CREATE A PORTABLE USB RECOVERY KIT
Solve that crisis fast!
YOU’LL NEED THIS
USB STICK We recommend using a USB
stick about 1GB in size. VIRUSES, MALWARE, ACCIDENTAL DELETION, or corrupted data can all put your valuable files at risk. The best insurance is to make regular backups, but what if you run into trouble in between backups, or you let your routine slide, or a friend has a crisis with their PC? That’s where an emergency USB toolkit of portable apps comes in, giving you everything you need to fix the damage, and save the day.
When you install a program, not only are the files it needs to run saved on your hard drive, but it also makes its own changes to the rest of your system, such as adding entries to the Registry. Portable apps don’t do this, so you can save them to a USB stick, and use them on any PC by doubleclicking the program’s EXE file. Here’s our selection of the best ones for emergencies. 1 GET YOUR USB STICK READY First, you need a USB memory stick—1GB is fine. Plug it into your computer, open Windows Explorer, then right-click your USB stick in the menu on the left. Select “Rename,” and call it “Emergency.” If you’ve used the memory stick before, you can wipe it by right-clicking it, and selecting “Format > Restore device defaults > OK” [ Image A]. Make sure there isn’t anything you want to keep on the stick first. 2 PREPARE FOR ACCIDENTS Now we need to start building our toolkit. A common disaster is accidentally deleting a file—whether it’s from your hard drive, an SD card, or other storage. Piriform Recuva [ Image B] can help you get it back, but installing this after you’ve lost files can result in them being overwritten, so it’s far better to have it ready to run from your USB stick. Download it from www.piriform.com/recuva— using “Manual download” is easiest.
3 RECOVER DELETED FILES Now click the downloaded ZIP file, and select “Extract > Extract all.” Click “Browse,” then select your USB stick. Right-click, and create a folder called “Recuva” (to make it easier to find in future). Open this folder, and click
“Select folder > Extract.” Now, if you ever need to restore a deleted file, just plug in your USB stick, double-click Recuva.exe, and follow the instructions [ Image C]. 4 DOWNLOAD A VIRUS-ZAPPER If you suspect your PC has been infected with a virus, McAfee Stinger can help stop it in its tracks. Download it from www. mcafee.com/uk/downloads/free-tools/stinger.aspx. This program doesn’t come in a ZIP archive, so once it’s downloaded to your PC, you can drag the EXE file straight to your USB stick using Windows Explorer. When you want to run it, just double-click the file, and click “Scan” [ Image D]. 5 GET READY FOR A DEEP CLEAN If your PC is running more slowly than it used to, or you’re getting error messages about corrupted files, CCleaner can save the day. Download it from www.piriform.com/ccleaner/builds (it’s the second link), then extract the downloaded file to your USB stick, just as you did for Recuva, saving it in a new folder called “CCleaner.” Whenever you need to run it, just double-click the CCleaner.exe file [ Image E]. 6 SWEEP AWAY JUNK AND FIX ERRORS To free up extra space and improve performance, click “Analyze,” and CCleaner searches your hard drive for any unnecessary files. Once it’s finished, look through the list, uncheck the boxes next to anything you want to keep, then click “Run Cleaner” [ To solve errors with the Windows Registry, select “Registry” from the menu on the left, then select “Scan for issues > Fix selected issues.” 7 GET SET TO BLAST MALWARE Emsisoft Emergency Kit, which is available from www.emsisoft.com/en/software/eek/, checks your computer for programs that aren’t strictly viruses but are still malicious. Double-click the downloaded file, and it runs an installer, which automates the process of extracting the files from a ZIP archive. Select your USB stick as the destination, make a folder called “Emsisoft,” and click “OK” [ Image G]. 8 READY FOR ANYTHING Double-click “Start Emergency Kit Scanner,” and let Emsisoft update itself. Now, whenever you think your PC has a malware infection (you notice unexpected changes to your web browser, for example), insert your USB stick, launch Emsisoft, click “Scan,” and follow the instructions to deal with the issue [ Image H]. Label the USB stick and keep it handy—you never know when you might need it. 9 ONE LAST POINT You might have extra room on your USB stick once you’ve finished installing your emergency apps, but don’t use it for regular file transfers—you don’t want to risk losing it!