Have all your icons on your desktop gone big all of a sudden? Everything appearing in just 16 basic colours instead of millions of colour graduations? Then it sounds like Windows has lost your graphics card settings.

If you’ve gone into Display Properties or Device Manager and found that Windows is reporting your graphics card as a “Standard PCI Graphics Adaptor (VGA)”, then you need to identify what your graphics card inside your PC really is (your PC manufacturer’s documentation may help) and then download a new driver from the manufacturer’s web site or obtain a copy from your original installation / driver CD(s).

If you’ve got the drivers from the appropriate web site or CD and installed them (usually by running Setup or Setup.exe) and it hasn’t made any difference, then following these steps may help:

1. Go to Start Menu > Settings > Control Panel > Display Properties (This direction will depend on your Windows version)

2. Click the Settings tab

3. Click the Advanced button

4. Click the Adapter tab

5. Now select the Update Driver button. I think it’s on this screen but you may have to click a Properties button here and then select the Driver tab.

6. Follow the options to select the graphics card driver from a list.

7. Choose your graphics card manufacturer (e.g. ATi) from the list on the list and then the model (e.g. ATi Rage 128 PCI) from the list on the right.

8. Follow the options to install the driver for the selected model. You may be prompted to insert the Windows 98 CD.

9. Reboot.

10. Go to Start Menu > Settings > Control Panel > Display Properties

11. Click the Settings tab

12. Click the Advanced button

13. Check that this screen now shows “(your monitor model) on (your graphics card model)” rather than “(your monitor model) on Standard PCI Graphics Adapter (VGA)”. If it does, you should now be able to select a higher screen resolution using the slider bar and a higher number of colours from the drop-down list.

If you still have problems following this, please post a message in the appropriate forum message board depending on your version of Windows.

In a previous post, discussing the Restore Points on the Vista operating system, I mentioned a few times that Restore Points do not backup or protect our personal data, documents or other files (i.e. digital picture areas, mp3 collections, game scores, etc.). Vista offers the Backup utility to protect these areas. 

Setting up a regular backup schedule for your home computer is always a good idea, and a primary use for external drives. While you can use writable CD’s and DVDs to hold your backup files, I don’t recommend doing so if at all possible. External drives are much better for this function. 

Too many things can happen during a CD or DVD write operation which will make your backups useless for restoring.  External drives are:

• inexpensive these days
• hold a great deal of data
• are much more stable during the writing process

Your backups have a much better chance of being useful for restoring them later. Also, an external drive can remain plugged in so that the backup doesn’t fail trying to use a CD that is full or no longer writable. 

The Backup Configuration Utility is located at :

Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Backup Status and Configuration. 

Once open the Utility is fairly easy to setup, with very few options. If you have a large external drive, it is best to back up as much as possible; no telling what file may become “important”. 

What’s the difference between Backing up and Copying? 

The question I’m asked most about Backup utilities is “Why can’t I just copy everything on my hard drive to my external drive once a day? Why do I need a Backup utility?” The answer is “you can” and “you don’t”, but there are advantages to a backup utility over simply copying all of your files. 

Vista Backup and Restore Files Not included

A backup utility normally backs up “all the files” the first time you make a backup, and then it keeps track of files that have been changed or altered since the last backup, so the next time the utility runs, it only copies the files which appear to have been changed. This saves a great deal of space in our storage area, and allows for a saved history over longer periods of time. 

The second advantage is that backup utilities generally run automatically, so we don’t have to remember to run them once a day. For some people, always remembering to run the backup is easy, for the rest of us, well, life tends to be busy, and one less thing to remember means, one less thing to forget. 

What is Saved with the Windows Backup utility? 

Basically just your personal files and data. The backup doesn’t make copies of your program files, nor any copies of your system files. This is because it is running under the belief that a backup should only pay attention to “data” and not programs. The logic goes something like: 

If there is a catastrophic problem with the system and it crashes, then:

• The hard drive should be formated
• The system should be restored with a clean install
• Programs should be installed cleanly (off the original disks or from the Internet)
• After the system is stable, data should be restored from the backups

There are some who disagree, or could bring up many scenarios which make this logic … un-logical, but on the whole, for the home user, this is a good way to look at system administration. 

