The first rule of computers is to always keep all the CD's that come with a new PC when you buy it. These CD's containg the Operating System and Drivers or a image of the PC that you will need if you need to restore the PC to it's original condition. I recommend doing this recovery proceedure every year or so to keep things functing at full speed. A hard disk crash or a serious virus can be another reason for doing this. The down side to doing the recovery procedure is that it does completely erase the hard drive and re-format, so if there is data on the drive you want to keep, you need to back it up before doing the recovery.

NOTE: the recovery procedure is not the same as a restore point. A restore point is a roll back feature of windows and allows you to move back to a time before you started having a problem. If the problem is due to a software bug this can sometimes correct the problem.This will not fix hardware problems.

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What should I backup?