Windows 8.1 - System Image Backups

Windows 8.1 will allow users to perform a full system image backup.  It is a backup of the entire computer.  The good thing is that you can recover from a virus or a hard drive failure.  

Here is how to setup the system backup.

Here are the drawbacks of the Windows 8.1 System Image Backup:

• You can only keep one backup
• You cannot schedule the backup job to happen automatically

Windows 7 allowed you to schedule automatic backups and made incremental backups.

I like to backup my computer daily.  I am currently using StorageCraft's Shadow Protect.  I used to use Acronis.

Here is how you can restore a System Image Backup:

1/3 of the way down the page.

http://www.howtogeek.com/167984/how-to-create-and-restore-system-image-backups-on-windows-8.1/

Windows 8.1 File History - Backups

Do you need to backup your files in Windows 8.1?  Microsoft changed the way we do backups again.

Utilizing File History a user can backup his/her user files to an external drive.  File History allows the user to set it up and forget it.  File History is not a comprehensive backup program it is very easy for the end user to configure.

Here is a 5 minute video that shows how to setup and use the File History backups in Windows 8.1:

Sublime Computer Services - Managed PC Services Explained

$25 per month per computer - No Contract

• The price is clear.  This service is for PC’s.  This is not a service for servers.  We have a separate manage service process for servers.
• Your computer needs to be connected to broadband internet service.  It needs to be left on at night on a fairly regular basis to receive the updates after hours.  

Full computer health monitoring and updates

• Critical Event Checking
• We are looking at the important services of the operating system that are malfunctioning.  We are looking for services that are not started that should be started or absent.

• Hard Drives are failing or running out of disk space
• We are looking for hard drives that have less than 10% storage space left.  We are also look for hard drives that are getting SMART errors.  These errors indicate that the hard drive is going bad.  If we find out the hard drives are failing ahead of time we can clone the hard drive to a new good drive.

• Hacker Check
• We are checking the security log for failure audits.  These failures can be indicators of someone trying to hack your computer.  We are looking for programs that are trying to run using an invalid username or password.

• Automatic updates of Microsoft, Java and Adobe products
• We are updating the most common problem programs automatically.  These updates happen at night.  Most users don’t update these programs on a regular basis because it is a hassle.  Malware takes advantages of these old vulnerabilities.

Managed Antivirus

• Automatic virus cleanup and notification
• We are running an active scan on all new files that are accessed.  We automatically quarantine any file that exhibits virus characteristics.  We then receive a notification that a virus has been quarantined.

• Alerts when there are problems with Antivirus software
• Some viruses are smart enough to disable antivirus or uninstall antivirus.  We receive a notification if Antivirus has been removed, disable or is out of date.

Offsite file backups - 200 GB

• Encrypted and stored on Sublimes’ server in Nashville.
• We allow for 200 GB of data to be backed up.  We can allow for more at a higher rate.
• The data is encrypted and stored on Sublimes’ server in Nashville.  We can recover quickly from the local file rather than having to wait for the files to be download out of the cloud.
• Files are scheduled to be backed up after hours between 4:00 PM and 6:00 AM.

Adam Bell

Senior Systems / Network Engineer

Sublime Computer Services

We make your technology work

615-942-0850

adam@sublimecomp.com

www.sublimecomp.com