Easy steps to keep your Windows 8 PC backed up

With the recent release of Windows 8 from Microsoft, keeping your PC protected and backed up is simple and effective in the rare event of a system failure. Let's get it setup!

To start, lets move the mouse to the right hand side of the screen, and choose the search option from the charms that appear on the right. (see pic). In the box that appears type "recovery". Choose the settings option underneath the search box, and one of the options in the list should be labeled windows 7 file recovery. Don't worry about the fact it says windows 7, this is just carried over from the previous versions of windows, so if you already have a backup, you can continue to use it.

The next screen that appears should look something like this:

As you can see, this computer that I'm using is already backing up to a network location, however if you haven't already got yours setup, there should be a setup backup option you can click on to start the wizard which will guide you through the process.

The first screen will ask you where you want to save your backup. I'd recommend saving it to a external hard drive, or a network drive, as there is no point saving it to the same hard drive your computer is currently using, as that would render the whole back up process pointless if your hard drive fails :)

As you can see, I have a few hard drives and a network location saved on this computer to use. I'm going with the network drive option. If you want to save on a network also, you can click save on a network button which will take you to a separate screen to get setup.

Once you've chosen what your location, you then need to choose what you want to back up. You can let windows decide, or you can choose what you want to back up. I like this option, as I feel it gives me more control over what will be backed up, opposed to what might be backed up. The next screen, asks what specifically I want backed up.

In this instance I am backing up my libraries, and everything on my system drive. If you only have one hard drive, I'd recommend choosing to enable the system image option.

Clicking next will review the settings you've selected and you can save and exit the wizard. The computer will then start backing up your files.

Things to note:

1. If you've selected an external backup drive, make sure it's plugged in when you want to back up
2. If it's not, Windows will wait till the next time it is to make the backup
3. I'd suggest to come back to the back up page every now and then to make sure it still is backing things up for you and that the settings are still up to date.

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iOS 6's Do Not Disturb feature mode not functioning

Image: Engadget

If you've got an iDevice (iPhone, iPad, iPod) and you've been using the new iOS 6 that Apple release late last year, you may have become familiar with a feature called Do Not Disturb.

When activated, a crescent moon appears in the notification bar up the top of the screen, indicating that it is activated. This mode silences all sounds and notifications, and prevents the screen from illuminating.

However since the turn of the year, many users have reported (myself included) that this feature doesn't work properly when you have it set to a schedule. Either it doesn't activate at the right time, or is doesn't come out of DND mode, meaning that until you manually turn it off, your device will remain silenced. As you can imagine, this is really annoying for some people who will have missed phone calls or messages because they didn't know their phone wasn't ringing.

Apple have acknowledged the problem, but instead of sending out a fix they've suggested to just use the mode manually until after January 7, where the problem is expected to resolve itself.

Symptoms

After January 1st, 2013, Do Not Disturb mode stays on past its scheduled end time.

Resolution

Do Not Disturb scheduling feature will resume normal functionality after January 7, 2013. Before this date, you should manually turn the Do Not Disturb feature on or off.
To turn off the scheduling feature, tap Settings > Notifications > Do Not Disturb and switch Scheduled to Off.

Apple has had problems in the past with New Year's bug's where alarm clocks set in the new year wouldn't sound off causing people to be late for work, miss flights etc. The company also promised at the time the problem would "resolve itself" by the first Monday of the year.

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Samsung Galaxy S3 "Sudden Death"

If you aren't already aware, there is a current issue plaguing Samsung's Flagship mobile phone product the Galaxy S 3 where after normal usage, or charging, that the phone becomes "bricked" or unusable.

There have been many widespread reports about this phone, but so far it seems that the international model - i.e. any country not from North America is the only one with the issue.

The shutting down for no apparent reason and not restarting thereafter, or “Sudden Death” issue has been reported on popular forums and on various tech news websites, and popular Android website XDA-Developers, which has more than 150 pages of posts where people have reported the same problem.

But there is some good news! A few hours ago a Dutch website Tweakers reported that a Samsung spokesperson has said: "The problem seems to be affect a “limited number of Galaxy S3 models with 16GB memory,” and it’s caused by a firmware bug."

A fix for this bug is luckily software related, but at time of writing the release date for the patch which resolves the issue is not available.

Samsung has admitted the fault is theirs, and with the upcoming patch to resolve the issue, we shouldn't see any more of this in the future. Rest assured if you are victim to this bug and  have a bricked S3, you should be able to organise a replacement or a fix through the warranty.

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Something for nothing from Apple

Anyone with an iOS device, and those new to Apple's iOS software, yes I'm looking at you, people-that-just-got-something-Apple-related for Christmas, should check out Apple's free app, 12 Days of Christmas.

Link to application on iTunes

Every day, following Christmas Day, there will be a free gift from Apple to you when you open the app on that day.
The first day (26th) was 2 remixed songs from Maroon 5 and a video, and the second day - today, the 27th, is a game called Score! which is a soccer (or football, depending where you're from) game.

The remaining 10 days are yet to be seen, but I'm sure there is something for everyone.

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