As I have said before, backups are important. Exactly how important is up to you. How upset would you be if your computer broke, and you lost all of the information on it? Photos, letters, funny pictures, invoices, receipts, notes. All of it. If the answer is not “There is nothing there that I need” then you need backups.
My previous Article showed how to do Manual backups, but as people are forgetful, and put things off, I shall also explain how to set the Windows 10 Automated Backup.
You Will Need:
An external hard disk, with lots of spare capacity (how much will depend upon how much data you have, but 1 Terrabyte/1,000 Gigabyte is usually sufficient.)
An hour to read this Article and set up your Backup.
To Begin:
The Settings Icon
Connect your external drive. This is usually done via a USB cable. Most desktop computers have USB sockets on the front. Laptops have them positioned at the sides, or sometimes the back. It may take a moment or two for the PC to recognise the drive. It may chime to tell you that it has been detected.
If you open File Explorer, and use the Left-hand Navigation Pane to go to “This PC”, the drive should be displayed in the main screen. Now that we have confirmed that the Drive exists, we can close File Explorer.
Update and Security
Now, we go to the Windows 10 Settings screen. Click your START Button to see the Menu, and click on the “Settings” icon. This will open a new Window, with many Settings available. Take a glance, to see what sort of things you are able to alter, and find the Icon labelled “Update and Security (Windows Update, recovery, backup)”. This is where we find the backup Settings!
Three Little Symbols
I like to make sure the Settings Window fills the entire screen. To do this, as we learnt previously, you can click the “Maximise” square int he top right of your Window.
Setting up the Backup
On the left of the Update and Security window is a list of different areas we can change. Today, we want “Backup”. Click on it.
You should now have the Backup Settings screen. AS you have not used this External Hard Drive before, you will have to “Add a Drive”.
Adding a Drive
Clicking the Add a drive Icon will produce a list of available disk drives. You should be able to identify your External Hard disk on this list, and click on it.
You should notice the “Add a drive” button has now changed! In its place is an “Automatically back up my files” switch. You can switch this On or Off by clicking on it. We want it On!
The backup is now set!
We could leave it there, but you may wish to check the “More Options” area, to see what is happening.
More Options
Backup Options
This area allows you to fine-tune your backup settings. It is perfectly OK to leave it alone, as Windows 10 has pretty good default settings. But let’s take a look anyway!
Overview – This gives us some details of the Drive we are using.
Back up my files – sets how often to do backups.
Keep my backups – you can set for older backups to be deleted. I do not recommend this! Keep them forever!
Back up these folders – There should be a losy of which folders Windwos has decided to back up. Look through this list, to make sure that the folders you need are there! This would usually include: Documents, Pictures and Desktop. If you also store Music or Videos, check that these folders are listed. There will be other folders listed, and it is best to keep these.
Back Up Now!
Now we are happy that the back up settings are correct, scroll to the top of the Window and click the Back up now Button!
How long this will take depends upon how much data you have. I would suggest leaving your PC for at least an hour to ensure that the files are successfully copied to your backup drive.
You can continue to use your PC while it is doing backups.
The picture that forms that background of your Desktop is called “Wallpaper” (or “Background”). Not to be confused with the pictures or patterns that appear when the computer has been left idle for a while, which is the “Screen Saver” (So called because, on older monitors, it helped to prevent “screen burn”, where parts of the monitor would become damaged from displaying the same thing for prolonged periods).
Wallpaper from a Toshiba PC
By default, your PC is probably set with the Windows 10 Standard Wallpaper, as seen above, or maybe it has been set to the Brand of your PC.
Pleasant as these pictures are, it can be nice to personalise your computer, using your own pictures. Maybe you have taken photos of some memorable holidays, or have been sent photos of your family. A son’s wedding, or daughter’s graduation. A new baby, or a gathering of the whole family. You can choose what you get to see!
Personalising
Three Little Symbols
First, I would suggest “Restoring” your browser window, so that you can see part of your desktop while reading this Article (the “Squares” button, top right). Now, right-click on a clear area of the Desktop, and you should get a Menu. The last entry will be “Personalize” (excuse USA spelling!). Click this, and you will be presented with the Background Settings window. (Again, “Restore” this, so we can see everything! If you wish, have a read about using Multiple Programs at once).
Background Settings Window
You can now choose your settings!
The top picture is a preview of your Desktop. Below this is the Menu to choose “Picture” (a single picture of your choice), “Solid Colour” (a plain background) or “Slide Show” (to make your Background change at regular intervals).
Below this are some suggested Pictures, and a Browse button. Also a “Fit” button.
Picture
If you wish to use a single picture as your Wallpaper, select Picture from the Background Menu, and then click Browse. This will open a Mini-Explorer for you to find and choose the picture you desire.
“More Options” View Button
Tip: Use the “More Options” View Button to alter the View of the Pictures so that you can see them more clearly! Keep clicking it to see different Views, or click the little down-arrow to get a choice!
Choose your Picture, and click the “Choose Picture” button! The background will change to the Wallpaper that you have chosen!
Wallpaper Shortcut!
