I got hit by "ransomware" last week. Encrypted all the MS Office and adobe files on my computer. I also lost about half of my pics. Encrypted file are a total loss. I thought I had a secure backup, however they were encrypted as well. All I have for my company docs is a current quickbooks backup file. I lost all quotes, forms, etc. Just a reminder to make sure your systems are secure and backups are up to date.

I use a MS system. What is the best way to back up files? I use an extra drive to backup files but you said that was lost also.

That's scary. What were you using for a backup drive? I have been using network attached storage via a cisco router, and my estimates and pics I backed up in the cloud. My invoice program runs on another pc that is not connected to the network or to the internet. On my main PC I have a "Windows Only" drive which hopefully can be easily swapped out in case of an attack, and my files and programs are on the D drive (Raid). Also running ESET.

Windows system restore works great for me
Had a "ransomware" last week recovered just fine

just chk cntrl pnl and go to device and choose a backup option. your all data with be backup from a time.

Good advice many forget, even myself... although it can be a challenge to do so.

I've had some issues in the past, but none severe. In recent years I've been using the Acronis True Image program that backs up my PCs to a Western Digital My Cloud. It does Full and Partial Backups on schedule, although I haven't figured how to set delete old Backups on Schedule, so I have to check periodically to make sure the Backup Drive doesn't fill up.

Also copy that backup to a drive that is offline. Having the back up on the machine you are backing up is not a lot of protection. I have several disk images of different ages on a couple of offline drives. (USB connected)
If you get crypto locked all of the drives your system can "see" will be locked too.
You can also have a hardware or software problem that corrupts drives.

Didn't think of that... Good Advice!

Yes, Greg's advice is excellent. I have "the cloud" on the Apples, and my laptop PC is backed up on a USB connected (when backing up) portable type hard drive.

Work computers are managed by the IT guys, so I have no clue what they do.

I did have a connected USB Drive that wasn't being used so I took his advice tonight and backed the important stuff on it, then disconnected.

I have a stack of backup drives on the shelf with lots of copies of my legacy stuff (data, pictures music video etc) that is static and I keep that on different drives than my system drive (C:). Even on my laptops with only one physical drive I have 2 partitions, one for the system(C:) and D: for my data. You can use a simply "copy" for data but you pretty much need a drive image to rebuild the partition with the installed software, registry etc so I keep that as small as possible to reduce that image size. Also make sure your products use a library or documents folder on your D:.

I actually have six partitions on this machine spread out over 4 physical drives (one SSD for the system partition and a work space partition, 2 are mirrored for backup and a data drive with 3 partitions)

There is a great program called (Latshaw) file synchronizer that keeps your data partition backups current. It just compares your backup drive to your active drive and the program synchronizes them only updating the things that changed.

Greg,

You're well past my level of Computer Literacy,