We’ve all experienced it. One minute you’re surfing along quite happily, an MP3 playing in the background, and then suddenly – bang! Disaster strikes.
Maybe your hard disk has failed; perhaps a virus has found its way round your defences and brought Windows to its knees; or it could be that your PSU has given up the ghost.
Whatever the reason, the net result is the same – suddenly you’re staring straight at the long and painful process of reinstalling Windows and attempting to rescue some of your precious data.
But there’s no need to live in fear any longer. As we reveal, many common PC problems can be predicted and headed off at the pass before disaster strikes.
Back up or die
Having a complete backup of all your precious files and data is the only silver bullet security solution. It’s an absolute defence against computing’s most devastating gremlins.
But, like a silver bullet, a complete and up-to-date backup is a rare thing. Let’s be honest – few of us bother with backups, and those who do probably learned the hard way following a disastrous loss of data. So, before we go any further and explore clever PC preservation techniques, let’s get one thing straight – you must back up to safeguard your files.
The secrets of success
At the basic end of the spectrum, dragging key documents onto a USB stick is good enough. At the time of writing, www.play.com was offering a 16GB USB key for £16. That’s a steal, and you can store a huge number of Word and Excel documents, along with some precious photographs, in that amount of space.
You might argue that writable DVDs and CDs are cheaper, but we think you should forget about them. Copying data to an optical disc can be a pain, and depending on your hardware and the media you’re using, it can be slow, too.
Optical discs are easily scratched, so we recommend you use external hard drives, solid-state storage solutions or an online data dump.
Web-based data storage is great because it creates an off-site backup. The idea is that you select your most treasured files and upload them to a trusted remote server. If you use such a system and your house burns down, your data and backup won’t be incinerated.
Services such as iDrive offer 2GB of storage for free, with prices rising to $5 a month for 150GB of space. Good alternatives are Elephant Drive and Box. Your ISP may even bundle some remote backup space as part of your broadband deal.
Given the UK’s slow upstream broadband speeds, though, we say that it’s a good idea to limit online backups to super-critical files.
Finally, don’t let RAID 1 lull you into a false sense of security. Automatically mirroring data onto another drive might appear to be the perfect solution, and it’s certainly useful if your primary data is damaged. The problem is that if you delete a file on your primary drive, it’ll be deleted on the mirror too – making this method no good for restoring accidentally deleted files.
Automatic for the people
When you’ve selected your storage system, you need to decide what to use for your automated back-up procedure. Windows 7 has a built-in back-up system that’s surprisingly capable. The fastest way to find the system is to type Backup into the Search box.
When you’re there, click ‘Back up files’ and follow the wizard, which will help you select backup targets, a destination (which can be a network location) and the time of automated backups. If you’re looking for an alternative, try SyncBack. This is a no-frills back-up system that allows you to store backups on an FTP server, among other things.
Drive imaging is often seen as the ideal way to make a backup. This stores an exact replica of your hard disk on an external device. Give it a go with definitive drive-imaging app, Norton Ghost. Don’t be too seduced by the idea, though, as a whole drive image can take hours to create.
You’ll also find that many new PCs have a Restore partition containing a factory fresh OS image. Assuming your hard disk hasn’t died, this is a very quick way of restoring Windows. Check to see if your system has one before imaging your drive.
There’s nothing that strikes fear into the heart of a PC user more than the prospect of hard disk failure. One moment you’re pottering along and the next you’re in a world of pain. If you haven’t yet backed up, you could be looking at the complete loss of your data, the hassle of reinstalling an OS and the tedious work of recreating precious files. Thankfully, hard disk failures aren’t entirely random, and so they can sometimes be predicted.
Hard disks are mechanical devices with moving parts. Over time these parts begin to wear out and, as they do, there will be subtle changes in how the drive performs. If your drive’s motor is coming to the end of its life then the drive may take longer to spin up or files may need fractionally more time to load. These changes and drop-offs in performance aren’t likely to be perceptible to even the most experienced PC user.
Instead, you’ll need special monitor and analysis tools to pick up on them. This is where Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) comes in. It’s a monitoring system for hard disks that’s designed to detect and report on various indicators of reliability in the hope of anticipating failures.
