Chapter 23

That All-Important Safety Copy

In This Chapter

arrow Restoring modified files

arrow Creating a backup copy

arrow Understanding compressed folders

arrow Extracting files from a compressed folder

arrow Installing software from a Zip file

It’s sad, but I hear occasionally about someone who regrets losing all their vacation photos because the computer crashed. They seem to accept this fate as an inevitable part of owning a computer. It’s frustrating to me, because digital material can stay active for a long time, providing you make a safety copy. The only reason you’ll ever lose anything — a document, a photo, a video, music, or any file — is because you failed to create a backup.

The File You Had Yesterday

If a file is lost, you can find it. When a file has been deleted, you can recover it from the Recycle Bin. But when a file has been changed or overwritten with new information, getting it back requires some sorcery. That sorcery is provided by a backup program.

Get PCs For Dummies, 13th Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.