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Steve Bass's Weekly Newsletter
TechBite's columnist Steve Bass writes weekly commentary on the technology products he loves, the strategies for getting the most out of them, and the gotchas that can cause computing misery.
Save Your PC's Bacon: Back Up the Registry
In This Issue
Hello ERUNT, Adios System Restore
Why System Restore Isn't So Hot
My Love Affair with ERUNT
Test of the Week: ISP BitTorrent Monitoring
Tool of the Week: Aviary Tools
Product of the Week: SanDisk Ultra Backup Flash Drive
Give This a Whirl: Faxes Over VoIP
On My Radar: Driver Update Sites
Time Wasters
Back Me Up
Hello ERUNT, Adios System Restore
I gave up on Windows System Restore. Yep, I turned the feature off and replaced it with a freebie I like better.
Why System Restore Isn't So Hot
System Restore is a recovery tool built into Windows that backs up and restores the Registry. System Restore takes a snapshot of your computer -- called a restore point -- once a day, as well as before you perform certain tasks, such as installing a new program. If all goes well, you can use a restore point later on to bring your PC back to the state it was in when the snapshot was taken. But remember, we're talking about computers.
Sometimes System Restore doesn't work. You click a restore point and Windows has a hearty, gleeful laugh. The problem is that each restore point is linked to previous points; if one is corrupt or missing, you're out of luck: System Restore won't work. (Learn more about the ins and outs of System Restore in Bert Kinney's smart and thorough FAQ.)
My Love Affair with ERUNT [top]
For the last year, I've been using the Emergency Recovery Utility NT. Affectionately known as ERUNT, it's a free tool that automatically backs up your Registry and allows you to restore it. And despite its name, it works with Windows XP and Vista, including 64-bit editions.
The tremendous advantage of ERUNT is that each restore point is independent of the other points. If one goes kaflooey, the others will still work. Nice also is being able to back up a restore point to an external drive or stick it onto an online storage site.
I let ERUNT do its backup thing each morning; when you install it, that's the default. The program saves a week of restore points (plenty, in my opinion) and automatically deletes older ones. You can set a restore point manually at any time, too.
The downside is ERUNT doesn't automatically set a restore point if you do something that has the potential to hose your Registry, by, say, installing a driver. You can rectify that by remembering to run ERUNT just before you do the deed.
ERUNT backs up your Registry automatically.
If you have a fiddling gene, there are a bunch of command-line switches to play with. For instance, /dir="x:\folder name" will override the default directory name. With that gene in mind, I'm guessing you'll enjoy Peter Bromberg's right-on-the-money Practice "Safe Computer" with regular automated Registry Backups article.
My advice? Keep Windows System Restore enabled for a couple of months until you become confident that ERUNT is as dependable as I say it is. When you're ready, disable System Restore. From the Control Panel, click System, choose the System Restore tab, and select the "Turn off System Restore on all drives" check box. Click OK, and then click Yes to turn off System Restore.
Test of the Week: ISP BitTorrent Monitoring [top]
Oh heavens, is your ISP throttling back or even blocking your BitTorrent downloads? Maybe, and one way to tell is with the free, online Glasnost test.
Hey wait, you say you don't know a BitTorrent from a masonry bit? Read A Beginner's Guide to BitTorrent.
Glasnost
lets you know if your ISP is throttling your BitTorrents
Tool of the Week: Aviary Tools
I'll bet that every weird photo someone's e-mailed you comes from the Worth1000 site.
A typical Worth1000 photo
Worth1000's owner, Avi Muchnick, is constantly asked how people create the images. "You can spend $2,000 for editing tools," he said recently. Or you can use his free, Web-based Aviary Tools collection. Fair warning: These are definitely not lightweight tools for beginners.
My favorite is the Phoenix image editor. More powerful is Raven, the vector editor. (Watch a video of someone who really knows Raven; turn down your volume first to avoid the annoying music.)