All modern hard disks have SMART built in, but sadly Windows makes little or no use of it. To start delving into SMART, you’ll need a third-party app – we found CrystalDiskInfo to be the best. It’s a freeware app that you can download from here.
It’s highly technical and isn’t big on user friendliness. Indeed, its download page is difficult to understand – select the Installer Edition (EXE) version if you’re stumped.
When the application is installed and running, you may need to manually select English as the language (our download defaulted to Chinese characters). Make this change by selecting ‘Language’ in the top right of the program’s interface, then ‘A-N’ and finally ‘English’.
When the app’s up and running, you should see a breakdown of key drive statistics. Firstly, there’s Health Status – if it moves away from Good, replace your drive. Temperature, Power On Count and Power On Hours are also useful.
Manufacturers publish the operational tolerances of their drives, and also Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF) figures. If your drive is approaching its MTBF, consider replacing it. If it’s running close to its maximum operating temperature, think about making changes to the airflow inside your PC.
CrystalDiskInfo offers a huge amount of esoteric SMART telemetry. With a little web research you should be able to make sense of it. These figures are amalgamated into the app’s basic Health Status reading, so stick with that if you’re in a rush.
Many hard disk manufacturers also offer disk analysis tools tailored to their own drives. Fujitsu offers a quick testing tool that can assess a disk in three minutes, as well as a more advanced utility that can take over 100 minutes to analyse a disk. 05v 350ma
Hitachi has an excellent selection, including disk fitness testers and a SMART analysis tool. Samsung’s HUTIL diagnosis and analysis tools can be found here and Seagate’s SeaTools testers are here. Finally, if you’re a Western Digital user, head to here. From there, you’ll need to select your drive and then click ‘Data Lifeguard’.
The key to these tools is using them regularly. If you’re intimately acquainted with the health of your hard disk, you’ll spot any problems much faster, allowing you to act pre-emptively and decamp data to a new disk if disaster is looming.
Take action: Cool your hard disk
Beyond shock, extremes of heat are a hard disk’s worst enemy – so if you want your disk to have a long and healthy life, you need to keep it cool.
First, research your drive’s thermal thresholds. Assuming you find your disk is running too hot, you need to take the case off your machine and begin improving the airflow around it. Start by cleaning your case’s intake and exhaust fans. Next, tidy up the cables – a bird’s nest of wires can strangle the airflow inside your case.
When you’re happy that everything is cleaner and tidier, replace your case and give your PC a heat soak test by running a strenuous task such as a full drive defrag or a deep virus scan. Once that’s finished, use your chosen drive analysis tool to check the disk’s temperature.
Hopefully your efforts will have paid off, but if your drive is still running too hot, think about investing in a hard disk cooler. The Xilence Icebox Passive Hard Disk Cooler uses heatsinks and heatpipes to move heat away from your hard disk. Check it out at www.quietpc.com.
If the worst has already happened, check out our feature How to restore deleted files and recover data from damaged disks.
You might be tempted to buy the cheapest power supply with the highest wattage rating you can find in order to save money. After all, a PSU won’t make your games run faster or your movies look better, so why bother forking out more than you have to? Well, take it from us: a higher-priced PSU can be worth every penny of its extra cost.
The hotter it gets inside a PSU, the less power it’s able to produce. Some manufacturers take advantage of this by rating their PSUs at a much lower temperature than what they’ll ever see inside a case.
For example, a unit rated for 600W at a chilly 25C might only be capable of 450W at a more realistic 40C to 50C. On top of that, you have to knock off another 100W or so if the label represents a peak power rating instead of continuous.
There are even more ways of double-dealing. Some manufacturers will skimp on their PSUs’ internal components – a practice that’s often associated with lower-weight units. While this helps the manufacturer to cut costs, you’ll pay dearly for it through voltage fluctuations that can damage your components, cause intermittent reboots and lead to premature hard drive failure. Suddenly that bargain-basement PSU looks like a PC disaster in the making.
All this helps explain why one of the biggest pushes by power supply manufacturers of late has been to increase the efficiency of their PSUs. On the downside, this means that power supplies are more expensive than they used to be – but happily they also consume less electricity. If you’re counting the pennies, think of the extra outlay an investment that will yield lower power bills.
