I wrote a few days ago about how important it is to have an anti-virus program installed on your PC. I then posted about how important it is to have backups of all your data. I want to add the next important thing you need... a recovery disc.
Why? What is it?
A recovery disc will either come with your PC, or if it doesn't, there are usually instructions in the box or on the PC that tell you how to make your own. You need to do this right away when you buy your new PC... before you install anything, or use anything. This recovery disc is used later on to automatically reset your PC back to day one from the factory. In the future, when you boot off it, all your personal data will be gone and all your programs you installed will be too.
Why would you want that? Isn't a backup a better option to restore a PC?
Yes and no.
Yes, you want to restore your PC with your backup files if you are recovering from a disaster / crash / virus and plan to continue using the computer. But what if you bought a new PC and want to sell or give this one to a friend, relative, or charitable organization? I don't think you want to give them all your personal information. Even if you manually delete all the info yourself, I bet I can still find personal information on it that you missed. -- An alternative is to just format the drive, but now your PC / laptop is useless. Without Windows installed, there isn't much that the recipient of your computer can do with it.
Okay, now you may be wondering what you can do if you want to sell/give your PC and didn't make (or lost) those precious recovery discs. You'll have to either contact the manufacturer of your computer for the discs (probably cost you $40-50), or see if you can find them on eBay. Be warned though if you use eBay... the discs need to be a PERFECT MATCH. Not all Toshiba Satellites use the same recovery disc... same with Dell Inspirons... no matter what brand, you need the exact matching disc for your model number of computer.
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