8Accidental 9Flawed

deletion

Most of us have fallen victim to this at some point or another in our lives. We erase a file or folder only to suddenly break out in a cold sweat when we realise we need it back. Technically speaking, accidentally deleting files isn’t the problem – that just sends them to the Recycle Bin (unless they’re too large). It’s accidentally emptying the Recycle Bin that then permanently casts the files you deleted into oblivion.

How do I prevent it?

Accidents of this kind are inevitable, but the good news is that there are ways to recover files, even if you haven’t set up a backup. Your first port of call should be the Recycle Bin. If all you did was hit delete, your files should still be here, so right-click them and select Restore.

If you’ve emptied the Recycle Bin since the deletion, open File Explorer and navigate to the folder you deleted the file(s) from. Right-click the folder and select Properties, then click the Previous Versions tab. If a previous version of the folder is shown, click the most recent one, then click the down arrow next to Restore and select ‘Restore to’. Choose a different location to the original – such as your desktop – and click ‘Select folder’. This will ensure you don’t overwrite any other files in the same folder. Files you accidentally deleted should be contained inside the folder you restored. This feature works best if you’ve enabled Windows’ built-in backup tool (see page 56), but even if you haven’t, it may still be possible to restore files, thanks to automatic System Restore points.

If you accidentally delete a file from your cloud-storage service, you should be able to restore it, because most services automatically keep previous versions of

or faulty backupskups

What if you turn to your backed-up files in times of need only to find that they too have succumbedmbed to some kind of problem? Backupp copicopiespies can often be just as vulnerable as yourr original files.

Mechanical problems, data corruptionrruption and malware infections can all affect external drives in exactly the same way as internal ones. Ransomware, for example, often works by scanning for certain file types – jpeg, docx, xlsx and so on – and will lock you out of any it finds, whether they’re on your C Drive, a connected external drive or even in the cloud. Alternatively, malware might block access to files you’ve stored in the cloud.

How do I prevent it?

We’ve already explained how to guard against data corruption, hardware failure and ransomware attacks, so apply our earlier advice to any external drives you use for backing up, too. And by following our advice over the page, even your backups will be backed up, so you’ll never have to worry about losing access to your files again.

ANYTHING ELSE I SHOULD KNOW?

Using a VPN to get round territorial copyright issues is a legal grey area, but no individual has ever been prosecuted for doing this, and the practice among Netflix subscribers is widespread.