I go both the online & external drive route, with the external being the main one, and I’ll always keep the first three backups (the first of which is before the computer is booted if removeable), as well as the last three, and have over 6TB in backup space & counting.

It used to be, that I’d install an extra internal drive for this purpose, however when the various ‘crypto’ types of infections began to be known, changed to external for this purpose, and use a WinPE based backup that actually offers a bootable option & free (Macrium Reflect). Meaning the backup (full drive image) is running & Windows isn’t, which has it’s advantages. I also prevent Data loss by not using the ‘C’ drive for storage, rather another partition which is imaged 3x weekly, and also drop folders of importance onto various externals, as well as optical media, as soon as created.

While both Emsisoft Anti Malware & Internet Security are AAA+ security options, there are times, and much of this lays on the back of the user, how much risk one takes or how far can one push their luck in visiting bad sites, or opening every email that promises the world & has a different type of payload than we expect, sooner or later, even the best of security will break if pushed to the limit.

This is where the latest backups can come in handy. Sometimes to play it double safe, use the 2nd oldest, if not too old (less than a month & Data is stored elsewhere). May have to perform some updates & that of installed software, yet that’s better than a risk all approach, and most will be up & running again in 15-30 minutes, sometimes longer if the ‘C’ drive is loaded with software & excessive bloat. BTW, get rid of that bloat by uninstalling software not needed, and run Disk Cleanup using the ‘Clean up System Files’ option, or if running Windows 7, right click on Disk Cleanup & Run As Administrator. Don’t be surprised to find 3-5GB of useless garbage, and be sure to check Windows Update leftovers, and reboot after cleanup, it’ll appear that Windows Update is configuring again, all it’s doing is purging the update installers. After 2-3 years, this can be a massive file, more so if 5 or more years old & still on the original install.

Don’t forget to run EAM or EIS afterwards.;-)

Cat

Thanks, Dave. Hope I can manage it. Hope it’s user friendly

In a word, yes. Backups are another important part of keeping your data safe.