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“A typical scenario is to take one full backup a month, then weekly differential backups and finally daily incremental backups.”
INCREMENTAL VERSUS DIFFERENTIAL
My backup tool offers both incremental and differential backups to save on drive storage space. What’s the difference? Lewis Adam Both types of backup take up less room because they only record the changes made since the last backup was taken. Differential backups record the changes taken since the last full backup, while incremental backups record the changes made since the last incremental backup. Incremental backups are therefore smaller than differential backups, but more prone to failure because you need all previous incremental backups, as well as the parent full backup to restore your system. Differential backups only require themselves and the full backup. If your backup tool supports both types of backup, a typical scenario is to take one full backup a month, then weekly differential backups and finally daily incremental backups — the latter being based on the last differential backup to reduce the number of backups you need should you want to recover your system. Mayank Sharma
SECURITY CAN’T DISABLE PROXY SETTINGS
I helped my father-in-law with his Windows 7 desktop. He kept losing the internet connection. For some unknown reason, the LAN settings box keeps getting ticked. His antivirus (Panda) did not show anything amiss. I have shown my father-in-law how to amend the connection settings manually. Do you have any suggestions for further steps I can get him to take? Jack Porterfield We’re assuming you mean the ‘LAN Proxy Settings’ box, Jack. If it keeps being ticked — presumably each time your father-in-law reboots his PC — then a third-party program (potentially, but not necessarily malware) is doing this. Without knowing what’s running on your father-in-law’s PC, we can’t provide you with specific advice.
The first thing to do is to rule out malware by performing scans with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free from www.malwarebytes.com. Assuming it comes back clean, use a tool such as Autoruns from Microsoft (look under Process Utilities at docs.microsoft.com/ en-us/sysinternals) to identify what’s loading with your PC. Google program names with ‘LAN Proxy Settings’ to see if any are known to amend this setting. Once identified, you can either disable the program at startup or check it for settings to prevent it from attempting to divert your connection through a proxy server. Finally, press ‘ Win-R’, then type inetcpl.cpl and hit Enter. Switch to the Advanced tab and click Reset. Tick ‘Delete personal settings’ and click Reset, then reboot to see if the problem has been fixed — hopefully for good. Rob Mead-Green
HARDWARE QUICK ‘N’ DIRTY BENCHMARK
My four-year-old PC has served me well, but I’m wondering if it’s time for an upgrade. I’ve scoured online articles and forums, but I can’t really tell how much of an increase in performance a new CPU would bring. I have a fourth-generation Intel Core i5 processor, onboard graphics and 16GB RAM — is it worth upgrading? Geraint Powell The jumps between Intel CPU generations isn’t quite as dramatic as it once was, but there may still be value in an upgrade. You will have to factor in the cost of a new motherboard — and possibly RAM and a graphics card, too. Perhaps the best thing to do is benchmark your current setup using a free tool called NovaBench ( novabench.com) — it only benchmarks your CPU, RAM, graphics and system hard disk, but once complete, you can submit your scores online (anonymously if you wish) and then compare them against the
latest models. Geraint reported back that his benchmark scores revealed that the jump in speed over the preceding few years had convinced him to splash out on a new PC. And having tested the program ourselves on our similarly specified machine, we’re sorely tempted to invest in a PC upgrade ourselves... Nick Peers
SECURITY IDENTIFY AND OPEN UNKNOWN FILES
I have been sent a file with a .pub extension. What kind of file is it, and how do I open it? Mick Harvey First of all, save the attachment to your PC’s storage drive — never open it directly. If your security software doesn’t scan it automatically, then right-click the file and opt to scan it manually. If it checks out OK, you can go about identifying it. The step-bystep guide here reveals how.
Identify file type: In Mick’s case, .pub files are Microsoft Publisher documents — you can identify other files by visiting filext.com and typing the file extension into the Google Custom Search box in the top right-hand corner, or try a wider Google search.