So, how do you spot a good PSU? The key is to look for the 80 PLUS logo. This scheme is backed by a grading system that awards PSUs that are 80 per cent efficient at 20 per cent, 50 per cent and 100 per cent loads. There are Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum grades for more efficient PSUs as well, which are given to those devices that achieve 81, 85, 88 and 91 per cent efficiency respectively at 100 per cent loads.
The higher-efficiency models tend to be focused towards always-on servers, although hopefully we should see the same technology filter down to the mainstream market in the near future.
Knowledge is power
Probably the hardest thing about buying a PSU is knowing how much power you actually need. You could slavishly research every component inside your computer to find out their power requirements, or you could be smart.
If you fancy the latter route then you need the Extreme Power Supply Calculator. Simply enter some details about your machine and then press the ‘Calculate’ button. The resulting figure may strike you as a little low, so, to be safe, buy a supply that has some headroom.
The key point in your PSU research is to remember that you don’t want your power supply running at a load of 100 per cent. Rather, you should be aiming for a peak load of 80 per cent. This will leave a safety margin and allow a modest upgrade in the future.
While we’re on the subject of power, it’s worth mentioning the uninterruptible power supply (UPS). A UPS is an emergency battery pack designed to provide your machine with power if there’s an electrical blackout, thus cutting the risk of data loss or corruption. Your machine’s power demands dictates the rating of the supply you should buy. See APC’s UPS selector for assistance.
You may find it difficult to put your finger on exactly what’s wrong, but sometimes you just know your machine isn’t performing as well as it once did. It might be a bit more sluggish booting, or maybe that redraw seems slower than you remember. We’re talking about those little, almost unnoticeable things that hint that your machine isn’t running quite as it should and that disaster could be brewing.
So what should you do? Firstly, check to ensure that Windows isn’t updating itself, as the arrival of a big upgrade can leave your PC feeling sluggish for days. If you’ve established that it’s not updating, the next thing to do is take a look behind the scenes.
Windows offers many tools to help you do just that. For example, the Event Viewer lets you see exactly what has crashed recently and why. You can open the Event Viewer from the Administrators Tools interface, which is accessed from the Control Panel. The most interesting section of this utility is the System category – it’s where you’ll find hardware-related errors – although the Application and Security sections can help you to solve other problems too. Browse through to see if anything stands out.
Those running Windows Vista and Windows 7 also have access to a far more easy-to-understand rendering of the same information, which comes in the form of the System Stability Chart. This combines a view of what’s crashed with when it crashed and what’s recently been installed, all in one graph, complete with an index of how stable Windows thinks that it is.
If your machine is described using a downhill slope, then you know that something is wrong and getting worse, and that either a hardware fault or a driver or application error is to blame.
Another tool worth running to spot potential problems with your machine is HWMonitor, which is used to monitor the temperatures of various components in your computer. You should get a number of readouts for your motherboard – provided that HWMonitor can spot the sensors, of course – and the program will also give you the temperatures for your graphics cards, processors and hard drives.
If one component is running particularly hot then you need to address that problem by cleaning your PC and possibly installing a cooling system.
Keep an eye on things
Benchmarking your PC could shed valuable light on what’s happening under the hood. We recommend benchmarking your computer as soon as it arrives or immediately after you’ve reinstalled Windows. You should also test your machine at regular intervals, storing the figures after each one. This way, you’ll have a bank of numbers against which to accurately compare your computer’s current performance.
The latest versions of Windows have their own Windows Experience Index to give you an idea of how your machine performs, although it isn’t quite as useful for sorting out problems as the likes of SiSoftware Sandra.
Take action: Benchmark your PC
Benchmarks are indispensable when you’re trying to find out how new hardware performs, but they’re also a great way to work out if there’s something wrong with your machine.
There are a tremendous number of benchmarks available for specific tasks, from gaming (Futuremark’s 3DMark06) to HD video encoding (TechArp’s X264) and 3D rendering (Maxon Cinebench R10). Each of these has a use outside its core competency because they all test a range of subsystems, and can thus be used to create a score for a working machine that future results can be measured against.
If you’re looking to test particular components, you’ll need a different benchmark. SiSoftware Sandra has numerous tools designed to interrogate individual components, from your network connection to your RAM latency and your CPU’s number-crunching prowess. It’s a great suite that covers all the major bases and produces industry-standard results that make sense – memory throughput, for instance, is given as a real measurement and not an arbitrary index.
