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Tutorials: Backup and security

Backups, email and text message scams, protected accounts, photos to recover.

  1. How to back up a Windows PC

    The two options already built into Windows 11 and 10: Windows Backup, which saves folders and settings to OneDrive, and File History, which copies your files to an external drive and also keeps earlier versions.

  2. How to back up your Mac with Time Machine

    How to choose the disk, set up Time Machine, check that backups really run, and restore a single file or your whole Mac. With the requirements Apple lists and the most common problems.

  3. How to clear your browser history and cache

    The steps to clear history, cookies and cache in Chrome, Edge and Safari, on computers, iPhone and Android. With the most important warning: don't check saved passwords unless you want to lose them.

  4. How to protect a folder or file with a password

    Windows and macOS don't put a password on a single folder, but they have encryption tools: 7-Zip creates a password-protected archive, Disk Utility on Mac an encrypted disk image, BitLocker protects a whole drive. With the limits of each.

  5. How to recover deleted photos from an SD card

    Deleted photos or a formatted card can often still be saved, as long as you stop using the card right away. How to do it with PhotoRec, a free and open-source program for Windows, Mac and Linux, without making things worse.

  6. How to see your saved passwords on Google, iPhone and Mac

    The passwords your phone or browser offers to save end up in a "password manager": Google Password Manager on Android and in Chrome, the Passwords app on iPhone and Mac. Where to find them, how to show them and how to check if they've been stolen.

  7. How to spot a scam email or text message (phishing)

    The signs that give away a scam message, what to check before you click, what to do if you've already entered data or codes and where to report it, according to the Italian Postal Police, the Italian data protection authority, CSIRT Italia and the Bank of Italy.

  8. How to turn on two-step verification for your accounts

    With two-step verification, a password alone isn't enough to get into your account: you also need your phone or a code. Here's how to turn it on for Google, Apple and Microsoft, and how not to get locked out.

  9. The 3-2-1 backup rule, explained simply

    Three copies of your important files, on two different types of media, one of them away from home. What it means in practice, how to set it up with the tools in Windows and Mac, and the mistakes that make it useless.

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