This logic also gives us the most effective way to utilize limited backup storage space. After-all, we already have copies of all the programs we use, and the Windows Vista software on disks, or from the Internet. Right? 

If you don’t, now would be a good time to get that collection together. 

So, System Restore Points protect our Drivers and system files from corruption due to updates and changes. 

Backups protect our personal data… but not our personal settings (like our passwords), for obvious reasons. 

First Run though of the Backup Configuration

We started up the Backup Utility. We want to setup the backup and the schedule, so we click on Change backup settings, near the bottom of the dialog box. 

The first requested information is; where to save our backup files. Here we can choose the CD, DVD or external drive (Vista will default to an external drive if it is present). We can also choose a network drive. 

There are some really nice external network drives these days for home use, and soon I’ll be writing an article on the different types of external and network drives available. Right now, choose the best option you currently have available. The suggested order (best to not-so-good) would be External Drive (connected by USB or Firewire), Network Drive, DVD, CD. 

After we choose our storage area, we are then asked what type of files to backup. I like the “Select them all” option here. I can’t think of any good reasons not to back up a particular file type listed on this dialog, but if you have a good reason, then now is your chance to insure the file doesn’t get backed up. 

Our final setup dialog asks us how often and when to run the back up program. Remember that the computer needs to be on, in order to backup. It won’t power itself on to run the backup at 2AM (but that would be a very cool option). So if you turn the computer off at 10pm every night, have the backup run prior to 10pm with enough time to finish. 

My home computer is on all the time, I only turn off the monitors to save electricity, but I let the computer itself go into Sleep Mode. Vista will “wake” from Sleep Mode to run a scheduled backup. 

I set my backup to run everyday, because just about everyday, some major change has been done to my files. I work with a lot of documents, spreadsheets and business proposals here on my home computer (which is really an home-office computer). But, if you do not make huge changes every day, then perhaps once a week will work out for you. 

Once a month is just silly. Remember that the backup will not be copying files over which have not been changed or updated. So, if you do very few changes (you use the computer mainly for email and web browsing), set it for once a week, and it will be a very fast backup. 

There is a check-box at the bottom of this last dialog, which asks if we wish to make a “full backup in addition to saving our settings”, which has confused several people. What this is asking is “Do you wish to run this backup now, or wait until your scheduled time?” 

There is a Vista backup utility which comes with the more expensive versions (not the home basic or home professional version) which makes a complete copy of your hard drive; a Snapshot of your system. This “full backup” is not what we are talking about here. 

Also, for the schedule, if you have the Windows Vista Home Basic version, you will not be able to setup the Automatic backup… though Windows will remind you to backup your files, which means you open up this utility and click on the Back up now button. 

I do recommend checking this “run now” box to do a back up at this point. You can work on your computer while the backup is running. The backup process will run in the background, and it is good to know how slow your computer will be while a backup is running, especially if you have set the schedule to run at 5pm (or while you are typically working on the computer). 

Summary Information

The basic Backup utility which comes with Vista is functional, and it has worked for me without me noticing it, which generally means it is not causing me problems. However, it doesn’t have a great deal of functional options, and if you are a Vista Home Basic user, then it doesn’t have automatic scheduling available.  

If you find that these draw backs are too much for you, then it would be good to find a backup software system which will meet all of your needs. If you would like some suggestions in finding a backup system, jump into our forum area and tell us your needs. Chances are one of our experts knows exactly which one would best suit you.

If you have several users accessing the same computer (very common for home computers), then having a User Account for each of them, is a good way for everyone to get the most out of the computer resources, and programs (such as email and browsers).

User Accounts allow each user to make full use of areas like My Documents, Email Clients, Browsers (Favorites, personal settings), Background pictures, sounds, and other personal preferences. Preferences and program settings such as these do not affect the other user’s settings and preferences.

