Preventing System Failures Now it is time to discuss the measures that will help you prevent system failures. Naturally, all emergency planning should be done beforehand. | Preventing System Failures Now it is time to discuss the measures that will help you prevent system failures. Naturally all emergency planning should be done beforehand. Performing maintenance procedures on a regular basis allows you to prevent possible problems or at least minimize their negative effect. The general procedures are listed below Most of the time system malfunctions or even boot failures are caused by overwritten system files or by incompatible drivers. This usually happens when you install incompatible third-party software. This problem exists not only in Windows 2000 Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 but in all earlier versions of the Windows NT operating system as well. Windows 2000 Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 implement additional tools though which protect system files and drivers with a digital signature. The digital signature guarantees that the system file or driver is Windows-compatible. If you want to avoid any possible problems it is recommended that you use these tools. This topic will be covered in greater detail later in the chapter. Back up the System State data and prepare for the Automated System Recovery process ASR on a regular basis. Don t forget to perform these operations before introducing significant modifications in the system configuration including new hardware and software installations . A usable and up-to-date backup copy of all your important data will also be helpful. In Windows XP systems don t disable System Restore. Although some users may think that this tool consumes too much free disk space it can still be very useful if you need to restore a damaged system. Detailed instructions on performing these operations were provided in Chapter 2. View system event logs on a daily basis or at the very least view the system and application logs . Pay close attention to the messages generated by the FtDisk driver and hard-disk drivers because they may report possible file-system errors. If you don t follow this rule .
