Backup and Recovery

Ron wants to know how he can create an install disk for Windows 10 on a USB thumb drive. Leo says he can use the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool to do it. He should choose the pro option. Ron should remember that Windows 10 is assigned to his computer now, so he will only be able to use it on that particular computer and not another. Windows 10 is linked to his specific rig.

Another option is to create an image of his hard drive. That's like a snapshot of what the hard drive looks like, and then he can restore it immediately and have it just the way he had it.

Doug wants to know if there's a way to make recovery disks for his laptop. Leo says that most computers now come with a program that does just that and he can even put them on a USB key. But disk imaging is a great way to do this, and here's a few tools to do it:

Janet has a 2014 MacBook Air and she's got malware. Leo says it's very rare to get malware on the mac, so it's unlikely. Janet is getting redirected to other sites. That's a browser hijack, not a virus. It's malware, but it's browser level malware. The laptop has also died as a result. Leo says that hardware can die, especially a laptop that's being carried around. A MacBook Air may be more prone because it's so thin. It could also just be a bad logic board or diode on it. It's not related to the malware/browser hijack issue, though. It doesn't work that way.

Christine has some old photos she wants to get off of old Zip disks. What can she do? Leo says that she can get an adapter that will allow her to plug a Zip drive into her computer. Or she can get a service to do it. She'll need to be careful because old Zip drives can actually damage the disks themselves. That's why it's wiser to have it done professionally. It's not that expensive. Another option is to just rescan the originals.