Secure and Free Online Backup Procedure
Using BitLocker in Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate editions to encrypt your data and then uploading it to the cloud (such as, Windows Live SkyDrive, Dropbox, etc.) can provide you with a secure online backup solution at no costs. The only caveat is that you need to perform some manual tasks before uploading the encrypted data to cloud storage. If you simply upload encrypted data from an active drive protected with BitLocker to cloud storage, it will be stored in the cloud in unencrypted form, which means it could be read by whoever has administrative access to the cloud where data is stored. In order to retain encryption of your uploaded data, the encrypted drive has to be dismounted and uploaded as a raw file. You could achieve this by creating a virtual hard drive, copy your sensitive files, encrypt it using BitLocker, and upload the vhd file to the cloud as described below:
Categories: Backup & Restore Tags: attach, BitLocker, data backup, detach, encryption, online backup, online storage, SkyDrive, VHD, virtual, virtual hard drive, Windows Live Mesh
Exporting Firewall settings in Windows 7
It is a good practice to keep a copy of your Windows Firewall settings together with other system-related documentation. Documentation of your system configuration may become handy during a disaster recovery exercise or when changes to your system cause undesirable results and you need to revert back to the previous settings! In order to document your Windows Firewall settings perform the following steps:
Categories: Backup & Restore, Security Tags: disaster recovery, documentation, Export, Firewall, recovery, windows firewall
Windows 7 Credential Manager
Windows 7 Credential Manager stores logon user names and passwords for network resources such as network shares, web sites and terminal services, and allows you to back up, restore and manage saved credentials. Credential Manager stores these details in the Windows vault. In addition you can back up the Windows vault on one computer and restore it to another computer. When you opt to save your credentials by checking the Remember my credentials checkbox in Windows Explorer, Remote Desktop Connection or in Internet Explorer, the Credential Manager kicks in and stores these entries in the Windows vault.
Categories: Backup & Restore, Security Tags: Certificates, credentials, EFS, login, manager, passowrd, username
Windows Easy Transfer
Windows Easy Transfer is a utility that comes with Windows 7 that you can use to transfer user profile data such as documents, music, pictures, email and other data from one computer to another. You may find this tool very handy when you are migrating to a different computer and need to move your data to the destination computer. In the process of moving your files you can use an external hard disk or USB flash drive. Other transfer mediums exist such as, network shares and special USB cables.
Categories: Backup & Restore, Utilities Tags: Easy, Easy Transfer, Export, Import, Migrate, Migration, profile, Transfer, User porfile
Windows 7 Backup Destination Types
When you perform system backups on Windows 7, you are prompted for a backup destination location as shown below:
You can select the following types of backup destinations:
Categories: Backup & Restore Tags: backup, destination, disk image, DVD-ROM, external, hard drive, image, internal, location, USB, USB flash drives, VHD
Exporting and importing Windows 7 Registry
It is vital to backup the system configuration of your Windows 7 computer before performing any configuration changes that might break your system. The configuration is stored centrally in a hierarchical database called the registry. You can use the Registry Editor to perform a backup or restore of the registry file.
Categories: Backup & Restore Tags: .reg, backup registry, database, Export, Import, reg file, registry
Group Policy settings for Previous Versions
Windows 7 gives you the capability to restore earlier versions of files in case these are accidentally deleted or modified. For more information how to set Previous Versions and Shadow Copies go here. In the enterprise environment you can configure Previous Versions with six Group Policy settings as described below:
Categories: Backup & Restore, Management Tags: backup, files, Group Policy, previous versions, restore, shadow copies
