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Editor's note:Greg covered this topic while Windows 8 was in beta. There have been some feature changes implemented for the current retail version.
Do you have an external hard disk connected to your Windows 8 computer? If you do, you'll want to enable Windows 8's File History tool to protect your data. File History is essentially an update to the Previous Versions feature that was included in Windows 7, which was based on a Windows Server 2003 feature called Volume Shadow Copy. Like Previous Versions, File History continuously monitors files stored in Libraries, Desktop, Contacts, and Favorites folders and when it detects changes in any file, it then makes a backup of that file. Unlike, Previous Versions, File History isn't enabled by default. Fortunately, doing so is a pretty straightforward operation and once enabled, File History's improved user interface makes it much easier to configure and use than its predecessor.
In this edition of the Windows Desktop Report, I'll show you how enable File History and then show you how it works.
Editor's note: Greg covered this topic while Windows 8 was in beta. There have been some feature changes implemented for the current retail version.
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Getting Started
Launching File History in Windows 8 is easy. Just press the [Windows] + W to access the Search Settings page, type File History in the text box, and click File History, as illustrated in Figure A.
Credit: Images by Greg Shultz for TechRepublic
