Yes, you can in fact make your own Expodisc clone, but the process is one of trial and error. If you love saving a buck (or ninety), experimenting with your camera, and the thrill of doing it yourself, by all means build a DIY Expodisc. Be prepared to experiment with quite a few different materials before you find the one you really like (and that offers consistent high quality results). We had to try almost a dozen different materials before we were even kind of happy with the results. As for the other tutorials that suggest holding a fast food napkin or a Pringle can lid over the camera to get a white balance read–that nonsense is for the birds.

Our take on the Expodisc is thus: It’s very sturdy, clearly well engineered, and regardless of what we photographed–flowers, action figures, people, distant buildings, skylines, kids, artwork, etc.–it gave us completely consistent results. Every photo we snapped after calibrating the camera with the Expodisc gave us the same neutral color with just a very slight hint of warmth which was pleasing across landscapes and personal portraits. That’s far more than we could say for the camera’s automatic white balance, our DIY attempt at an Expodisc, or the Expodisc knock off, the Promaster.

So the bottom line is: if you want fast and consistent results, especially if inconsistent results mean you’ll be spending a lot of time working in Photoshop or another post-processing application to fix photos with poor white balance, the Expodisc is a great value.

If you are working on a large spreadsheet where all the rows and columns of data don’t fit on the screen, it would be helpful to be able to keep the heading rows and columns stationary so you can scroll through the data.

You can freeze rows and columns in your spreadsheet. To do so, select the cell above which and to the left of which you want to freeze the columns and rows.

Click the View tab.

Click Freeze Panes in the Window section of the View tab and select Freeze Panes from the drop-down menu.

You can now scroll through the data while the heading rows and columns stay still, as pictured in the first image in this article.

NOTE: Frozen rows and/or columns are indicated by a thin black border.

To allow the frozen rows and columns to move again, click Freeze Panes in the Window section of the View tab and select Unfreeze Panes.

You can also just freeze rows or columns. For example, to freeze the header row for a long table, select a cell below the row(s) you want to freeze.

Click Freeze Panes in the Window section of the View tab and select Freeze Top Row.

Now the heading row(s) will stay in place as you scroll through your data.

This feature is very handy for viewing long, complicated spreadsheets.

We have previously covered how to add the ability to copy the contents of a TXT file to the right-click context menu, however this method would require you to create a separate registry entry for each type of file you wanted the ability to do this with (e.g. JS, BAT, LOG, HTM, CSS, etc.).

As an alternate method, you can easily add this functionality to your Windows Send To menu, which enables this feature for any type of file without having to touch the registry.

Add the Send To Shortcut

Open your Send To folder location by going to Run > shell:sendto

Create a new shortcut with the command:

CMD /C CLIP <

Give a descriptive name to the shortcut.

That’s it. You can now click on any file and, using this new shortcut, send the contents to the clipboard.

It is important to note, however, that if you were to select a non-text file (for example, a PDF or PNG) and use this shortcut, the contents of the file would not copy correctly as these formats are binary data as opposed to text data.

Changing the Icon

By default, the icon for the shortcut will appear as a command prompt, but you can easily change this by editing the properties of the shortcut and clicking the Change Icon button. We used an icon located in “%SystemRoot%\System32\shell32.dll”, but any icon of your liking will do.

One of the more powerful, but seldom used functions of Excel is the ability to very easily create automated tasks and custom logic within macros. Macros provide an ideal way to save time on predictable, repetitive tasks as well as standardize document formats – many times without having to write a single line of code.

If you are curious what macros are or how to actually create them, no problem – we will walk you through the entire process.

What is a Macro?

A Microsoft Office Macro (as this functionality applies to several of the MS Office Applications) is simply Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code saved inside a document. For a comparable analogy, think of a document as HTML and a macro as Javascript. In much of the same way that Javascript can manipulate HTML on a webpage, a macro can manipulate a document.

Macros are incredibly powerful and can do pretty much anything your imagination can conjure. As a (very) short list of functions you can do with a macro:

• Apply style and formatting.
• Manipulate data and text.
• Communicate with data sources (database, text files, etc.).
• Create entirely new documents.
• Any combination, in any order, of any of the above.

Creating a Macro: An Explanation by Example

We start with your garden variety CSV file. Nothing special here, just a 10×20 set of numbers between 0 and 100 with both a row and column header. Our goal is to produce a well formatted, presentable data sheet which includes summary totals for each row.

As we stated above, a macro is VBA code, but one of the nice things about Excel is you can create/record them with zero coding required – as we will do here.

To create a macro, go to View > Macros > Record Macro.

Assign the macro a name (no spaces) and click OK.

Once this is done, all of your actions are recorded – every cell change, scroll action, window resize, you name it.

There are a couple of places which indicate Excel is record mode. One is by viewing the Macro menu and noting that Stop Macro has replaced the option for Record Macro.

The other is in the bottom right corner. The ‘stop’ icon indicates it is in macro mode and pressing here will stop the recording (likewise, when not in record mode, this icon will be the Record Macro button, which you can use instead of going to the Macros menu).

Now that we are recording our macro, let’s apply our summary calculations. First add the headers.

Next, apply the appropriate formulas (respectively):

• =SUM(B2:K2)
• =AVERAGE(B2:K2)
• =MIN(B2:K2)
• =MAX(B2:K2)
• =MEDIAN(B2:K2)

Now, highlight all the calculation cells and drag the length of all our data rows to apply the calculations to each row.

Once this is done, each row should display their respective summaries.

Now, we want to get the summary data for the entire sheet, so we apply a few more calculations:

Respectively:

• =SUM(L2:L21)
• =AVERAGE(B2:K21) *This must be calculated across all data because the average of the row averages does not necessarily equal the average of all the values.
• =MIN(N2:N21)
• =MAX(O2:O21)
• =MEDIAN(B2:K21) *Calculated across all data for the same reason as above.

Now that the calculations are done, we will apply the style and formatting. First apply general number formatting across all the cells by doing a Select All (either Ctrl + A or click the cell between the row and column headers) and select the “Comma Style” icon under the Home menu.

Next, apply some visual formatting to both the row and column headers:

• Bold.
• Centered.
• Background fill color.

And finally, apply some style to the totals.

When all is finished, this is what our data sheet looks like:

Since we are satisfied with the results, stop the recording of the macro.

Congratulations – you have just created an Excel macro.

In order to use our newly recorded macro, we have to save our Excel Workbook in a macro enabled file format. However, before we do that, we first need to clear all the existing data so that it is not embedded in our template (the idea being every time we use this template, we will import the most up-to-date data).

To do this, select all cells and delete them.

With the data now cleared (but the macros still included in the Excel file), we want to save the file as a macro enabled template (XLTM) file. It is important to note that if you save this as a standard template (XLTX) file then macros will not be able to be run from it. Alternately, you can save the file as a legacy template (XLT) file, which will allow macros to be run.

Once you have saved the file as a template, go ahead and close Excel.

Using an Excel Macro

Before covering how we can apply this newly recorded macro, it is important to cover a few points about macros in general:

• Macros can be malicious.
• See the point above.

VBA code is actually quite powerful and can manipulate files outside of the scope of the current document. For example, a macro could alter or delete random files in your My Documents folder. As such, it is important to make sure you only run macros from trusted sources.

To put our data format macro to use, open the Excel Template file which was created above. When you do this, assuming you have standard security settings enabled, you will see a warning across the top of the workbook which says that macros are disabled. Because we trust a macro created by ourselves, click the ‘Enable Content’ button.