Locate compatible app: If the parent program in question isn’t available for free, type it into alternativeto.net to source alternatives. Microsoft Publisher isn’t free, but Scribus ( www.scribus.net) is an open-source desktop publishing tool that can open .pub files, however.
Try a file viewer: If you can’t locate a suitable app, go hunting for a free file viewing tool. Avoid Free File Viewer (Malwarebytes blocks it), and instead try File Viewer Lite from windowsfileviewer.com, which can handle over 150 different file types.
Other solutions: Other options include trying free online file conversion tools such as Zamzar ( www.zamzar.com) or replying to the sender and explaining the situation and asking them to provide the file in a different format — a PDF is a good option if it’s available. Ian Sleightholm
WINDOWS ERROR MESSAGE ON SHUTDOWN
Both my wife and I are getting the same error when we shut down our PCs, running Windows 7 and 10, respectively. It’s linked to BitDefender Threat Scanner, and it reads: ‘A problem has occurred in BitDefender Threat Scanner. A file containing error information has been created at C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\ BitDefender Threat Scanner.dmp.’ Can you help us resolve this problem please? John Wallis The error is a very well-known one, and is linked to a corrupt file in Spybot Search & Destroy. To its credit, BitDefender was quick to issue a patch that should resolve it. You need to
know which Windows system type (32-bit or 64-bit — press ‘ Win-Pause/ Break’ if you’re not sure), and then download the appropriate patch. The 32-bit version is available from: www.bitdefender.com/files/ KnowledgeBase/file/BDRepair_Tool_ win32.exe
While the 64-bit version is here: www.bitdefender.com/files/Knowledge Base/file/BDRepair_Tool_x64.exe
Once you have applied the patch, the corrupt file should be fixed and the error message cease. Cat Ellis
NETWORKING NETWORK DEVICES DON’T SHOW UP
I seem to have a strange issue where File Explorer doesn’t show all of the attached network devices on my PC, making it impossible to access — among other things — my two Synology DiskStation drives and a Surface tablet. Can you advise please? Jorgen Gullestrup We’ve been plagued with similar problems ourselves — sometimes, shared resources immediately show up in File Explorer, while other times, they can take 5–10 minutes to appear, if at all. Thankfully, there are two workarounds you can usually employ to bypass this problem. The first is to open File Explorer and simply type ‘\\devicename\’ folder (such as ‘\\DiskStation\Shared’) or the device’s IP address (‘\\192.168.0.4\Shared’) to directly access a shared folder. Using the IP address works when the device name isn’t recognised. Related to this, you can also map a drive letter to a specific network resource or folder, which ensures that the shared folder is always accessible even after Windows starts. You may occasionally get an error about the drive not being found, but this is resolved by waiting a minute or two. To map a drive letter, right-click the Network icon in the left-hand pane of File Explorer and choose ‘Map network drive’. Choose your drive letter, then click Browse (if the shared folder or drive is currently present) or type it in manually again following the syntax above. Leave ‘Reconnect at sign-in’ ticked, then tick ‘Connect using different credentials’ if you log on with a different username and password. Nick Peers
LINUX KALI CONUNDRUM
I am having problems trying to get a Kali Linux and Mac OS X dual boot on my MacBook, as when I installed Linux, there was no Wi-Fi chip found. I did some research and found it was a common problem. I managed to get a USB to Ethernet working with the internet, but when I use apt-get install Thenameofthedrive , it says ‘package not found’ and the same error occurs when I try installing different applications that had worked for me previously. I found that adding some repositories might help but using apt-add-repositorie/s , it says ‘command not found’. Paul Fawbert The wireless network adaptor in the MacBook Pro is not supported by Linux
“When you lose internet access, the first thing you should do is verify it’s not a configuration issue using step-by-step guides and troubleshooters.”
