PREVENTING PROBLEMS BEFORE THEY OCCUR is
always a good idea and can be very simple to achieve; the problem is
knowing where to start. You would think that Windows 8 would be set up
by default to be incredibly easy to fix when something goes wrong, if it
would ever happen. However, I have found it very ironic that for the
past decade as Windows has become more reliable, stable, and robust that
the number of troubleshooting, repair, and diagnostic tools has
increased with each edition.
Windows 8 is no exception with tools such as System Restore, image
backup (not just one but two types including Refresh Your PC), a reset
option, file versioning, automated troubleshooters, the Action Center,
and more. However, the problem is
that there are so many hardware and software packages available for the
platform that it’s impossible to predict how each will interact with
each other and with Windows.
The aim of a good preventative strategy, therefore, isn’t about
making sure all the tools exist to help you recover from an emergency;
it’s about making sure that problems simply don’t exist in the first
instance.
Take an IT Help Desk, for example. These departments are expensive to
operate because of the staffing costs. Companies obviously want to keep
costs down in departments that don’t directly contribute revenue. So,
when small problems occur, such as a keyboard breaking or a printer
driver failing to work, each callout requires personal attention from a
trained professional, and each one costs time and money, not just for
the IT department but also in terms of lost productivity for the person
with the problem.
If you can spend a little additional time settings things up in a
bulletproof manner to begin with, then this can save a lot of time
diagnosing and fixing a problem later on.
If you have a desktop PC and access to two or more hard disks, it’s
even better if you can split your Windows installation, files, and
backups across them. This means that if you have a real catastrophe,
such as the physical disk containing your Windows installation fails,
you don’t lose your backup copy of Windows, too. You can also use two
hard disks to keep identical copies of your files and data; again, just
in case a physical disk fails.
Laptops and most PC systems include only one physical disk, however, so you typically won’t have the option of splitting your data across different physical drives. But if the idea of splitting things up interests you, you might want to purchase a separate USB external hard disk.
Upgrading or Performing a Clean Install
Whenever a new version of Windows is released, the biggest question
that confronts you is whether you should format the hard disk and start
with a clean installation or upgrade the existing copy of Windows in
which you already have all your software, drivers, and files working.
I’ve been troubleshooting and repairing Windows installations for
many years now, and I’ve seen so many more problems caused by upgrading
from one version of Windows to another that I would always recommend
performing a format and a clean install.
1. How to Clean Install Windows 8 to Prevent Problems
Indeed, with Windows these days, I’d even go so far as to suggest
that you delete the partition that Windows resides on and the 100-MB
System Reserved partition that goes with Windows 7 and Vista, because
the boot system has changed again slightly, and I’ve seen backup and restore problems caused by the System Reserved partition.
The reason for doing this is that subtle changes are made to the Windows boot
system with each incarnation of the operating system (OS). With Windows
8 comes better support for UEFI-enabled motherboards, which is a new
alternative to the aging BIOS firmware system, and a new Secure
Boot system along with System Reserved partitions that contain all the
boot information of up to 300 MB. Occasionally, a 100-MB System Reserved
partition isn’t big enough for Windows to store its system image backup
and restore data.
Note
If you have multiple hard disks installed in
the computer, it is always wise to open the case and physically unplug
all but the primary hard disk. This ensures that the System Reserved partition and Windows 8
are always on the same drive. If they end up on separate drives, you
can never remove the drive containing the system partition without
preventing Windows 8 from starting.
