Windows 7 and Windows 8 include a disk error checking utility named Check Disk. It allows you to scan your partitions and see if they have issues with lost sectors, bad sectors or file corruption. Let’s see how to run Check Disk, identify and fix issues with the data stored on your computer’s hard discs.

In previous versions of Windows, the only tools available for restoring Windows to a previous state were System Restore and Windows Backup. Even though they are useful tools, you cannot use them to restore Windows to its initial, clean state. You have to perform a manual reinstallation of the operating system. And that is a bit of a pain. Windows 8 introduces a great new feature named Restore. With the Restore wizard, you can easily restore Windows 8 to its default clean state, as if you were performing a clean reinstallation of the operating system. Let’s see how it works.

Now that I have become a Windows Phone user, I’m starting to learn how to deal with certain challenges of this platform. One of the biggest challenges I have encountered so far is: how to make a complete backup of my Windows Phone? I did some research and I could not find any official tools from Microsoft, to help me with this problem. Therefore, the only answer is to use third-party tools and hacks. Luckily, I found a very good tool, named WP7 Easy Backup Tool. Here’s how it works.

Recently I was on a road trip, without my trusty collection of CDs and DVDs with system tools. I ended up needing to use my USB memory stick as a bootable device to install Windows 8 on a few computers. But how to create a bootable USB drive, as quickly as possible, without going through many steps and manual customisations? I did some research, tested a few tools and found a great one, which is updated regularly and provides many useful features.

In this article we’re going to talk about Safe Mode in Windows 7. First, we’ll discuss what safe mode is and why you might need to use it. Then we will go over methods of getting in and out of it.

In my previous tutorial about Windows Easy Transfer Reports, I noted that I hadn’t found an easy way to print the information included in these reports. Thanks to our reader Cate Eales, who supplied a useful link, I can now explain in detail how it is done. Believe it or not, it turns out to be as easy as 1, 2, 3.

OK, so you’ve read our tutorials and you’ve run Windows Easy Transfer to transfer your data to your new computer and/or operating system. I’m sure you’re wondering what to do next. Windows Easy Transfer has created a comprehensive report that will help you decide. Since I just installed Windows 7 on my main computer a few days ago (I was a long-time, die-hard Windows XP holdout, believe it or not) I will show how the Windows Easy Transfer Reports look on my computer and how they can help. You’ll be able to see that I could have saved myself a lot of time if I’d read our tutorials before I got started (but they have not been published yet before I began, I can use that as an excuse!).

After we have shown how to backup your data for transfer with Windows Easy Transfer, it is time to show how to restore it on a new computer and/or Windows operating system. This tutorial will show how it is done, including some advanced configuration items, and also share the prerequisites required for the transfer to work. Ready? Let’s start!

Windows Easy Transfer is a great tool, included in all recent versions of Windows, which allows you to transfer data between computers and Windows operating systems. Let’s say you want to upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 or from Windows 7 to Windows 8 - Windows Easy Transfer is the tool you can use to migrate your important files and settings. It works when transferring data between operating systems on the same computer but also when transferring between different computers. This tutorial will explain how Windows Easy Transfer works and how to make a backup of your data so that you can transfer it on another computer and/or operating system.

Together we've learned how to use system recovery tools to fix system problems. We are at the end of the System Recovery and Command Prompt series and, what better way to finish but with a tutorial that shows how to repair master boot problems?

Sometimes important Windows 7 system files can get corrupted or become missing, due to unexpected events like a sudden power drop or some hardware or software malfunctions. One of the tools which can help in such cases is System File Checker (SFC). This is a command-line system tool that scans the integrity of Windows 7 system files and replaces the damaged or missing system files. In this article you will learn how to use this utility from the Command Prompt to solve your problems.

In one of our previous articles, we've shown how to create a system repair disc on a CD/DVD, with just with a few clicks. In will continue the discussion by showing how to create a bootable flash memory stick with system recovery tools on it.