PC Doctor June 24, 2016

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Dear PC Dr:

When I had a mac computer, I used Time Machine to back up all my stuff to my external hard drive (“My Book”).  Now, I have a pc laptop running Windows 7.  I have been copying and pasting files to the back up once a week, but I’m hoping there’s a program for pcs that can make it possible for me to schedule back ups to run automatically.  Is there?

Thank you,

     Shawn

Dear Shawn:

You’re in luck!  Windows 7 has a service that operates much the same way as Apple’s Time Machine.  To set it up, first make sure your external hard drive is connected to your computer.  Then, go to your Control Panel.  You will see an icon labeled “Backup and Restore.”  Choose that.  Then choose “Set up backup.”  You will be taken through a series of queries, asking you where you want to save your back up (your external hard drive), what you want to back up (everything) and when you want the back up to run (daily, weekly, etc.).  That’s it!  Your backups will run automatically and you will be able to rest easy.

Until next time,

Happy Computing!

     PC Doctor