As a writer, your computer is your most important tool. To protect it and your work, you need to have virus protection software enabled and recent backups.

I require all the computers I support to have virus protection software installed. By support, I mean that if the computer gets a virus, it’s my job to fix it. I also require that the program be allowed to update whenever it wants.

As I write this, my father-in-law’s computer is winging its way to me. Apparently he visited some crossword puzzle sites. His software warned him about a dangerous site. It also advised him to close the browser immediately.

Of course, he didn’t. Now, the computer is mine to fix.

From what he told me with the help of his neighbor (it’s difficult to get useful information from a 92 year old man who only knows that he can’t read his email), I think the computer has a malware program that takes over when the computer is started.

It connects to the Internet. (It even re-enabled the wireless connection that I had shut off.) But, it’s just as happy to connect using dial-up. Then it refuses to let anyone do anything with the computer. I’m sure it’s off doing something nefarious.

A friend of mine had a similar problem where the computer was accessing some porn site that paid for clicks. The whole incident embarrassed him so, he didn’t want to show me the problem for awhile.

There are a few simple things you can do to keep your computer and your files safe.

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Restoring a computer is a process of two steps forward and one step back.

I restored the HP today. I always say that I’m going to document the process and then either don’t or have the file saved on the computer that dies. Of course, I can retrieve the document from the onlive service, but I seem to drive right in. However, something different happens every time. › Continue reading…

I get to do another restore of the Acronis image again. This is at least the fifth time this year that the software has saved my data. I’d better make a new image of the Toshiba. If I have one, maybe I won’t need it.

The HP came back from the shop today. HP returned it a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been enjoying the cooler weather at the coast and didn’t want to come back. It’s 90 here now and suppose to get to 95 tomorrow. I’ll restore the image tomorrow.

Next I’ll need to shuffle files between the two computers. Online backup makes that easier, especially when one of the computers is in the shop. It really came in handy this time, since the HP died right after I prepared the income tax on it. I was able to retrieve files that I thought I might have lost. The HP died while I was traveling and didn’t always have a reliable internet connection. I wasn’t sure when the last backup completed before the computer died.

It use to be the most common problem was the failure of the hard drive. Put in another hard drive, restore the image, and you’re back in business. However, the last failure on both machines was the main board. Not as easily fixed.

Not only do you need a way to recover all your data, but you also need a way to keep working without a computer (or at least your main computer). I hope you don’t have to be without your computer as long as I have this year.

Use backup software, make copies on thumb drives, external drives or CDs, use Google, but back up your work!

Write On,
Lynn Jordan