A few windows / laptop maintenance issues?

[Gareth83]

I have just bought a brand new Samsung R530 laptop:
Samsung R530 / Intel Pentium Dual Core T4300 2.1GHz / 4GB / 500GB / 15.6 inch / DVD-SM / Windows 7 Home Premium / Laptop / Notebook / Silver / Red (NP-R530-JA02UK) - Computing at Play.com (UK)

And I have a few things I am unsure of particularly as it is running Windows 7

1. How do I set up the PC so that when I switch it on it asks me for a choice of users and passwords?

2. How can I ensure it is secure should thieves get hold of it? Are laptops easy to encrypt? If so how?

3. My HD is split up into 2 partitions, how do I ensure all documents etc. are saved to the second partition and program files go to the first?

4. What is the best method of backing up the hard drive? What software should I use? Windows own? Should I get an external USB HD? DVD's? etc?

Thanks in advance

[TRC]

Not sure about 1 and 3.

But 2... I've got a disc that allows me to bypass administrators passwords and remove them, it's for PC repairs. and it's not really that hard to get into someons computer if you know how.

and for backing up the hard drive, just get a decent size external drive they're actually fairly cheap now and well worth it if you want to transfer files or back stuff up like music, DVD's, home videos etc. Backing up with DVD's is painfully slow and they could end up scratched, lost, snapped or you've got so many, you just can't be bothered to check through 100 DVD's for those files you labelled "Stuff" :P

[Maximi11ion]

Hi Gareth

I'm not that familiar with W7 but I would say.
Get a peripheral drive, reasonably cheap quick and easy. Another option is on line storage. Handy if you want to be able access anywhere and don't want to carry your back up with you, secure too. slow though and for any reasonable storage capacity will require subscription.

I can recommend filehippo.com for downloads (encryption software etc.) I've used them for years. free of course.

As for your partitions, just save and install stuff where you like, most installations will default to your C: drive.

[Was_once_fat_dave]

for number 1 go into control panel and then user accounts (or something similar sounding). All the options for user accounts should be in there. I personaly allways set up an admin account which I dont really use but then have a secondary account that I allways use. Don't know how secure it is, but if I get any dodgy virals into my secondary account they dont have acces to all the main options. Good thing about windows nowadays is if you need to make some changes and your in your secondary account you get prompted for the admin password before you can do them.

[daffy]

On 2, you need to encrypt the drive, have a look at truecrypt (open source/free). I haven't used it, but I'm assuming it will work like other encryption programs and prompt you for a password before it starts booting windows, so being able to circumvent Windows security isn't going to do you any good if you cannot get around the drive encryption security. At work we use the McAfee solution for this, called Endpoint Encryption.

On 3, create multiple users that have different permissions. Administrator can write to C:, your normal user, can only write to D:. You'll also want to NOT give Administrative rights to your normal users to enforce this. So when it comes to installing something, you log on with Administrator, install, log on as GarethUser, and carry on working.

On 4, I've read that Windows 7 backup is sufficient to do the job. Media wise, depends on budget. Most useful solution would be to buy a NAS with Raid support. This would make sure that whatever data you write on to it, would be available from 2 disks, so that if one disk failed, you would have time to replace the failed disk without losing data. No need to open the box to do this either, most NAS devices have quick release disks that you just pop in and out like a cartridge. My next option would be external HD - seems less flimsy than a DVD.