5. Ghost
the
Machine
After
something
catastrophic
happens,
some
techies
would
just as
soon
reinstall
from the
original
CDs to
get a
fresh
start,
but that
means
going
through
all
those
updates
again.
Instead,
back up
your
pristine
system
completely
right
now with
the
full,
updated
OS, so
you can
restore
everything
quickly
after a
disaster.
Make a
complete
drive
image
(aka a
ghost)
of the
C:
drive.
You can
make
images
with
Norton
Ghost
14,
Acronis
True
Image
11, or a
freebie
like
DriveImage
XML (www.runtime.org).
If
you've
got
Vista
Business
or
Ultimate,
use the
built-in
tool
called
Complete
PC
Backup
to do
the job.
Store
the
image on
an
external
drive,
if
you've
got one,
and burn
it to a
DVD.
