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Windows 7: Windows System Restore has long been a great way to recover your system after a bad software install or a critical driver goes missing, but you may not know you can also use it to recover individual files.

Most of us remember Windows System Restore as a lame-duck feature from Windows XP; when it seemed we might benefit from using it, it never quite worked how we expected. That's no longer the case.

On Linux and Mac systems, the top terminal command gives you a great bird's eye view of what your system is doing. A few helpful keyboard shortcuts make top an even more useful system command tool.

Time and time again, people tell me that they've bought an external hard drive to back up their pictures, music, and documents. Great, right? Sadly, that's not always the case. There's one simple rule about backups that everybody needs to fully understand: Your files should exist in at least Two places, or it's no longer a backup—and your data is at risk. Too often people delete the files from their primary PC, assuming they are backed up.

Windows 7 is a big improvement over Vista, and a pretty convenient OS in general—but it's by no means perfect. These 10 downloads improve Windows 7's looks, functions, and make it easier, safer, and more convenient to upgrade to.

Mac OS X only: We've been fans of Time Machine ever since the system snapshot utility was introduced in Leopard, but if you'd love to take your Time Machine backups offsite,

When it comes to creating a perfect copy of a system disk for future restoration, Lifehacker readers love the open source and versatile Clonezilla.

Sure, Windows has a tool for restoring your system back to a previous state, but it isn't a comprehensive solution. This week we want to hear how you restore your computers back from the brink. Photo by kennymatic.

BackTrack was the winner of our recent Hive Five for best Live CD, so we decided to take it for a test drive and show off a few of the features for everybody else.

Windows only: Portable system-fixing bundle Computer Repair Utility Kit puts 57 recovery tools into a single package. That gives you easy access to important system utilities without the fuss of building your own toolkit.