Up next, we are going to import the latest data set from a CSV (if you recall, this is what sourced the worksheet used to create our macro).

To complete the import of the CSV file, you may have to set a few options in order for Excel to interpret it correctly (e.g. delimiter, headers present, etc.).

Once our data is imported, simply go to the Macros menu (under the View tab) and select View Macros.

In the resulting dialog box, we see the “FormatData” macro we recorded above. Select it and click Run.

Once running, you may see the cursor jump around for a few moments, but as it does you will see the data being manipulated exactly as we recorded it. When all is said and done, it should look just like our original – except with different data.

Looking Under the Hood: What Makes a Macro Work

As we have mentioned a couple of times, a macro is driven by Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code. When you “record” a macro, Excel is actually translating everything you do into its respective VBA instructions. To put is simply – you don’t have to write any code because Excel is writing the code for you.

To view the code that makes our macro run, from the Macros dialog click the Edit button.

The window that opens displays the source code that was recorded from our actions when creating the macro. Of course, you can edit this code or even create new macros entirely inside of the code window. While the recording action used in this article will likely fit most needs, more highly customized actions or conditional actions would require you to edit the source code.

Taking Our Example One Step Farther…

Hypothetically, assume our source data file, data.csv, is produced by an automated process which always saves the file to the same location (e.g. C:\Data\data.csv is always the most recent data). The process of opening this file and importing it can be easily made into a macro as well:

1. Open the Excel Template file containing our “FormatData” macro.
2. Record a new macro named “LoadData”.
3. With the macro recording, import the data file like you normally would.
4. Once the data is imported, stop recording the macro.
5. Delete all the cell data (select all then delete).
6. Save the updated template (remember to use a macro enabled template format).

Once this is done, whenever the template is opened there will be two macros – one which loads our data and the other which formats it.

If you really wanted to get your hands dirty with a bit of code editing, you could easily combine these actions into a single macro by copying the code produced from “LoadData” and inserting it at the beginning of the code from “FormatData”.

Download this Template

For your convenience, we have included both the Excel template produced in this article as well as a sample data file for you to play around with.

Download Excel Macro Template from How-To Geek

In today’s edition of Geek School, we look at the tools we can use to monitor the performance and reliability of our computers.

Be sure to check out the previous articles in this Geek School series on Windows 7:

• Introducing How-To Geek School
• Upgrades and Migrations
• Configuring Devices
• Managing Disks
• Managing Applications
• Managing Internet Explorer
• IP Addressing Fundamentals
• Networking
• Wireless Networking
• Windows Firewall
• Remote Administration
• Remote Access

And stay tuned for the rest of the series all this week.

Event Logs

Event logs are special files that record significant events on your computer, such as when a user logs on to your computer or when a program crashes. Event logs are very useful tools when you are troubleshooting an issue with your computer. You can use the Windows Event Viewer to read event logs, however you will need to be administrator on the machine in order to do so.

Opening the Event Viewer

To open the Event viewer, click on Start and launch the Control Panel.

Then head into the System and Security section.

Here you will want to click on Administrative Tools.

You can then open it by clicking on the Event Viewer shortcut.

That’s all there is to it.

The Event Viewer displays events in several different logs. Windows Logs include:

• The Application Log – The application log contains events logged by programs, for example it might be able to tell you why a particular program crashed.
• The Security Log – The security log records events such as valid and invalid logon attempts, as well as events related to resource use, such as the creating, opening, or deleting of files.
• The Setup Log – The setup log records events that add, remove or update a Windows feature. For example an entry is logged every time you install a Windows Update.
• The System Log – The system log contains events logged by Windows system components. For example, if a driver fails to load during startup, an event is recorded in the system log.

To view one of the Windows Logs, simply expand the Windows Logs Console Tree item and select the log you want to view.

One the right hand side you can see all the events that the log contains. There are three kinds of events:

• Errors – Indicated by the nasty red exclamation mark, errors indicate that there has been a fatal problem, such as a loss of data.
• Warning – Indicated by the yellow exclamation mark, warnings indicate that there has been a problem but the program can continue to function. They also serve as a notice that futures errors could occur.
• Information – Indicated by the white exclamation mark, information events describe the successful operation of a program, driver, or service.  

Note: The security log doesn’t use the above event levels and rather uses security audits.

Filtering Logs

Event logs contain thousands of events, and finding the information you need can sometimes be tricky. Provided you know what you are looking for, you can always use a log filter to filter out all the irrelevant information. Let’s look at how we can use the Event Viewer to find out how long it takes our computer to start up. The first thing you will need to do is open the Application and Service logs, then drill down into Microsoft and then Windows.

Then find the Diagnostics-Performance folder and filter its Operational log file.

Now create a filter for all Warning level events that have an Event ID of 100.

Note: I only happen to know this information because I have needed to use it before. You should focus on how you would create a filter, not that the boot up event has an Event ID of 100.

Once you click OK, you should only see warning level events.

If you select one of the results and look at its contents you will see your boot time in milliseconds.

Creating a Custom View

If you know that every day you are going to connect to a server and apply a custom filter to view specific events, you might want to consider creating a custom view which allows you to create your own pre-filtered log files. Creating a new custom view is exactly the same as creating a new filter: just right click on the log and select Create Custom View from the context menu.

Then choose a filtering criteria. We will again go for warning level events with an event ID of 100.

Then give your new custom view a name and click OK.

Now you will have a nice, pre-filtered log.

Limiting the Size of Your Log Files

If you need to control the size of the log files you can do so by right-clicking on a log selecting properties.

Here you can change the size of the log file in KB, the default is 20MB.

Note: The default is fine for most purposes.

Resource Monitor

The Windows 7 Resource Monitor provides a quick summary of overall CPU, disk, network and memory utilization in one easy to use interface. You can think of it as a more detailed version of Task Manager.

To open resource monitor, press the Win + R keyboard combination to open a run box, then type resmon and press enter.

The default windows will appear with the Overview tab displayed. In the Overview tab, you can see the four monitored resources – CPU, disk, network and memory.

The resource monitor is very useful for those times when your computer is running slow all of the sudden.

Reliability Monitor

Reliability Monitor is an advanced tool that measures hardware and software problems and other changes to your computer.  To open the reliability monitor, press the Win + R keyboard combination to open a run box, then type perfmon /rel and press enter.

You will be greeted with a large graph displaying the overall reliability of your system over the last week or so. You are given a system stability rating on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst and 10 the best.

As time goes by you will notice the rating gets lower and lower on my machine, but you will also notice that there are two errors on the chart. To view the errors that occurred, simply select the day.

In the above screenshot, you will see a critical event, logged due to power outage, significantly reduced the reliability of my system. It looks like there was another error earlier today. Let’s check it out as well.

It looks like another power outage. Looks like I need to invest in a UPS unit. As you can see the reliability monitor can be extremely useful for tracking trends in system behavior.

Performance Monitor

The Windows Performance Monitor allows you to measure the performance of a local or a remote computer on the network, both in real time and by collecting log data for later analysis.

Opening the Performance Monitor

To open the Performance Monitor, press the Win + R keyboard combination to open the run dialog, then type perfmon then hit enter.

Once the MMC console opens, expand the Monitoring Tools item in the Console Tree and select Performance Monitor.

One of the great things about the performance monitor is that it allows you to graphically view real time performance information. It does this by the use of performance counters. Performance counters are measurements of how something is performing at a given time, and performance counters can either be included in the operating system or as part of an application. One example of a what a performance counter could measure is how much time the CPU spends responding to system requests, as seen below.

To add a performance counter, simply click on the green add button.