without additional firmware. This is not included with the Linux distribution for licensing reasons but can easily be added with the command:
$ sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer
You do not state which year of Apple MacBook this is, but that package should work for most Broadcom BCM controllers, as used by the MacBook and many others. If after rebooting, the wireless connection is still not available, you may need to use the broadcom-sta package instead. To switch to that, run:
$ sudo apt-get remove firmware-b43-installer
$ sudo apt-get install broadcom-sta
Having both installed can potentially cause conflicts, so it’s best to try one at a time. It is a bit ‘chicken and egg’ when you need a network connection to install a network driver, but you managed to neatly sidestep that with your use of a USB Ethernet adaptor. The apt-get utility needs the precise name of the package to install, although it can offer some guesses if the name is almost right. If you are unsure, use the search option first:
$ sudo apt-cache search search_term The command to add a repository is: add-apt-repository Not “repositorie” but it isn’t installed by default on Ubuntu-derived distros. You can install it with:
$ sudo apt-get install python-software-properties
It is also possible to add repositories by editing /etc/apt/sources.list;
add-apt-repository is a convenience function, usually used for adding PPAs to sources.list. Kali advise against adding extra repositories, warning that it could break the distro, it has a list of recommended repos at docs.kali.org/general-use/kali-linuxsources-list-repositories. Distros go to a lot of trouble to make sure that all the software they provide plays nicely together, adding random PPAs breaks this cycle of QA testing, introducing untested software into the mix. This is particularly risky on a distro like Kali, where security is of utmost importance. Don’t let your first stumbles put you off, it is great to see someone thinking of original solutions. APC Team
WINDOWS CHANGE TIME FORMAT ON WELCOME SCREEN
Why does my Lock screen show a 12-hour clock when I start Windows, but a 24-hour clock when resuming from sleep or a locked computer? How can I make both settings match each other? Steve Cox This problem occurs because the Lock screen at startup takes its settings from the system account, not your personal account. Read on to discover how to bring both settings into sync.
Locate settings to correct: Click ‘Start > Settings’ and navigate to ‘Time & language > Region & language’. Once there, click ‘Additional date, time & regional settings’ to open the Control Panel. Then click ‘Change date, time or number formats’ under Region.
Change Lock screen settings: From the Formats tab, set the ‘Short time’ format to your chosen setting, which affects the time format shown on the Lock screen: the ‘H’ and ‘HH’ options set a 24-hour clock, ‘h’ and ‘hh’ set a 12-hour clock. Click Apply when you’re happy with your choices.
Verify settings: Press ‘ Win-L’ on your computer keyboard to verify the Lock screen now shows the time as you want it to appear. As things stand, this will only affect it when you sleep or lock your PC — the Lock screen at startup is linked to the main system account.
Set start-up lock screen: Once you’re happy with your settings, switch to the Administrative tab and click ‘Copy settings...’ A new pop-up window will appear. Tick ‘Welcome screen and system accounts’ and click OK to complete the switch. Reboot to test. Ian Sleightholm
HARDWARE UPDATE KILLED MY NET CONNECTION
On Saturday last, my Acer Z3-600 was automatically updated and now I can’t access the internet. Acer originally told me that the drivers needed updating, but the link it provided didn’t work. Now I’m told my machine isn’t eligible for the Creators Update so I must reinstall Windows 10 or hope Microsoft issues another update. This is a disgrace! Paul Latham We feel your pain, Paul. That said, I think Acer rather than Microsoft is culpable here — four years is no time to drop extended support for a product. However, just because Acer doesn’t officially support your all-in-one PC doesn’t mean it’s not going to continue working. When you lose internet access, the first thing you should do is verify it’s not a configuration issue using the step-by-step guides and troubleshooters highlighted at the Microsoft Help article here: support.microsoft.com/ help/10741. If you suspect a driver problem, then the latest driver for your PC’s RTL8168 wireless chip can be downloaded from www.realtek.com — click the Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller Series Drivers link. If it’s already installed, rolling back the driver to the previous version as outlined in the Microsoft Help article may provide the cure. If neither option works, you may have to bite the bullet and reinstall Windows 10 from scratch, or even roll back to Windows 8.1. Alex Cox