Windows Back Up

Hey there, my new XPS m1730 got a Trojan the other day and I had no option left but to restore it to Dell Factory Settings. There was an option in the Recovery portion of the computer. I tried System Restore, but this Trojan blocked that from even opening up.

Anyways, I was wondering if it's possible to make something like what Dell already had with its Factory Settings option but a later stage. I've reinstalled some vital applications (such as Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, Mozilla Firefox, Call of Duty 4 (lol) and Fraps). Next time, if anything happens I'd like to be able to come back to this point and save myself time on having to install all these programs again.

Btw, the Dell Recovery settings folder only takes up about 5 GB.

 

Do you have Vista Ultimate? If yes, the complete PC Backup and restore utility is really nice. I suggest using it. I do a complete PC backup once a week on an external HDD thats set aside specifically for this. And once you do it, from the next time on, it just backsup the differences but also stores the older versions. The older versions get deleted once you run out of space. But I have a 750 GB ext HDD so I don't think I will ever run out of space. Also when you use complete PC backup and restore, it gives you the options to restore what you want, meaning you could probably quiet a long way, but not all the way to factory restore.

As for the trojan, I suggest using proper security for your computer. Please take a look at the free antivirus software thread there. Its wonderful and I have set up my computer pretty well and not a single infection I have till now Cheers.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial144.html

 

Unfortunately, I have Vista Home Premium. Is there any other way of doing this without having to upgrade to Vista Ultimate?

 

You could try DriveImageXML which is a free back up utility.

Or if one of your drives is a Seagate, or Maxor, they have DiscWizard which is also free. It's made by Acronis, and a limited version of True Image but works fine.

Edit: It appears DI XML is only good for logical drives! If your main HDD isn't a Seagate, or Maxor, buy one of their externals and use SDW

 

TrueImage, if you can get it

 

I second trueimage. And with TrueImage you can even create a small dedicated partition (called the Secure Zone) and store your recovery image there. Then you can just hit F11 at boot to boot into trueImage and restore, just like with the Dell factory image. No CD's, DVD, or other external drives needed.

 

Macrium Reflect is another free one that works pretty well. For whatever reason DriveImage XML hasn't ever worked correctly for me.