Then choose the performance counters you want to add by selecting them and clicking the add button.

There are literally thousands of counters, but the ones I added above are the most important to remember for the exam. Here’s a brief explanation of each one:

Processor

The following performance counters are useful for troubleshooting CPU issues and are available under the Processor section:

• % Processor Time: This shows you how much time that the CPU spends responding to system requests.
• Interrupts/sec: This measures the average number of hardware interrupts received by the processor each second.

Memory

The following performance counters are useful for troubleshooting memory issues and are available under the Memory section:

• Available MBytes: This measures the amount of memory that is available to run processes on the computer.
• Pages/sec: This shows you the number of hard faults per second. Hard faults are page faults that require disk access.

Physical Disk

The following performance counters are useful for troubleshooting physical disk constraints and are available under the PhysicalDisk section:

• % Disk Time: This measures the amount of time the disk is busy because it is servicing read or write requests.
•  Current Disk Queue Length: This shows you the number of outstanding disk requests that are waiting to be processed.

Logical Disk

The following performance counter is useful for troubleshooting logical disk constraints and is available under the LogicalDisk section:

• % Free Space: This shows you how much free disk space is available. 

Network Interface

The following performance counter is useful for troubleshooting network issues and is available under the NetworkInterface section:

• Bytes Total/sec: This shows you the total number of bytes sent and received from your network interface across all protocols.

Once you have added all your counters you can see all your data in real time.

Keeping Windows Up to Date

The one exception to my “if it’s not broken don’t fix it” rule is installing Windows Updates. There are two ways you can update Windows:

• Using the Internet –When you buy a new Windows 7 PC it is configured in such a way that if you choose to enable Windows Updates the updates themselves will be downloaded from the Microsoft servers when its time to install them.

As opposed to what, you might ask? The answer is as opposed to using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).

• WSUS – When you use WSUS, you have a central server that downloads all the updates for your entire company, for all Microsoft products, not just Windows. When it is time for your client computers to install updates, instead of 30,000 computers connecting to the internet to download the same files, they all connect to the WSUS server and install the updates using your network’s local bandwidth. As you can imagine this saves massiveamounts of bandwidth as the updates are only downloaded once.

Changing Where You Get Your Updates From

While setting up a WSUS server is out of scope of the exam objectives, you certainly need to know how to set up a Windows 7 client to use a WSUS server. Normally, you will have at least at least ten clients by the time you are using WSUS, so it is best done through a GPO. So go ahead and press the Win + R keyboard combination to bring up a run dialog, then type gpedit.msc and press enter.

Note: Remember that we are setting up a GPO on one Windows 7 client. Usually this is done on a central server and linked to an OU that contains the machines in your organization so that you don’t have to go around to each machine and tell them to use WSUS.

Then drill down to:

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update

Then double click on the “Specify intranet Microsoft update service location” setting on the right hand side.

Then you will need to enable the policy and enter in the URI of the WSUS server.

That’s all there is to it.

Changing Windows Update Settings

Note: If you are using WSUS, you are likely to edit these setting through Group Policy, rather than on each client as shown below.

Open the Start Menu and click on the Windows Update item.

Here you will see a Change settings link on the left hand side.

From this centralized location you can change nearly every aspect of Windows Updates.

One thing to be aware of is that you can change the Windows Update behavior using the drop down list.

Summary

It has been a long one so here’s a short summary:

• The Windows Event Viewer allows you to view log files which contain important information about events that have occurred on your PC.
• Resource Monitor is a more verbose version of Task Manager that allows us to view detailed information about what is currently happening on your machine.
• The Reliability Monitor allows you to easily identify trends that are reducing the reliability of your PC.
• The Windows Performance Monitor allows you to view custom performance information in real time as well as view performance data that has been tracked over a period of time.
• Windows Updates allow your PC to stay up to date with the latest security patches. While you might use the out-the-box Windows Update configuration in very small businesses, WSUS and Group Policy are the way to go.

Homework

• Learn about and set up event subscriptions using two Windows 7 virtual machines.
• Learn how to use Data Collector Sets to track performance information over time using the Performance Monitor.

In addition to today’s homework, you should read the following posts and get familiar with the little tips and tricks you can use to improve your computer’s performance. These are also part of the exam objectives.

• Read Chris Hoffman’s awesome post on the Windows Page File.
• Learn how to improve your computer’s performance using ReadyBoost.
• Learn how you can disable startup programs using MSConfig.
• Learn how you can evaluate your computers power efficiency using powercfg
• Read up on how to switch power plans in Windows 7.

In this installation of Geek School we take a look at our options for Backup and Recovery. This is an important one, so come on and join us.

Be sure to check out the previous articles in this Geek School series on Windows 7:

• Introducing How-To Geek School
• Upgrades and Migrations
• Configuring Devices
• Managing Disks
• Managing Applications
• Managing Internet Explorer
• IP Addressing Fundamentals
• Networking
• Wireless Networking
• Windows Firewall
• Remote Administration
• Remote Access
• Monitoring, Performance and Keeping Windows Up To Date
• Resource Access

Note: Backup and Recovery is a fairly straight forward concept and thus there is not much theory to be covered. Rather, we take the approach of showing you how to get a backup plan in place, and point out things as we go.

Backing Up Windows

Windows 7 includes a utility that enables you to create and restore backups. For those uninitiated, backups protect your data in the event of a catastrophic failure by allowing you to store a copy of your data on another storage medium, such as a hard disk, CD, DVD, or network location. When a catastrophic event occurs, examples of which include corruption, deletion or media failure, you will be able to restore your data using one of your saved backups. In order to set up your backup plan you need to head into the Control Panel.

Then click on System and Security.

Here you will see a Backup and Restore link. Click on it.

Once you enter the backup section, you will need to click on the Set up backup link.

Now choose where you want to save the backup, then click next. We will opt to save our backup on a Hard Drive, however you always have the option of using a network location.

You also have the option of letting Windows choose what to back up or rolling your own backup strategy. We will roll our own.

Note: If you choose to let Windows pick out what to back up, it will basically include anything within common Windows folders, the contents of your libraries as well as a system image which can be used to restore your “C” drive should anything happen to your computer.

The advantage to rolling your own backup strategy is that you can choose individual folders that you want to back up, and the contents of these folders will be available for restoration without restoring a system image. If you let Windows choose what to backup and you suddenly need to restore a single folder, you would need to restore your entire “C” drive using the system image, losing any files you have created since the backup. Of course, we will include our libraries as well as a system image in our custom backup.

Once you have chosen what you want to be backed up, you will be given a nice overview. If you are not happy with the default schedule, you can change it by clicking on the change schedule link, however Sunday at 7PM suits us perfectly. After confirming everything you need is included, kick off the backup.

That’s all there is to it.

Restoring Your Data

If you ever need to restore a single file from your backup, simply open the Control Panel.

Then click on System and Security.

Now click on the Restore my files button in the bottom right hand corner of the Window.

Then click the Browse for files button.

Now simply browse and select the file you want to restore, then click the add files button.

Then click next.

You can now restore the file to its original location or choose to restore it to an alternative location. This could be useful should you want to compare the files.

That’s all there is to restoring a single file. Next, let’s take a look at the Windows Recovery Environment, which can help you restore your PC from a system image following a system-wide failure.

The Windows Recovery Environment

Windows includes a set of tools that you can use to troubleshoot and revive your system should a serious error ever occur. Collectively, these tools form what is called the WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment). Since we already have a guide on creating a recovery disc, lets take a look tools the WinRE includes.