There’s a problem with SiSoftware Sandra, though, which is that successive versions don’t produce compatible scores. Stick with one version and you shouldn’t have any trouble.
Why anti-virus is not enough
You’ve got antivirus software installed, so you think you don’t need to worry about security? Wrong.
Consider this analogy – you’ve got airbags in your car, so can you drive like Stirling Moss and always get away with it? No. Antivirus software should be thought of as your last line of defence. In an ideal world, it should never be called on to save your skin.
What really keeps you safe is your actions, not elaborate security systems. Your first line of defence should be information. The malware landscape is a fast-moving and fluid place, with new threats bubbling up on a daily, if not hourly, basis – so you need to keep abreast of what’s going on.
The easiest way to do this is to read – visit sites such as www.viruslist.com to be treated to a rundown of new threats as they’re detected. Better still, add a slew of malware tech sites to your RSS feed list to keep on top of all the news.
We’re fans of www.f-secure.com/weblog, www.darknet.org.uk and www.avertlabs.com/research/blog. If you’re on Twitter, follow the likes of F-Secure’s CRO @mikkohypponen, Symantec’s @ThreatFeed and Sophos’ Senior Technology Consultant @gcluley to read about events as they happen.
The key is to arm yourself with details about new threats as they appear.
Social engineering
A canny PC user should also keep an eye on the news. There’s nothing the bad guys like more than wrapping up malware in a site or download that’s seemingly inspired by a big news event.
When Tiger Woods crashed his car, for example, Symantec discovered that criminals were very quick to post links, video and downloads promising more information on the story. In reality, they were all malware. So be distrustful of unknown sites that offer scoops and videos relating to huge breaking stories, particularly those about very famous celebrities.
And don’t worry about missing out. Such is the fast-paced nature of internet-based news, it’s unlikely an exclusive will remain the sovereign property of its finder for more than a moment or two. Be sceptical, be patient and you’ll be safe. And finally, it should go without saying: delete any unsolicited emails that promise explicit videos of fallen stars on the day they’ve fallen!
On your guard
You will at some point need to download files from a site you’ve never visited before – we all do. To be safe here, add a site rating system to your armour (see the ‘Get a site advisor’ box). When the download has completed, it still pays to be wary.
Even if the file’s been rated as safe by your antivirus software, get a second opinion. We recommend VirusTotal, a site that uses up to 40 scanning engines to assess a file. If you’re worried, upload your file and check it out.
Take action: Get a Site Advisor
When it comes to security, prevention is better than cure. So wouldn’t it be great if you could know in advance whether a site you’re about to visit is a hive of malware, rather than finding out the hard way? The good news is that you can.
Many security vendors offer site-rating browser plug-ins that give pages a security grading. These plug-ins work in different ways: some employ white lists and black lists, while others analyse sites on the fly as they appear in your search results. Others still use social ratings to create an impression of how safe a site is before you visit it.
If you’re not currently using such a system, we recommend you start now. One of the best on offer is McAfee’s SiteAdvisor. When installed, the software uses a traffic-light system to rate sites thrown up by a search as Safe (very low or no risk issues), Caution (minor risk issues) or Warning (serious risk issues).
We’re also fans of Norton’s Site Safety system. In our testing, we searched for ‘free video codec’, and of 10 sites recommended by Google, eight were unsafe. The other two contained a total of 28 known threats. Guess which we went to?
Virtualisation offers a potential solution to many PC disasters, particularly those stemming from malware. If you’re running a correctly configured virtual machine, you can click around in the internet’s darker corners safe in the knowledge that little damage will be done to your PC. You can also install apps with dubious provenance in relative safety.
Why? Because when you’re done, you can kill the virtual PC you’ve just abused and start a new one afresh. Any malware you’ve contracted will be flushed away into the digital void. It’s a compelling idea, but it’s not without its pitfalls.
Firstly, you’ll need a beefy PC with lots of memory – Windows needs 2GB of memory to run as a minimum and you’ll need to give your VM the same. So, for a slick VM, your host PC needs at least 4GB of memory.
Virtual machines exist as a space on the host’s hard disk, so it will need a lot of space. A VM can consume tens of gigabytes of space, so be prepared for your disk to fill up quickly if you don’t delete unused machines.
