June 2019 | |^75
Basics
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Navigatetothefoldercontaining
thedatathatyouwanttorestorein File
Explorer.FromtheHometabonthe
Ribbon,clickHistorytoopenFileHistory
tothatfolder’slocation.A window
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thatfolderwillbeshown.
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willappear.If you’relookingforanearlier
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forwardbuttonsat thebottomtonavigate
betweenthedifferentrevisionsuntilyou
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Click the Settings button in the
top-right corner and choose Restore to
save it to its original location, overwriting
the current version if it’s present (which
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version), or ‘Restore to’ to save it to a
different folder completely. Qclick ‘More options’ to determine how
often files are backed up (hourly by
default) and how long backups are kept.
This second option is important
because File History doesn’t just back
up the latest version of your files; it
takes multiple snapshots, enabling you
to roll back to earlier versions of your
files (see below). By default, backups are
kept for forever, but you can limit
backups from one month to two years,
or ‘Until space is needed’, which
removes the oldest backups as required
to free up space for the latest ones.
Scroll further down for a list of all the
folders being backed up – click one and
select Remove to exclude it, or scroll
down to add more folders. Also scroll
down and click ‘See advanced settings’
to be whisked to the File History Control
Panel. Select ‘Advanced settings’ again
for an option to ‘Clean up versions’,
enablingyoutoremoveoldbackupsto
freeupspacemanually.
YoucanalsoaccesstheoldWindows
7 backuptoolfromtheBackupsection
ofSettings– filesarebackedupless
frequentlythanFileHistory,sofewer
versionsarestored,butyoucanalso
takea completesystemimageofyour
Windowsdrivetorestorefrom.
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WhenmajorproblemsoccuronyourPC,
thesimplestsolutionisoftentoroll
backyourWindowsinstalltoa point
whenit lastworkedcorrectly– see
the‘SystemRestore’boxonthepage
oppositeforfurtherdetails.
If yourglitchesarebecomingtoo
much,gotoStart>Settings>Update&
Security>Recovery.There’sa ‘Resetthis
PC’option,whichcanwipeyourPC
cleanorleaveyourpersonalfilesin
placebeforereinstallingWindows.A
lessdrasticrepaircanbeperformedby
downloadingandrunningtheWindows
MediaCreationTool(www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/
windows10). Choose the upgrade
option when prompted and select the
option to keep apps and personal files
before letting Windows reinstall.
If your problems are so severe you
can’t get Windows to boot, you should
find yourself at the ‘Advanced start-up’
menu. Select ‘Troubleshoot’ where
you’ll find options for resetting your PC
or accessing ‘Advanced options’, which
include the Start-up Repair tool and
System Image Recovery, which you can
use to restore Windows using an image
you took using the Windows Backup
and Restore tool. If you think you can fix
your problem in Safe mode, choose
‘Startup Settings’ and select ‘Safe mode
with networking’ to retain Internet
access while you troubleshoot.5HVWRUHÀOHVLQ)LOH+LVWRU\
“File History doesn’t simply back up
the latest versions of your files; it takes
multiple snapshots, enabling you to
roll back to earlier versions”
Hold [Shift] as you reboot to access
the Advanced start-up menu.