Note: You can also boot into the WinRE without creating a disc by holding the F8 key while your computer boots, then choosing repair your computer from the advanced boot options screen. Alternatively you could also access it using your installation DVD.

• Startup Repair: Fixes certain problems that are preventing Windows from starting. For the most part it does this by verifying the integrity of core Windows files.
• System Restore: Allows you to restore your computer’s files to an earlier point in time.
• System Image Recovery: This is the option we will use to restore a system image.
• Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool: Scans your computer’s memory for corruption.
• Command Prompt: Opens a new command prompt Window from where you can run command line utilities.

In the event that your PC won’t even boot, you will want to restore your data using the system image that is included in the Windows backup. To do that, select the System Image Recovery option.

You will then be asked which system image you want to restore to. By default, it will detect the latest system image on any valid backup medium. In our case this is in fact the image I want to use, however if you want to restore to an older image you can always choose the select a system image option.

Then you have the option of formatting your systems disks. Just be careful to exclude the disk which your backup is on should your backup be on an internal disk. Then click next.

Finally, confirm your actions by clicking on the finish button, which will kick off the restore process.

That’s all there is to it.

Homework

This has been a long one, but you’re not done yet. There are still some miscellaneous topics you need to cover regarding Windows’ backup features.

• Learn about the Volume Shadow Copy Service.
• Learn about System Restore Points.
• Learn about Previous Versions.

In today’s edition of Geek School, we look at the tools we can use to monitor the performance and reliability of our computers.

Be sure to check out the previous articles in this Geek School series on Windows 7:

• Introducing How-To Geek School
• Upgrades and Migrations
• Configuring Devices
• Managing Disks
• Managing Applications
• Managing Internet Explorer
• IP Addressing Fundamentals
• Networking
• Wireless Networking
• Windows Firewall
• Remote Administration
• Remote Access

And stay tuned for the rest of the series all this week.

Event Logs

Event logs are special files that record significant events on your computer, such as when a user logs on to your computer or when a program crashes. Event logs are very useful tools when you are troubleshooting an issue with your computer. You can use the Windows Event Viewer to read event logs, however you will need to be administrator on the machine in order to do so.

Opening the Event Viewer

To open the Event viewer, click on Start and launch the Control Panel.

Then head into the System and Security section.

Here you will want to click on Administrative Tools.

You can then open it by clicking on the Event Viewer shortcut.

That’s all there is to it.

The Event Viewer displays events in several different logs. Windows Logs include:

• The Application Log – The application log contains events logged by programs, for example it might be able to tell you why a particular program crashed.
• The Security Log – The security log records events such as valid and invalid logon attempts, as well as events related to resource use, such as the creating, opening, or deleting of files.
• The Setup Log – The setup log records events that add, remove or update a Windows feature. For example an entry is logged every time you install a Windows Update.
• The System Log – The system log contains events logged by Windows system components. For example, if a driver fails to load during startup, an event is recorded in the system log.

To view one of the Windows Logs, simply expand the Windows Logs Console Tree item and select the log you want to view.

One the right hand side you can see all the events that the log contains. There are three kinds of events:

• Errors – Indicated by the nasty red exclamation mark, errors indicate that there has been a fatal problem, such as a loss of data.
• Warning – Indicated by the yellow exclamation mark, warnings indicate that there has been a problem but the program can continue to function. They also serve as a notice that futures errors could occur.
• Information – Indicated by the white exclamation mark, information events describe the successful operation of a program, driver, or service.  

Note: The security log doesn’t use the above event levels and rather uses security audits.

Filtering Logs

Event logs contain thousands of events, and finding the information you need can sometimes be tricky. Provided you know what you are looking for, you can always use a log filter to filter out all the irrelevant information. Let’s look at how we can use the Event Viewer to find out how long it takes our computer to start up. The first thing you will need to do is open the Application and Service logs, then drill down into Microsoft and then Windows.

Then find the Diagnostics-Performance folder and filter its Operational log file.

Now create a filter for all Warning level events that have an Event ID of 100.

Note: I only happen to know this information because I have needed to use it before. You should focus on how you would create a filter, not that the boot up event has an Event ID of 100.

Once you click OK, you should only see warning level events.

If you select one of the results and look at its contents you will see your boot time in milliseconds.

Creating a Custom View

If you know that every day you are going to connect to a server and apply a custom filter to view specific events, you might want to consider creating a custom view which allows you to create your own pre-filtered log files. Creating a new custom view is exactly the same as creating a new filter: just right click on the log and select Create Custom View from the context menu.

Then choose a filtering criteria. We will again go for warning level events with an event ID of 100.

Then give your new custom view a name and click OK.

Now you will have a nice, pre-filtered log.

Limiting the Size of Your Log Files

If you need to control the size of the log files you can do so by right-clicking on a log selecting properties.

Here you can change the size of the log file in KB, the default is 20MB.

Note: The default is fine for most purposes.

Resource Monitor

The Windows 7 Resource Monitor provides a quick summary of overall CPU, disk, network and memory utilization in one easy to use interface. You can think of it as a more detailed version of Task Manager.

To open resource monitor, press the Win + R keyboard combination to open a run box, then type resmon and press enter.

The default windows will appear with the Overview tab displayed. In the Overview tab, you can see the four monitored resources – CPU, disk, network and memory.

The resource monitor is very useful for those times when your computer is running slow all of the sudden.

Reliability Monitor

Reliability Monitor is an advanced tool that measures hardware and software problems and other changes to your computer.  To open the reliability monitor, press the Win + R keyboard combination to open a run box, then type perfmon /rel and press enter.

You will be greeted with a large graph displaying the overall reliability of your system over the last week or so. You are given a system stability rating on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst and 10 the best.

As time goes by you will notice the rating gets lower and lower on my machine, but you will also notice that there are two errors on the chart. To view the errors that occurred, simply select the day.

In the above screenshot, you will see a critical event, logged due to power outage, significantly reduced the reliability of my system. It looks like there was another error earlier today. Let’s check it out as well.

It looks like another power outage. Looks like I need to invest in a UPS unit. As you can see the reliability monitor can be extremely useful for tracking trends in system behavior.

Performance Monitor

The Windows Performance Monitor allows you to measure the performance of a local or a remote computer on the network, both in real time and by collecting log data for later analysis.

Opening the Performance Monitor

To open the Performance Monitor, press the Win + R keyboard combination to open the run dialog, then type perfmon then hit enter.

Once the MMC console opens, expand the Monitoring Tools item in the Console Tree and select Performance Monitor.

One of the great things about the performance monitor is that it allows you to graphically view real time performance information. It does this by the use of performance counters. Performance counters are measurements of how something is performing at a given time, and performance counters can either be included in the operating system or as part of an application. One example of a what a performance counter could measure is how much time the CPU spends responding to system requests, as seen below.

To add a performance counter, simply click on the green add button.

Then choose the performance counters you want to add by selecting them and clicking the add button.

There are literally thousands of counters, but the ones I added above are the most important to remember for the exam. Here’s a brief explanation of each one:

Processor

The following performance counters are useful for troubleshooting CPU issues and are available under the Processor section:

• % Processor Time: This shows you how much time that the CPU spends responding to system requests.
• Interrupts/sec: This measures the average number of hardware interrupts received by the processor each second.

Memory

The following performance counters are useful for troubleshooting memory issues and are available under the Memory section:

• Available MBytes: This measures the amount of memory that is available to run processes on the computer.
• Pages/sec: This shows you the number of hard faults per second. Hard faults are page faults that require disk access.