Product of the Week: SanDisk Ultra Backup Flash Drive [top]
Y'all know that backing up your data is important.
Yes, you're right, I need to get everyone up to speed with a newsletter about backing up. Stop noodging.
In the meantime, I ran across SanDisk's latest offering, a USB flash drive with a one-touch backup button. They're not cheap -- $35 to $40 with 8GB capacity; a whopping $170 to $220 for 64GB. And sure, I know, most of you are perfectly capable of copying files to a flash drive on your own. At the same time, you could hand this puppy to someone who's not keen on computers, set up the files they want to back up, say, images, and know they'll be able to do it in a flash.
While I'm on the subject, SanDisk also announced its fast, 15 MB/sec UltraII CompactFlash cards. You'll pay $25 to $40 for an 8GB card.
I have one Ultra Backup and one Ultra-II CompactFlash to give away to TechBite members. Check back next week for details.
64GB
SanDisk Ultra Backup Flash Drive
Give This a Whirl: Faxes Over VoIP
This just in: A free FaxBack plug-in that lets you use Microsoft Fax on VoIP telephony software running on Windows. This is something that's not otherwise possible without an extensive, and expensive, hardware setup. I was able to get it for you to test and play -- but believe me, I can't provide any help or support.
On My Radar: Driver Update Sites [top]
I've been keeping an eye out for online driver update sites. I have a few to recommend and one to avoid. What about you? Drop me a line and tell me about the sites you love -- or hate. (Please use Driver Updates for a subject line.)
Time Wasters [top]
Some great videos: Lucky people outrunning a train, one man's last day at Home Depot, and a ditty on Southwest Airlines. Plus a great eagle webcam.
Watch Out Below: Out-of-Control Reel of Cable. The question is, will the guys get fired? Either way, they've got a great story to tell over a beer. Watch the video. [Two dingbats pushing the cable reel up stairs. You'd think one of them would have thought better of this. Sheesh. -Copyedit.]
This video -- My Last Day at Home Depot -- is certain to ensure the guy's next job will be behind a desk. [Thanks to JD.]
These guys are fast -- and dumb. Yet they both get lucky and outrun the train. I wonder if the second one went back to retrieve his sneaker. (I'll bet you watch this more than once.)
Here's why I like flying Southwest Airlines. Now all they need to do is serve free drinks (which is why the old PSA was better).
Get a load of these remastered photos from 1942. Very cool.
TechBite member Bob Leggate, in Canada, sent me links to two fabulous bald eagle webcams. The first is the HWF Sidney cam. Bob said: "A wildlife organization put a remote camera up by the nest so that they may be watched. It's live! Some of the viewers said that during a recent storm, the female eagle spread her wing over adult male and chicks to protect them." The second cam is on Hornby Island. I have them both open in separate Firefox tabs and am enjoying them immensely.
Two webcams with live views of
bald eagles and their hatchlings
You need a game, right? How about the Chrome Experiment's BallDroppings. It's a musical physics kinda thing.
Back Me Up [top]
No, I'm serious. Send my newsletter to your mail carrier, a birdwatcher, or your Aunt Mabel. Forward it to them by e-mail and think of it as an inexpensive way to back it up. Or just give them the link: http://www.techbite.com. By the way, if you're enjoying this newsletter and getting something out of it, become a TechBite member by sending us some financial support using PayPal. I promise, good things will come your way...
Steve Bass is the publisher and self-appointed Chief Content Officer at TechBite; he continues to experience the cool feeling of having his own newsletter. Send him your feedback at TechBite. To sign up for TechBite's free Steve Bass Technology newsletter, head for our signup page.
Steve's also the author of "PC Annoyances, 2nd Edition: How to Fix the Most Annoying Things About Your Personal Computer," available on Amazon. You haven't purchased your copy today yet, have you? Don't wait, supplies are limited...
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Copyright 2009 by TechBite, LLC.