If you select Control Panel from the Start menu you’ll see an icon labeled User Accounts. This is where the folder for each user is stored as well as a couple of special folders - All Users and Default User.

Setting up a User Account takes about 2 minutes time. Once you have the Wizard running, you give the account a user name. This should be very discriptive, such as the person’s real name. Since the sign on page for Windows is all graphical, the user will only need to remember, and type in a password (if you set up passwords, it is optional). For user names we are just going to click on our personal Icon.

There are two types of accounts. One is an Administrative Account, and the other is a Limited User Account. Typically, you only want one Administrative Account. The Account you started Windows XP with, is an Administrative Account. Keep that one, and make all others Limited Users. This is good for security,and helps battle mal-ware, and even some Trojans. It also insures that any software installed is something you will know about, because Limited User accounts, can not install software.

Windows automatically created an Administrator account when the operating system is first installed. By default, this account won’t be password-protected - you have to assign a password yourself. This user account is not displayed in the Welcome screen and is only accessible in Safe Mode. If there is an Administrator account on your PC with no password protection, you should change this at the earliest opportunity.

To do this, repeatedly press F8 once you have turned the power on, but before Windows starts, to show the start-up menu. Press the up arrow so that Safe mode is highlighted and then press Enter. Windows will start in Safe mode and the welcome screen will now show the default Administrator account.

Limited Users will not be shown. Click on the Administrator user and Windows will finish loading. Now click on the Start button and then Control Panel and User Accounts as before, and then click on Administrator.

Click on the Create a password option. Enter a password in the two boxes. Make sure that the Administrator password is hard to guess. Click on the Create password button then restart the computer.

We’ve already set up Eddie’s user account, so now we should set up a password for him. Password protection for user accounts on a home computer are not necessary. If you want to set them up, that’s your choice. Sometimes it is a nice feature to make sure that users are actually on their user account, rather than someone else’s.

I don’t want Eddie in my stuff however and I know he doesn’t want me poking around in his, so we’ll set him up a password. Again this is very easy. You click on the Add Password link, type in the password twice, give a password hint at the bottom and click the OK button. Password is now set.

Each user can create a Password reset disk in case they forget their password, using a floppy disk. Again, this is not essential to do this (since the Administrator Account can reset the passwords if someone forgets theirs) and we hope that Microsoft provides the option to save such info to a USB key in future. For now however the only option is the floppy disk.

You can only create a reset disk for a user when you are logged in as that user. Once you’ve logged in, click on the Prevent a forgotten password option on the left of the User Accounts screen accessed from the Control Panel. Insert a floppy disk and click on Next, enter your current password and click on Next again. The disk will be created, click on Next to finish the wizard.

To recover a forgotten password, click on your user name on the welcome screen and then on the green arrow without entering a password. A message balloon will appear with an option to use your password reset disk and a wizard will appear to help guide you through this process.

Click on Next, insert the disk and click on next again. Type a new password into the two boxes and add a hint below. Click on Finish and log in with the new password. This disk can be used as many times as it is needed without updating with the new password.

You can also change Icons for each user, and use your own images as well.
 

This adds a bit of personalization to each account. Users can change their own icons as they wish. Find an image, click on it and then on Open. You can use most image formats and any size, although ideally they should be 48 pixelssquare.

Once user accounts are set up, each user can decide if they want to share folders or whether they should be kept private. To make a folder private, right-click on it and select Sharing and Security. Select the option Make this folder private and click on OK. When this is done, no one else will be able to read the files. If the account has no password, Windows will prompt you to create one.

To allow certain files or folders to be shared with other users, simply drag-and-drop these into the Shared Documents folder that appears in My Computer. Be aware that this does not make a copy of the file, even though Windows will show files both in Shared Documents and the original folder.

If a file is deleted in Shared Folders it is deleted from its original location as well. So be careful when accessing this folder, and careful as to what you put there.