Physical Disk

The following performance counters are useful for troubleshooting physical disk constraints and are available under the PhysicalDisk section:

• % Disk Time: This measures the amount of time the disk is busy because it is servicing read or write requests.
•  Current Disk Queue Length: This shows you the number of outstanding disk requests that are waiting to be processed.

Logical Disk

The following performance counter is useful for troubleshooting logical disk constraints and is available under the LogicalDisk section:

• % Free Space: This shows you how much free disk space is available. 

Network Interface

The following performance counter is useful for troubleshooting network issues and is available under the NetworkInterface section:

• Bytes Total/sec: This shows you the total number of bytes sent and received from your network interface across all protocols.

Once you have added all your counters you can see all your data in real time.

Keeping Windows Up to Date

The one exception to my “if it’s not broken don’t fix it” rule is installing Windows Updates. There are two ways you can update Windows:

• Using the Internet –When you buy a new Windows 7 PC it is configured in such a way that if you choose to enable Windows Updates the updates themselves will be downloaded from the Microsoft servers when its time to install them.

As opposed to what, you might ask? The answer is as opposed to using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).

• WSUS – When you use WSUS, you have a central server that downloads all the updates for your entire company, for all Microsoft products, not just Windows. When it is time for your client computers to install updates, instead of 30,000 computers connecting to the internet to download the same files, they all connect to the WSUS server and install the updates using your network’s local bandwidth. As you can imagine this saves massiveamounts of bandwidth as the updates are only downloaded once.

Changing Where You Get Your Updates From

While setting up a WSUS server is out of scope of the exam objectives, you certainly need to know how to set up a Windows 7 client to use a WSUS server. Normally, you will have at least at least ten clients by the time you are using WSUS, so it is best done through a GPO. So go ahead and press the Win + R keyboard combination to bring up a run dialog, then type gpedit.msc and press enter.

Note: Remember that we are setting up a GPO on one Windows 7 client. Usually this is done on a central server and linked to an OU that contains the machines in your organization so that you don’t have to go around to each machine and tell them to use WSUS.

Then drill down to:

Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update

Then double click on the “Specify intranet Microsoft update service location” setting on the right hand side.

Then you will need to enable the policy and enter in the URI of the WSUS server.

That’s all there is to it.

Changing Windows Update Settings

Note: If you are using WSUS, you are likely to edit these setting through Group Policy, rather than on each client as shown below.

Open the Start Menu and click on the Windows Update item.

Here you will see a Change settings link on the left hand side.

From this centralized location you can change nearly every aspect of Windows Updates.

One thing to be aware of is that you can change the Windows Update behavior using the drop down list.

Summary

It has been a long one so here’s a short summary:

• The Windows Event Viewer allows you to view log files which contain important information about events that have occurred on your PC.
• Resource Monitor is a more verbose version of Task Manager that allows us to view detailed information about what is currently happening on your machine.
• The Reliability Monitor allows you to easily identify trends that are reducing the reliability of your PC.
• The Windows Performance Monitor allows you to view custom performance information in real time as well as view performance data that has been tracked over a period of time.
• Windows Updates allow your PC to stay up to date with the latest security patches. While you might use the out-the-box Windows Update configuration in very small businesses, WSUS and Group Policy are the way to go.

Homework

• Learn about and set up event subscriptions using two Windows 7 virtual machines.
• Learn how to use Data Collector Sets to track performance information over time using the Performance Monitor.

In addition to today’s homework, you should read the following posts and get familiar with the little tips and tricks you can use to improve your computer’s performance. These are also part of the exam objectives.

• Read Chris Hoffman’s awesome post on the Windows Page File.
• Learn how to improve your computer’s performance using ReadyBoost.
• Learn how you can disable startup programs using MSConfig.
• Learn how you can evaluate your computers power efficiency using powercfg
• Read up on how to switch power plans in Windows 7.

In the last two articles, we looked at how to prepare your PC for network access. In this installment, we are going to look at wireless network configuration.

Be sure to check out the previous articles in this Geek School series on Windows 7:

• Introducing How-To Geek School
• Upgrades and Migrations
• Configuring Devices
• Managing Disks
• Managing Applications
• Managing Internet Explorer
• IP Addressing Fundamentals
• Networking

And stay tuned for the rest of the series all week.

Wireless networks allow computers to communicate without the use of cables. This is also commonly known as Wi-Fi. A connection is made from a device, which is usually a PC or a Laptop with a wireless card, to a  Wireless Access Point (WAP), which acts as a bridge between the wireless network and the wired networks. Wireless network standards are specified by IEEE 802.11.

There are many flavors of 802.11, but we will only be concerned with four. Each increases the distance and speed of your wireless network.

Security Concerns

By default, wireless signals can be intercepted and read anyone within range. As such, it is always recommended that you use some form of encryption. Over time there has been many encryption standards:

• WEP – Wired Equivalent Privacy can be cracked and there are many tutorials on how to do it. For this reason, it has been superseded by stronger encryption techniques such as WPA2.
• TKIP – Temporal Key Integrity Protocol was designed by the IEEE and the Wi-Fi Alliance as a solution to replace WEP without requiring the replacement of legacy hardware. TKIP has also been cracked and you should choose a stronger algorithm where available.
• RADIUS – Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS) is a network protocol often used by ISPs and larger enterprises to manage access to both the internet as well as internal networks. RADIUS is what you would use to secure your wireless networks in a corporate environment.
• WPA – The original WPA standard used TKIP, but was later replaced by WPA2 which uses a more secure AES-based algorithm. WPA is susceptible to brute force attacks when a weak passphrase is used. In most cases, WPA2 is the recommended option to use.

Connecting to a Wireless Network

In the real world we just click on the wireless status icon and select the network we want to connect to, however the exam requires you to know how to connect to a wireless network through the Control Panel. To do that, you will need to open the Network and Sharing Center. This can be done by right clicking on the network connectivity status icon and selecting Open Network and Sharing Center from the context menu.

Then click on the Set up a new connection or network link.

Next you will want to select manually connect to a wireless network, then click next.

Next you will need to:

• Enter the SSID of your network
• Select the security type for your network
• Select the encryption scheme your network uses
• Then type in the password for the network

Once you have entered all that click next.

You should then get a message stating you have successfully added the network. At this point you can close the wizard.

You should now see your wireless network status icon change to white and show you the signal strength.

Exporting Wireless Network Profiles

If you need to setup wireless network connectivity on multiple machines, you can export your wireless network profile to a file and import it on the other machines. To do that again open the Network and Sharing Center but this time click on the manage wireless networks link in the left hand pane.

Then right click on the network you want to export and select Properties from the context menu.

To export the network profile click on the link near the bottom of the dialog. If a USB is plugged in, a wizard will appear that will guide you through the remainder of the export process.

Importing a Wireless Network Profile

Once you have a network profile saved on a removable drive you will need to go to the other computer and insert the drive. When the auto play dialog opens, you will see a new option to connect to a wireless network. You will want to click on it.

You will then be asked if you want to add the computer to the network. Clicking yes is all it takes to get connected.

Setting a Preferred Wireless Network

If you are situated in an area that gets signal from more than one access point, you normally want to connect to the one that has a stronger signal. If you find yourself in a situation where Windows always connects to the weaker access point you can manually change the priority of the networks. To do this, open the Network and Sharing Center again.

Then click on the Manage wireless networks link in the left hand pane.

Now select the network with the strong signal and click the move up button.

That’s all there is to it.