Tip: A different way to do this is to open File Explorer, find your chosen Picture and right-click on it. The Menu that appears will have “Set as desktop background” as an option!
Solid Colour
If you wish your Background to be a solid colour, chose this option, and you will be given a selection of colours to choose from. Or if none of these suit your taste, you can click the closest, and then choose “Custom Colour”, to adjust it.
Slide Show
If you select this option, you can choose a folder that contains pictures, and your Wallpaper will change between those pictures.
The default time for each picture is 30 minutes, but you can set this as low as 1 minute, or as high as 1 day.
You can also choose to “shuffle” the pictures, displaying a random one each time, or leave them in the order they are in the Folder.
You can choose your Pictures Folder, or any other Folder for this.
Some people like to make their own “Wallpapers” folder, and copy specific pictures into it, and I would recommend doing this, as it avoids Windows trying to display pictures that are not meant as Wallpapers, such as very small pictures, or pictures that are not the right shape.
Choose a Fit
At the bottom of these options, is this Menu, offering such settings as “Fill”, “Stretch”, “Tile”, etc.
These are how Windows deals with Pictures that are not the exact same size as the Screen. Why not try a few, to see how they work.
To Finish:
Why not let me know what you use as your Desktop Wallpaper!
In our first Article, we discussed the Desktop, and getting online.
Now we shall move on to Emails. I looked at what email is earlier, and now we look at the practicalities of using it!
Who @ Where Dot Com?
Firstly, you need to a choose an Email Provider. many people choose to use the email service included with their Internet Access (such as by BT, Sky, Virgin, etc), but I would advise against that as a main Email address, as if you choose to switch Internet Provider, you will have to change your email address, and inform all of your contacts (friends, work colleagues, banks, Utility Companies etc) of your new address. Have a look at which Third-Party Email Suppliers are available.
Note: You may have as many email addresses as you like!
Each of these has their own Sign-Up procedure, but they are very similar. Click the “Sign Up” button, fill in the forms, and choose your email name.
Here is where we run into the first hurdle!
A lot of people would like their own name as their email address, e.g. johnsmith@gmail.com. Now, there are a lot of John Smiths in the world, and each email must be unique! This means you may have to take johnsmith2@gmail.com, or johnsmith1980@gmail.com. But! These are probably gone, too!
The provider will suggest some available addresses, based upon the details you have given them, or you can keep trying to guess an un-taken one. Maybe use a nickname, or a reference to your hobby.
Example email addresses:
ChunkyLover53@aol.com (Homer Simpson – The Simpsons)
poshboy111@hotmail.co.uk (Benedict Cumberbatch)
Email addresses are not Case Sensitive. “JohnSmith@gmail.com” is the same as “johnsmith@Gmail.com”, and the same as “JohNsMIth@gMAil.coM”.
You can use a dot in your address, to try to distinguish it.
“johnsmith@gmail.com” and “john.smith@gmail.com” are different addresses.
Now that you have an address, you can move on to the next stage!
Webmail or Client?
What?
There are two main ways to do email on a PC.
Webmail, where you open your
Edge, Chrome and Firefox
web browser (e.g. Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox), and visit the Supplier’s webpage.
Email Client Program – a separate program on your PC dedicated to
Email Client Programs
email. Popular examples are “Windows 10 Mail App”, Mozilla Thunderbird, and the outdated Outlook Express and Windows Live Mail. If you choose this option, you will also need to decide whether to use POP3 or IMAP. We don’t need to know the ins-and-outs of what these mean: I strongly recommend IMAP, as you are synchronising with the Mail Server directly, and do not have to worry about losing the mail stored on your PC.
Whichever you choose, they tend to look quite similar. A list of folders (Inbox, Trash, Sent Items, etc) on the left, and a list of emails to the right. Sometimes there will be a Preview Pane to the right, or underneath the list of emails. Across the top will be your Tools.
Sending
To write a new email, you will need to find the button marked “New Email“, or “Compose” or “Write” (or some variant of this). This will present you with a box to write your new email in.
Writing a New Email
You will notice that there are several sections to this. You can move between the sections by Clicking them, or by pressing the TAB key on the left of your keyboard.
“To” – This is where you type the email address of the person(s) you wish to send an email to. You may add several addresses here, separated by commas.
“Subject” – Not only is it good ‘Netiquette’ to include a Subject line, some email providers will filter emails without a Subject, thinking they are Spam, or Junk Mail. A word or two is sufficient.
The Message Area – Here is where you write your email. While there is an upper limit for how much you can write, it is far larger than most people will want to write. (But if you attach other Files, you may quickly hit this limit – more on attachments later).
Once you have typed who to Send to, entered a Subject, and written the text of the email (including an opening line such as “Dear Sir”, or “Hi Mum”, and a close; “Yours Sincerely, PC Wizard”, “Cheers! Phil”), you are ready to press “Send”. Some programs/pages have this at the top of the email, others at the bottom.
Once you have Sent the email, it will wing its way across the Internet to the recipient’s Mail Sever, and wait there for them to collect it.
