Technology
How to Back Up and Restore Your PC With a Windows System File
In case your Home windows atmosphere ever turns into unstable or corrupted, organising a system picture backup might repair the difficulty—if you happen to take the time to organize upfront.
This backup methodology creates a complete picture file of Home windows 10 or Home windows 11, which might then be safely saved elsewhere. When an issue happens, you’ll be able to then get Home windows again up and operating by restoring the whole picture.
It is vital to notice that this methodology differs from a number of different backup choices supplied by Microsoft. File Historical past preserves simply choose recordsdata and folders, whereas a Restoration Drive received’t save your private recordsdata. A Restore Level can save the whole lot however it may typically fail, leaving you with nothing.
The one disadvantage to a system picture backup is you can’t restore particular person recordsdata, solely the whole picture. So you’ll need to create the picture on a reasonably common foundation to be sure you have the newest model of your Home windows atmosphere preserved.
Earlier than you get began, you want to arrange an exterior supply on which to avoid wasting your picture file. You may create the picture on DVDs, however the best choice is to make use of an exterior drive, a community drive, or a network-attached storage (NAS) drive. Let’s get began.
Create a System Picture Backup
The quickest option to get to the system picture backup is thru Management Panel. Use the Home windows search operate from the Taskbar to kind Management Panel, then choose it from the outcomes. With Management Panel in icon view, choose Backup and Restore (Home windows 7). Sure, it nonetheless says Home windows 7, however this function works simply high-quality in Home windows 10 and 11.
Click on the Create a system picture hyperlink, then select the place you wish to save the backup—on an exterior drive, DVD, or community location. If you wish to use an exterior drive, be sure that it’s formatted utilizing NTFS with a purpose to retailer the picture. Click on Subsequent.
Affirm which areas or partitions of your onerous drive shall be included within the picture file, then click on the Begin Backup button. Home windows now creates the picture file and saves it to your chosen vacation spot.
Subsequent, you wish to create a system restore disc to make use of if Home windows is ever incapable of booting up by itself. You’ll need a disk drive, because the function nonetheless doesn’t help using a USB drive. In case your pc doesn’t have a disk drive, you’ll be able to at all times buy an exterior DVD drive, then join it over USB.
Insert a clean CD or DVD into your drive and click on the Create a system restore disc hyperlink. Affirm that your DVD drive seems, then click on the Create disc button.
System Picture Restoration
Okay, now for instance you are in a jam in the future as a result of Home windows is misbehaving. After exploring different troubleshooting strategies, you are feeling that restoring Home windows from the picture file could also be your solely choice. Be certain your backup media is inserted or plugged into the pc. For those who nonetheless can, boot up your PC.
Really helpful by Our Editors
In Home windows 10, go to Settings > Replace & Safety > Restoration and click on the Restart now button beneath Superior startup heading. For Home windows 11 customers, open Settings > System > Restoration and click on the Restart now button subsequent to Superior startup.
From the Select an choice window, go to Troubleshoot > Superior Choices > System Picture Restoration > See extra restoration choices, after which choose System Picture Restoration.
Home windows ought to mechanically detect and level to your system picture; click on Subsequent. If it does not, click on Choose a system picture and select the picture you wish to use. Comply with the steps to revive your PC with the system picture.
If Home windows will not boot in any respect, begin your PC with the system restore disc. You have to be taken to the Select an choice window, the place you’ll be able to observe the identical steps to revive Home windows to a earlier and (hopefully wholesome) state.
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Technology
BlizzCon 2024 has been canceled
Blizzard has announced it will not hold BlizzCon, the publisher’s annual fan convention, this year. “After careful consideration over the last year, we at Blizzard have made the decision not to hold BlizzCon in 2024,” Blizzard wrote on its website.
Instead of BlizzCon, Blizzard wrote that it would be holding other, smaller events throughout the year and mentioned participating in other trade shows, such as Gamescom. Additionally, 2024 marks the 30th anniversary of World of Warcraft, with Blizzard stating that it’s planning “multiple, global, in-person events” as well as sharing updates for WoW’s 10th expansion, The War Within, and Diablo IV’s first expansion, Vessel of Hatred.
Despite this year’s cancellation, Blizzard says the event will return in the future: “While we’re approaching this year differently and as we have explored different event formats in the past, rest assured that we are just as excited as ever to bring BlizzCon back in future years.”
The cancelation of BlizzCon 2024 comes as another notable video game event, E3, finally gave up the ghost last year and amidst a video game industry grappling with unprecedented layoffs and financial struggles. Earlier this year, Microsoft laid off 1,900 employees across Activision Blizzard and Xbox, one of the largest single video game industry layoff events of the last two years.