Ad-Hoc Networks

An 802.11 wireless network adapter can operate in two modes, Ad-Hoc and Infrastructure. Infrastructure mode is the way you have probably always used Wi-Fi, where you connect to an access point. In Ad-hoc mode your computers talk directly to each other and do not need an access point, however the computers have to be within 30m of each other. To create an ad-hoc network head into the network and sharing center and click on the set up a new connection or network link.

Then scroll all the way to the bottom and choose to setup an ad-hoc network, then click next.

Next give your network a name and a password, then click next.

Once completed, users will be able to connect to the network just as they would an infrastructure based network.

Homework

• Find out how you could turn your PC into a wireless router, so that your other devices can share its internet connection. (Hint: The answer lies within the How-To Geek site.)

In the last part of the series we looked at how you can manage and use your Windows computers from anywhere as long as you are on the same network. But what if you are not?

Be sure to check out the previous articles in this Geek School series on Windows 7:

• Introducing How-To Geek School
• Upgrades and Migrations
• Configuring Devices
• Managing Disks
• Managing Applications
• Managing Internet Explorer
• IP Addressing Fundamentals
• Networking
• Wireless Networking
• Windows Firewall
• Remote Administration

And stay tuned for the rest of the series all this week.

Network Access Protection

Network Access Protection is Microsoft’s attempt to control access to network resources based on the health of the client trying to connect to them. For example, in the situation where you are a laptop user, there may be many months where you are on the road and do not connect your laptop to your corporate network. During this time there is no guarantee that your laptop does not get infected with a virus or malware, or that you even receive anti-virus definition updates.

In this situation, when you get back to the office and connect the machine to the network, NAP will automatically determine the machines health against a policy you have set up on one of your NAP servers. If the device that connected to the network fails the health inspection it automatically gets moved to a super-restricted section of your network called the remediation zone. When in the remediation zone, the remediation servers will automatically try and rectify the problem with your machine. Some examples could be:

• If you firewall is disabled and your policy requires it to be enabled, the remediation servers would enable your firewall for you.
• If your health policy states that you need to have the latest Windows updates and you don’t, you could have a WSUS server in your remediation zone that will install the latest updates on your client.

Your machine will only get moved back to the corporate network if it is deemed healthy by your NAP servers. There are four different ways you can enforce NAP, each having its own advantages:

• VPN – Using the VPN enforcement method is useful in a company where you have telecommuters remotely working from home, using their own computers. You can never be sure about what malware someone might install on a PC that you have no control over. When you use this method, a client’s health will be checked every time they initiate a VPN connection.
• DHCP – When you use the DHCP enforcement method a client will not be given a valid network addresses from your DHCP server until they have been deemed healthy by your NAP infrastructure.
• IPsec – IPsec is a method of encrypting network traffic using certificates. Although not very common, you can also use IPsec to enforce NAP.
• 802.1x - 802.1x is also sometimes called port based authentication and is a method of authenticating clients at the switch level. Using 802.1x to enforce a NAP policy is standard practice in today’s world.

Dial-Up Connections

For some reason in this day and age Microsoft still wants you to know about those primitive dial-up connections. Dial-up connections use the analog telephone network, also known as POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service), to deliver information from one computer to another. They do this using a modem, which is a combination of the words modulate and demodulate. The modem gets hooked up to your PC, normally using a RJ11 cable, and modulates the digital information streams from your PC into an an analog signal that can be transferred across the telephone lines. When the signal reaches its destination it is demodulated by another modem and turned back into a digital signal that the computer can understand. In order to create a dial-up connection, right click on the network status icon and open the Network and Sharing Center.

Then click on the Set up a new connection or network hyperlink.

Now choose to Set up a dial-up connection and click next.

From here you can fill in all the information required.

Note: If you get a question that requires you to set up a dial-up connection on the exam, they will provide the relevant details.

Virtual Private Networks

Virtual Private Networks are private tunnels you can establish over a public network, such as the internet, so that you can securely connect to another network.

For example, you might establish a VPN connection from a PC on you home network, to your corporate network. That way it would appear as if the PC on your home network was really part of your corporate network. In fact, you can even connect to network shares and such as if you had taken your PC and physically plugged it into your work network with an Ethernet cable. The only difference is of course speed: instead of getting the Gigabit Ethernet speeds that you would if you were physically in the office, you will be limited by the speed of your broadband connection.

You are probably wondering how safe these “private tunnels” are since they “tunnel” over the internet. Can every one see your data? No, they can’t, and thats because we encrypt the data sent over a VPN connection, hence the name virtual “private” network. The protocol used to encapsulate and encrypt the data sent over the network is left up to you, and Windows 7 supports the following:

Note: Unfortunately these definitions you will need to know by heart for the exam.

• Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) – The Point to Point Tunneling Protocol allows network traffic to be encapsulated into an IP header and sent across an IP network, such as the Internet.
  • Encapsulation: PPP frames are encapsulated in an IP datagram, using a modified version of GRE.
  • Encryption: PPP frames are encrypted using Microsoft Point-to-Point Encryption (MPPE). Encryption keys are generated during authentication where the Microsoft Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol version 2 (MS-CHAP v2) or Extensible Authentication Protocol-Transport Layer Security (EAP-TLS) protocols are used.
• Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) – L2TP is a secure tunneling protocol used for transporting PPP frames using the Internet Protocol, it is partially based on PPTP. Unlike PPTP, the Microsoft implementation of L2TP does not use MPPE to encrypt PPP frames. Instead L2TP uses IPsec in Transport Mode for encryption services. The combination of L2TP and IPsec is known as L2TP/IPsec.
  • Encapsulation: PPP frames are first wrapped with a L2TP header and then a UDP header. The result is then encapsulated using IPSec.
  • Encryption: L2TP messages are encrypted with either AES or 3DES encryption using keys generated from the IKE negotiation process.
• Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol (SSTP) – SSTP is a tunneling protocol that uses HTTPS. Since TCP Port 443 is open on most corporate Firewalls, this is a great choice for those countries that don’t allow traditional VPN connections. It is also very secure since it uses SSL certificates for encryption.
  • Encapsulation: PPP frames are encapsulated in IP datagrams.
  • Encryption: SSTP messages are encrypted using SSL.
• Internet Key Exchange (IKEv2) – IKEv2 is a tunneling protocol that uses the IPsec Tunnel Mode protocol over UDP port 500.
  • Encapsulation: IKEv2 encapsulates datagrams using IPSec ESP or AH headers.
  • Encryption: Messages are encrypted with either AES or 3DES encryption using keys generated from the IKEv2 negotiation process.

Server Requirements

Note: You can obviously have other operating systems set up to be VPN servers. However, these are the requirements to get a Windows VPN server running.

In order to allow people to create a VPN connection to your network, you need to have a server running Windows Server and has the following roles installed:

• Routing and Remote Access (RRAS)
• Network Policy Server (NPS)

You will also need to either set up DHCP or allocate a static IP pool that machines connecting over VPN can use.

Creating a VPN Connection

In order to connect to a VPN server, right click on the network status icon and open the Network and Sharing Center.

Then click on the Set up a new connection or network hyperlink.

Now choose to connect to a workplace and click next.

Then choose to use your existing broadband connection.

P

Now you will need to enter the IP or DNS Name of the VPN server on the network you want to connect to. Then click next.

Then enter your username and password and click connect.

Once you have connected, you will be able to see if you are connected to a VPN by clicking on the network status icon.

Homework

• Read the following article on TechNet, which guides you through planning security for a VPN.

Note: Today’s homework is a little bit out of scope for the 70-680 exam but it will give you a solid understanding of what’s going on behind the scene when you connect to a VPN from Windows 7.

In this installation of Geek School, we take a look at Folder Virtualization, SIDs and Permission, as well as the Encrypting File System.