Finally, some virtualisation systems demand processors that support virtualisation at the hardware level. If you’re an AMD fan you’ll need AMD-V, while Intel users should look for Intel VT support. Windows 7′s virtual XP system (XP Mode) demands CPU-level virtualisation support.
Next, remember to remove any drives shared between your virtual machine and the host PC before accessing the internet. This will cut off a line of contagion between the VM and the host. Indeed, it’s generally considered safest to have the host and the VM running different OSes.
If you host a Windows VM on a Linux platform, some (but not all) types of Windows contagions will be better contained. Run a Windows VM on a Windows PC and malware could execute in the virtual environment, penetrate the host and continue spreading around your network.
Antivirus protection
You must also have solid malware protection on the virtual machine and the host. Malware will still function on a VM – and if you’re entering your bank log-on details, a keylogger can still report them back to its makers from within a virtual environment.
We recommend going for a free antivirus program such as AVG or Microsoft Security Essentials for your virtual machine. Run a full paid-for suite and you may encounter difficulties with activation when you’ve restarted your VM a few times.
Don’t just consider a virtual machine a super-safe surfing system, though. A VM with all your favourite apps is also a super-safe working environment. You may not enjoy using Linux for your leisure time but prefer its inherent stability and security for work. Build a Linux VM and you’ll get the best of both worlds.
Most virtualisation systems let you create a new virtual machine at the touch of a button. As you develop your VM’s look, feel and function, you can save its state, which means that over time you’ll be able to create your ideal extra-secure – and hopefully disaster-proof – virtual machine.
Take action: Create a Virtual PC
If you’re using Windows 7, setting up a safehouse virtual machine with which you can explore the deepest reaches of the internet is easy. Start by grabbing Microsoft’s freely available Virtual PC 2007. Download the version appropriate to your OS (you’ll find both 32-bit and 64-bit versions available).
Next, run the set-up executable, click through the installer (you should find the product key added for you; VPC was once a commercial app, but Microsoft has now released it for free) and then run the installed app.
The first thing that will happen is that a wizard will pop up. Here you can configure the settings of your new VM. To get started, choose ‘Create a Virtual Machine’, give it a name, choose your desired OS (use ‘Other’ if you’re going to install Linux) and allow it to use the recommended level of RAM (as long as you have it available, of course!).
Choose to use a new virtual disk when asked – this is a sandbox file in which your new OS will live. Now put the install disc of your chosen operating system into your optical drive, doubleclick your virtual machine in the list and choose the appropriate drive in the CD menu to begin installing the VM’s operating system.
Survival items every PC owner needs
Below you’ll find the items that every careful PC owner should have in their disaster survival kit, from preventative tools to ward off common problems to the items you’ll need if the worst happens and something does go wrong. Keep these things handy and you’ll be ready for (almost) anything.
1. Compressed air
Dust can slow down fans – and if air isn’t drawn away well enough, the component can overheat and eventually fail. A blast of compressed air will shift most build ups.
2. Thermal paste
This provides a thermally conductive substrate between components and their coolers. It can degrade, so remove the older paste from time to time and apply a new layer.
3. Screws and washers
Vibrations inside your PC can lead to fan failure. Secure components properly with washers and ensure you attach the right number of screws to motherboards and drives.
4. Cable ties
Secure your cables with cable ties to improve airflow through your case and aff ord easier access to your motherboard and other core components.
5. Windows boot disc
The recovery interface for Windows may be a brick wall of DOS commands, but it can still sort out problems with the Master Boot Record and your Windows installation.
6. Thumb drive
If your machine refuses to boot but you can access the drive via a boot disc, recovering your fi les may be your main concern. A small USB drive can help you to get those files off the machine prior to a reinstall.
7. A Philips screwdriver
This is realistically the only tool you ever need for removing components that you suspect may have failed.
8. Netbook
The internet is a mine of knowledge for sorting out PC problems. A second machine enables you to continue searching for solutions should your main PC go down.
9. CMOS battery
If your CMOS settings aren’t being retained, your CMOS battery will need replacing. These large disc batteries are increasingly becoming available from supermarkets.
10. A boot disc
If you’re having no luck with the Windows boot disc, turn to a third party for help. We recommend one from the impressive collection over at www.bootdisk.com.
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