3 Things You Really Know You Should Do for Your Computer…But Don’t
Issue No. 15
Backup Your Computer
One of the worst things that can happen to your computer is that it crashes, and you can’t access your data. Or you get a virus on your computer and it damages your information. Or someone hacks into your computer and destroys your data. The next worst thing that happens is that your data can’t be recovered. But absolutely the worst thing is to have to answer “No” to the question, “Is your computer backed up?” There is no good justification to not backing up your computer.
Set an alarm.
“I mean to, I just forget,” you say. With alarms that you can set via your email, your cell phone, your electronic organizer, etc., you have no excuse not to set one or more alarms that will automatically remind you to backup your PC.
Make time now to save time later.
“I don’t have time,” you declare. After you lose data once and spend a significant amount of time either recovering, or worse yet, recreating your data, you will realize that the small amount of time it takes to backup your computer is worth it in the long run.
Back up everything.
“I don’t know which files to back up,” you claim. Most computers are set up so that all your data is separated from your programs. Just back up all your data; don’t spend time trying to decide what to backup and what not to backup. “I don’t have enough media to back up all my data, and if I did, it would be too expensive,” you maintain. You can get pre-formatted, 700 megabyte, read/write CDs for less than a dollar a piece, which is nothing compared to the value of your data, the value of the time that might be spent recovering or recreating your data, or the cost of lost business.
Happy birthday to the Internet!
The Internet turned 35 in 2004. According to The Internet at 35: Still Evolving published in the Technology section of CNN.com, the Internet was born on September 2, 1969 when some computer scientists at UCLA hooked up two computers to explore a new way of exchanging data over a network. This was the beginning of the Internet. Think about how this one “birth” has changed your business and your life. In this issue of Info Point, all the topics we discuss are Internet related. While a computer crash can be the result of a non-Internet related cause, viruses, hackers, and downloads, exist thanks to the Internet.
Do it regularly.
You should back up your computer at least weekly. Or, if you have constantly changing data on your computer, for example, if you use your computer to run a business, you should back up your computer daily. Just like there is no good excuse not to get an annual physical, there is no good reason for not backing up your computer.
Keep your computer and your programs up to date.
Every time a new virus or hacker exposes a flaw in a Microsoft product, whether it be a program or the Windows operating system, Microsoft quickly develops a patch to thwart any new threats. This is true of other computer vendors also. You need to make sure you download these patches to ensure your computer is up to date and as safe as possible from the latest computer threats.
Protect your system from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other threats.
Just like with backing up your computer, the excuses of “I meant to but forgot” or “I just didn’t have time” don’t elicit much sympathy when you are trying to recover from a virus, a worm, a Trojan horse, and other threats. Many of the threats are so potent and destructive, that they circle the globe in 24 hours, the time that it takes for businesses all around the world to open, start business, and help spread the threat. By the time you read about the problem on your favorite online news site, there is probably a fix via a patch for it. In the case of viruses, worms, and Trojan horses, if your operating system vendor site doesn’t have a patch yet, your anti-virus vendor should have one that you can download for protection (see Issue No. 11 of Info Point for more information about anti-virus software). Often, the patch for a problem has been out for a period of time before the problem was exploited, and if you keep your computer patched, you can avoid panicking every time you read about a new computer threat.
Download patches regularly.
As with backups, you can set alarms to remind you to download patches. Most computers have a program that you can set up to automatically either download the patches or remind you to download the patches. There is no good reason not to keep your computer patched.
Make rescue disks.
A rescue disk is a disk that can be used as a boot disk. When you get a virus on your computer, sometimes the only way to get rid of it is to boot up your computer from an uninfected disk, that is, a rescue disk, that you made before your computer got the virus. Once you’ve booted from the virus-free rescue disk, you can remove the virus from your computer. You can use your anti-virus software to create a rescue disk. Similarly, if your computer crashes and won’t start up, you can use the rescue disk to start up your computer and then fix the problem that caused the crash.
Don’t wait.
The time to make your rescue disk is NOW. If you wait until your computer is infected by a virus, or until it crashes, it is too late. Just like you don’t want to have to answer “No” to the question “Is your computer backed-up?,” you don’t want to have to answer “No” to the question “Do you have a rescue disk?”
By backing up your computer, keeping your computer patched, and making rescue disks, you can help secure the safety of your computer, your data, and most importantly, your business.