Be sure to check out the previous articles in this Geek School series on Windows 7:

• Introducing How-To Geek School
• Upgrades and Migrations
• Configuring Devices
• Managing Disks
• Managing Applications
• Managing Internet Explorer
• IP Addressing Fundamentals
• Networking
• Wireless Networking
• Windows Firewall
• Remote Administration
• Remote Access
• Monitoring, Performance and Keeping Windows Up To Date

And stay tuned for the rest of the series all this week.

Folder Virtualization

Windows 7 introduced the notion of libraries which allowed you to have a centralized location from which you could view resources located elsewhere on your computer. More specifically, the libraries feature allowed you to add folders from anywhere on your computer to one of four default libraries, Documents, Music, Videos and Pictures, which are easily accessible from the navigation pane of Windows Explorer.

There are two important things to note about the library feature:

• When you add a folder to a library the folder itself does not move, rather a link is created to the location of the folder.
• In order to add a network share to your libraries it must be available offline, though you could also use a work around using symbolic links.

To add a folder to a library, simply head into the library and click on the locations link.

Then click the add button.

Now locate the folder you want to include in the library and click the Include folder button.

That’s all there is to it.

The Security Identifier

The Windows Operating system use SIDs to represent all security principles. SIDs are just variable length strings of alphanumeric characters that represent machines, users and groups. SIDs are added to ACLs(Access Control Lists) every time you grant a user or group permission to a file or folder. Behind the scenes, SIDs are stored the same way all other data objects are: in binary. However, when you see a SID in Windows, it will be displayed using a more readable syntax. It is not often that you will see any form of SID in Windows; the most common scenario is when you grant someone permission to a resource, then delete their user account. The SID will then show up in the ACL. So lets take a look at the typical format in which you will see SIDs in Windows.

The notation that you will see takes a certain syntax. Below are the different parts of a SID.

• An ‘S’ prefix
• Structure revision number
• A 48-bit identifier authority value
• A variable number of 32-bit sub-authority or relative identifier (RID) values

Using my SID in the image below we will break up the different sections to get a better understanding.

The SID Structure:

‘S’ – The first component of a SID is always an ‘S’. This is prefixed to all SIDs and is there to inform Windows that what follows is a SID.
’1′ – The second component of a SID is the revision number of the SID specification. If the SID specification was to change it would provide backwards compatibility. As of Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, the SID specification is still in the first revision.
’5′ – The third section of a SID is called the Identifier Authority. This defines in what scope the SID was generated. Possible values for this sections of the SID can be:

• 0 – Null Authority
• 1 – World Authority
• 2 – Local Authority
• 3 – Creator Authority
• 4 – Non-unique Authority
• 5 – NT Authority

’21′ – The fourth component is sub-authority 1. The value ’21′ is used in the fourth field to specify that the sub-authorities that follow identify the Local Machine or the Domain.
’1206375286-251249764-2214032401′ – These are called sub-authority 2,3 and 4 respectively. In our example this is used to identify the local machine, but could also be the the identifier for a Domain.
’1000′ – Sub-authority 5 is the last component in our SID and is called the RID (Relative Identifier). The RID is relative to each security principle: please note that any user defined objects, the ones that are not shipped by Microsoft, will have a RID of 1000 or greater.

Security Principles

A security principle is anything that has a SID attached to it. These can be users, computers and even groups. Security principles can be local or be in the domain context. You manage local security principles through the Local Users and Groups snap-in, under computer management. To get there, right click on the computer shortcut in the start menu and choose manage.

To add a new user security principle, you can go to the Users folder and right click and choose New User.

If you double click on a user you can add them to a Security Group on the Member Of tab.

To create a new security group, navigate to the Groups folder on the right hand side. Right click on the white space and select New Group.

Share Permissions and NTFS Permission

In Windows there are two types of file and folder permissions. Firstly, there are the Share Permissions. Secondly, there are NTFS Permissions, which are also called Security Permissions. Securing shared folders is usually done with a combination of Share and NTFS Permissions. Since this is the case, it is essential to remember that the most restrictive permission always applies. For example, if the share permission gives the Everyone security principle read permission, but the NTFS permission allow users to make a change to the file, the share permission will take precedence, and the users will not be allowed to make changes. When you set the permissions, the LSASS(Local Security Authority) controls access to the resource. When you log on, you are given an access token with your SID on it. When you go to access the resource, the LSASS compares the SID that you added to the ACL (Access Control List). If the SID is on the ACL, it determines whether to allow or deny access. No matter what permissions you use, there are differences, so let’s take a look to get a better understanding of when we should use what.

Share Permissions:

• Only apply to users who access the resource over the network. They don’t apply if you log on locally, for example through terminal services.
• It applies to all files and folders in the shared resource. If you want to provide a more granular sort of restriction scheme you should use NTFS Permission in addition to shared permissions
• If you have any FAT or FAT32 formatted volumes, this will be the only form of restriction available to you, as NTFS Permissions are not available on those file systems.

NTFS Permissions:

• The only restriction on NTFS Permissions is that they can only be set on a volume that is formatted to the NTFS file system
• Remember that NTFS Permissions are cumulative. That means that a user’s effective permissions are the result of combining the user’s assigned permissions and the permissions of any groups the user belongs to.

The New Share Permissions

Windows 7 bought along a new “easy” share technique. The options changed from Read, Change and Full Control to Read and Read/Write. The idea was part of the whole Homegroup mentality and makes it easy share a folder for non-computer literate people. This is done via the context menu and shares with your homegroup easily.

If you wanted to share with someone who is not in the home group, you could always choose the “Specific people…” option. Which would bring up a more “elaborate” dialog where you could specify a user or group.

There are only two permissions, as previously mentioned. Together, they offer an all or nothing protection scheme for your folders and files.

1. Read permission is the “look, don’t touch” option. Recipients can open, but not modify or delete a file.
2. Read/Write is the “do anything” option. Recipients can open, modify, or delete a file.

The Old School Permission

The old share dialog had more options, such as the option to share the folder under a different alias. It allowed us to limit the number of simultaneous connections as well as configure caching. None of this functionality is lost in Windows 7, but rather is hidden under an option called “Advanced Sharing”. If you right click on a folder and go to its properties you can find these “Advanced Sharing” settings under the sharing tab.

If you click on the “Advanced Sharing” button, which requires local administrator credentials, you can configure all the settings that you were familiar with in previous versions of Windows.

If you click on the permissions button, you’ll be presented with the 3 settings that we are all familiar with.

• Read permission allows you to view and open files and subdirectories as well as execute applications. However it doesn’t allow any changes to be made.
• Modify permission allows you to do anything that Read permission allows, and it also add the ability to add files and subdirectories, delete subfolders and change data in the files.
• Full Control is the “do anything” of the classic permissions, as it allows for you to do any and all of the previous permissions. In addition, it gives you the advanced changing NTFS Permission, but this only applies on NTFS Folders

NTFS Permissions

NTFS Permissions allow for very granular control over your files and folders. With that said, the amount of granularity can be daunting to a newcomer. You can also set NTFS permission on a per file basis as well as a per folder basis. To set NTFS Permission on a file, you should right click and go to the file’s properties, then go to the security tab.

To edit the NTFS Permissions for a User or Group, click on the edit button.

As you may see, there are quite a lot of NTFS Permissions, so let’s break them down. First, we will have a look at the NTFS Permissions that you can set on a file.