Technology
The AI camera stripping away privacy in the blink of an eye
It’s natural to be leery regarding the ways in which people may use artificial intelligence to cause problems for society in the near future. On a personal level, you may be concerned about a future where artificial intelligence takes your job or creates a Terminator that comes back in time to try to eliminate a younger you. (We admittedly might be overthinking that one.)
One fear regarding AI on a personal level that you should know about because it’s very much in the present is the creation of deepfake photos, including those that strip you of the most basic of privacy rights: the right to protect images of your body.
Two German artists recently created a camera called NUCA that uses AI to create deepfake photos of subjects by stripping away their clothing. The automated removal of the photo subject’s clothing occurs in close to real-time, speeding up the creepy factor exponentially.
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Why would someone create an AI camera that removes clothing?
The two German artists, Mathias Vef and Benedikt Groß, decided to create the camera to show the implications of AI’s rapid advancements. The pair were trying to think of the worst possible uses of AI to affect someone’s privacy, and they realized that the technology needed to create a camera like NUCA was already possible.
WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?
The two artists hope that people will consider the dangers of continuing to develop AI technologies like this, which could eliminate the expectation of privacy. They hope it will spark debates about the direction of AI.
MORE: HOW SCAMMERS HAVE SUNK TO A NEW LOW WITH AN AI OBITUARY SCAM TARGETING THE GRIEVING
How does a camera that digitally strips away clothing work?
The German artists used 3D design and print software to create the lenses and the shell for controlling the camera. It then uses a smartphone on the inside of the shell that handles the image capture. NUCA passes the photo to the cloud for the application of AI that removes the subject’s clothing.
Of course, NUCA is not actually creating a photo of your naked body. Instead, it analyzes your gender, face, age and other aspects of your body shape to develop a replication of what AI believes your naked body would look like.
MORE: ARE AI DEEPFAKES THE END OF ACTING AS WE KNOW IT
Doesn’t deepfake nude photo technology already exist?
Deepfake nude photos, usually of celebrities, have been around for a long time on pornography websites, but the photos from NUCA require almost no technical know-how.
Even more frightening, NUCA is able to perform the process within about 10 seconds. The immediacy of the creation of the deepfake nude photo is what sets NUCA apart from other fake nude photos that typically require quite a bit of editing skill and time.
MORE: AI WORM EXPOSES SECURITY FLAWS IN AI TOOLS LIKE CHATGPT
NUCA’s deepfake dilemma: Artistic innovation or ethical Invasion?
Bottom line: Anyone could use the technology that’s found with NUCA to create a deepfake nude photo of almost anyone else within several seconds. NUCA doesn’t ask for permission to remove your clothing in the photo.
It’s worth emphasizing again that the two artists have no plans to allow others to use NUCA for commercial gain. They will showcase its capabilities in late June at an art exhibition in Berlin all in an effort to spark public debate.
However, the next people who develop a similar technology may choose to use it in a far different way, such as to potentially blackmail people by threatening to release these fake nude photos that other people won’t necessarily know are fake.
Kurt’s key takeaways
If it feels like AI is expanding wildly in dozens of different directions all at once, you aren’t all that far off. Some of those directions will be helpful for society, but others are downright terrifying. As deepfakes continue to look more and more realistic, the line between a fake digital world and reality will become increasingly difficult to discern. Guarding our privacy will almost certainly be more and more difficult as AI strips away our safeguards … and, potentially, even our clothing.
Are you concerned about AI-created deepfake photos and videos affecting you personally? What safeguards should exist around the use of AI? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact
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Technology
The next big game from Clash of Clans developer Supercell launches in May
Supercell doesn’t release a lot of games, but the studio’s mobile releases tend to be big hits. Think Clash of Clans, Brawl Stars, and Clash Royale. Now, the developer is gearing up for its next major release: Squad Busters, which will be out globally on both Android and iOS on May 29th.
It’s a competitive multiplayer game, but one on a larger scale than a typical mobile release. In each match, 10 players compete to collect the most gems while building up a squad of computer-controlled characters. It’s sort of like a simplified MOBA: you move your team around fighting minions, earning cash that lets you improve and grow your squad before you eventually start fighting other players and going for the big gem pile in the middle of the map. It also has a bit of a Smash Bros. vibe, as the cast of characters are all pulled from popular Supercell games.
The studio is known for experimenting with different games and genres, and it’s also known for not moving forward with titles that it doesn’t think will become a Clash-level hit — which means the developer seems to have a lot of faith in Squad Busters, which is currently in soft launch in a number of territories, including Canada, Mexico, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Singapore.
“Our dream is to create great games that as many people as possible play for years and that are remembered forever,” Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen said in a statement. “Huge credit to the Squad Busters team — it’s already apparent that the game has such high potential, making it our first company game launch since Brawl Stars in 2018.”
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