Receiving
Mostly, you do not have to do anything to Receive email. It is delivered to your Mail Server. If you are using Web Mail (viewing the email Web Page in your Browser), you will see any new emails as soon as you log in. If you use a Client (Windows Live Mail, Thunderbird, etc), they will check for new mail when you open them ,and automatically check again on a schedule (usually about every 10-15 minutes). There is usually a button to “Send/Receive”, which will make sure any of your emails have been sent, and check the Server for new arrivals, but this is not normally needed.
Advanced (Attachments)
Email can only cope with Text. Some clients/pages allow you to use Formatted text (i.e. using Bold, Italics and Colours).
If you wish to send anything else (e.g. Photographs, Word Documents, Spreadsheets, etc), you must use a Feature called “Attachments”. This is often represented by a Paperclip, and adds the File to the Email as an “extra”.
To use this, click the Paperclip icon (or “Attachment” button), and you will be presented with a mini-File-Explorer, to find your File. Navigate to the Folder that it is on, select it and click “Attach” (sometimes “Open”). You should now see a line in the email informing you of the attachment.
An email, with an attachment
There is a limit to how much you can attach to each email, but this changes by Provider. A good rule of thumb is to only include 3-4 Attached Files. If you wish to send more than this, you can either send multiple emails, or use a Cloud-Sharing Service such as Dropbox, Google Drive or One Drive.
Practice, Practice, Practice!
If all this seems a little daunting, the best way to become more confident is to practice sending emails. It will soon become familiar!
Feel free to send me some emails, with or without attachments!
It is a picture of your computer screen. An exact replica of what you can see on your monitor right now. As if you had pointed a camera at your screen.
Why take a screenshot
There are many reasons to take a screenshot. One that you may come across is if you are trying to explain an error message, or other oddity, on your PC. Rather than muddling your way through unfamiliar language (“I’ve got this sort of box, that says something about cookies”, “It’s a yellow thing with a blue bit on it. Near the top!”), you can take a screenshot, and send that to the person helping you! They will be able to see exactly what is going on!
Other reasons include giving a designer examples of things you find on the web (e.g. if you are wanting your own webpage, or find some jewellery you like, or a house you would like to buy).
Maybe you play games, and want to record your High Score!
How Do I Take a Screenshot?
First, have your screen ready, with whatever you want to “shoot” visible. Remember that the Screenshot will be exactly what you can see on screen!
Now, look on your keyboard. To the right, above the Arrow Keys, will be a set of keys. One of these will say “Print Screen”, or it may be abbreviated to “Prt Scr”. (The key may also have “SysReq” on it. Ignore this. It is a Programmer’s tool that you will not need.)
Print Screen Key
All keyboards are a little different, so don’t worry if your key is a in a slightly different place, or marked slightly differently.
Press this key once.
You will not notice anything happen, but the computer will have taken a snapshot of your screen. A Screenshot!
Advanced
More than one Window open
If you have multiple windows open, and are only interested in the contents of one of them, you can either Maximise that window to fill the screen, or you can hold the ALT key (bottom left of keyboard) while you tap PrtScr (“ALT-PrtScr”). This will only put the contents of the Window that has Focus into the clipboard.
Now What?
“Paint” on the Search menu
The computer has taken a Screenshot, but it is stored in its short-term memory (“Clipboard”).
You will want to move it into a more permanent form.
The usual way of doing this is to open a Picture Editor, and Paste the Screenshot into it.
Windows 10 includes the “Paint” program (or App) for just such occasions!
Click on your “Search Bar”, or hold the Windows Key and press “S”. Type “Paint” without the quotation marks!). A Menu should appear, with Paint at the top. Click there. The Paint program (or App) will open!
Paste!
In the top left, you should see the Paste button. This will take whatever is on the Clipboard, and place it in the Picture.
You should now see a copy of your screen replicated inside Paint! It may be a good idea to Zoom out (from the View Ribbon) a couple of times to see it better.
You can now Save the Image, or if you are feeling confident, you can edit it first.
Saving the Image
Save Options
Above the Paste Button is the File Menu. Click this, and choose “Save”. You will be presented with some options.
Navigate to the place you wish to save the picture (Click on “Pictures”, on the left). Then click where it says “Untitled”, delete this title, and type your own title (e.g. “Screenshot1”).
It is worth checking what File Type you are saving as. There are many types of Image file!
For most purposes, you will want to use .jpg (pronounced “Jay-Peg”), as this preserves detail, while keeping the File size lower. Click “Save as Type …” and choose .jpg from the list.
Then Click SAVE!
You now have a Screenshot saved into your Pictures Folder!
This is the exact procedure I have used to make the Pictures in this Blog. I have done some minor editing, so that only the relevant parts are shown, but apart from that, exactly the same!
What to do with the Screenshot
Obviously, this depends on why you have taken the screenshot!
A picture of your High Score on a game can just be kept for posterity, and shown off when your friends visit!
An error message can be attached to an email, or posted in a Facebook Message.
Designs can be sent to Designers.
The main thing is that you now have the screenshot!
Why not send me some of your screenshots!
Or let me know what problems you had when trying to!