• Full Control allows you to read, write, modify, execute, change attributes, permissions, and take ownership of the file.
• Modify allows you to read, write, modify, execute, and change the file’s attributes.
• Read & Execute will allow you to display the file’s data, attributes, owner, and permissions, and run the file if it’s a program.
• Read will allow you to open the file, view its attributes, owner, and permissions.
• Write will allow you to write data to the file, append to the file, and read or change its attributes.

NTFS Permissions for folders have slightly different options, so lets take a look at them.

• Full Control will allow you to read, write, modify, and execute files in the folder, change attributes, permissions, and take ownership of the folder or files within.
• Modify will allow you to read, write, modify, and execute files in the folder, and change attributes of the folder or files within.
• Read & Execute will allow you to display the folder’s contents and display the data, attributes, owner, and permissions for files within the folder, and run files within the folder.
• List Folder Contents will allow you to display the folder’s contents and display the data, attributes, owner, and permissions for files within the folder, and run files within the folder
• Read will allow you to display the file’s data, attributes, owner, and permissions.
• Write will allow you to write data to the file, append to the file, and read or change its attributes.

Summary

In summary, user names and groups are representations of an alphanumeric string called a SID (Security Identifier). Share and NTFS Permissions are tied to these SIDs. Share Permissions are checked by the LSSAS only when being accessed over the network, while NTFS Permissions are combined with Share Permissions to allow a more granular level of security for resources being accessed over the network as well as locally.

Accessing a Shared Resource

So now that we have learned about the two methods we can use to share content on our PCs, how do you actually go about accessing it over the network? It is very simple. Just type the following into the navigation bar.

\\computername\sharename

Note: Obviously you will need to substitute computername for the name of the PC hosting the share and sharename for the name of the share.

This is great for once off connections, but what about in a larger corporate environment? Surely you don’t have to teach your users how to connect to a network resource using this method. To get around this, you will want to map a network drive for each user, this way you can advise them to store their documents on the “H” drive, rather than trying to explain how to connect to a share. To map a drive, open Computer and click on the “Map network drive”  button.

Then simply type in the UNC path of the share.

Your probably wondering if you have to do that on every PC, and luckily the answer is no. Rather, you can write a batch script to automatically map the drives for your users at logon and deploy it via Group Policy.

If we dissect the command:

• We are using the net use command to map the drive.
• We use the * to denote that we want to use the next available drive letter.
• Finally we specify the share we want to map the drive to. Notice that we used quotes because the UNC path contains spaces.

Encrypting Files Using the Encrypting File System

Windows includes the ability to encrypt files on an NTFS volume. This means that only you will be able to decrypt the files and view them. In order to encrypt a file, simply right-click on it and select properties from the context menu.

Then click on advanced.

Now check the Encrypt contents to secure data checkbox, then click OK.

Now go ahead and apply the settings.

We only need to encrypt the file, but you do have the option of encrypting the parent folder as well.

Take note that once the file is encrypted it turns green.

You will now notice that only you will be able to to open the file and that other users on the same PC will not be able to. The encryption process uses public key encryption, so keep your encryption keys safe. If you lose them, your file is gone and there is no way of recovering it.

Homework

• Learn about permission inheritance and effective permissions.
• Read this Microsoft document.
• Learn why you would want to use BranchCache.
• Learn how to share printers and why you would want to.

In this installation of Geek School we take a look at our options for Backup and Recovery. This is an important one, so come on and join us.

Be sure to check out the previous articles in this Geek School series on Windows 7:

• Introducing How-To Geek School
• Upgrades and Migrations
• Configuring Devices
• Managing Disks
• Managing Applications
• Managing Internet Explorer
• IP Addressing Fundamentals
• Networking
• Wireless Networking
• Windows Firewall
• Remote Administration
• Remote Access
• Monitoring, Performance and Keeping Windows Up To Date
• Resource Access

Note: Backup and Recovery is a fairly straight forward concept and thus there is not much theory to be covered. Rather, we take the approach of showing you how to get a backup plan in place, and point out things as we go.

Backing Up Windows

Windows 7 includes a utility that enables you to create and restore backups. For those uninitiated, backups protect your data in the event of a catastrophic failure by allowing you to store a copy of your data on another storage medium, such as a hard disk, CD, DVD, or network location. When a catastrophic event occurs, examples of which include corruption, deletion or media failure, you will be able to restore your data using one of your saved backups. In order to set up your backup plan you need to head into the Control Panel.

Then click on System and Security.

Here you will see a Backup and Restore link. Click on it.

Once you enter the backup section, you will need to click on the Set up backup link.

Now choose where you want to save the backup, then click next. We will opt to save our backup on a Hard Drive, however you always have the option of using a network location.

You also have the option of letting Windows choose what to back up or rolling your own backup strategy. We will roll our own.

Note: If you choose to let Windows pick out what to back up, it will basically include anything within common Windows folders, the contents of your libraries as well as a system image which can be used to restore your “C” drive should anything happen to your computer.

The advantage to rolling your own backup strategy is that you can choose individual folders that you want to back up, and the contents of these folders will be available for restoration without restoring a system image. If you let Windows choose what to backup and you suddenly need to restore a single folder, you would need to restore your entire “C” drive using the system image, losing any files you have created since the backup. Of course, we will include our libraries as well as a system image in our custom backup.

Once you have chosen what you want to be backed up, you will be given a nice overview. If you are not happy with the default schedule, you can change it by clicking on the change schedule link, however Sunday at 7PM suits us perfectly. After confirming everything you need is included, kick off the backup.

That’s all there is to it.

Restoring Your Data

If you ever need to restore a single file from your backup, simply open the Control Panel.

Then click on System and Security.

Now click on the Restore my files button in the bottom right hand corner of the Window.

Then click the Browse for files button.

Now simply browse and select the file you want to restore, then click the add files button.

Then click next.

You can now restore the file to its original location or choose to restore it to an alternative location. This could be useful should you want to compare the files.

That’s all there is to restoring a single file. Next, let’s take a look at the Windows Recovery Environment, which can help you restore your PC from a system image following a system-wide failure.

The Windows Recovery Environment

Windows includes a set of tools that you can use to troubleshoot and revive your system should a serious error ever occur. Collectively, these tools form what is called the WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment). Since we already have a guide on creating a recovery disc, lets take a look tools the WinRE includes.

Note: You can also boot into the WinRE without creating a disc by holding the F8 key while your computer boots, then choosing repair your computer from the advanced boot options screen. Alternatively you could also access it using your installation DVD.

• Startup Repair: Fixes certain problems that are preventing Windows from starting. For the most part it does this by verifying the integrity of core Windows files.
• System Restore: Allows you to restore your computer’s files to an earlier point in time.
• System Image Recovery: This is the option we will use to restore a system image.
• Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool: Scans your computer’s memory for corruption.
• Command Prompt: Opens a new command prompt Window from where you can run command line utilities.

In the event that your PC won’t even boot, you will want to restore your data using the system image that is included in the Windows backup. To do that, select the System Image Recovery option.

You will then be asked which system image you want to restore to. By default, it will detect the latest system image on any valid backup medium. In our case this is in fact the image I want to use, however if you want to restore to an older image you can always choose the select a system image option.

Then you have the option of formatting your systems disks. Just be careful to exclude the disk which your backup is on should your backup be on an internal disk. Then click next.

Finally, confirm your actions by clicking on the finish button, which will kick off the restore process.

That’s all there is to it.

Homework

This has been a long one, but you’re not done yet. There are still some miscellaneous topics you need to cover regarding Windows’ backup features.

• Learn about the Volume Shadow Copy Service.
• Learn about System Restore Points.
• Learn about Previous Versions.