Disaster Prevention

General Guidelines

If the sudden loss of all data in your computer would cause you any concern, then here's how to prevent that event:

1. Use surge suppressors in the power line between your hardware and the wall outlet.

2. Unplug your hardware during thunder storms; be sure to remember to disconnect the phone line going to your modem also. If a big storm is predicted, unplug your hardware before leaving the office.

3. Regularly run scandisk. (Every week or so, from the Start button, click Run, and type "scandisk." Choose the "thorough" option.) This applies to machines that are running the Windows operating system.

4. About once a month or so run "defrag" from that Run command line. On machines that run Windows, a loaded virus checker or other programs that run "in the background" may interfere with defrag, so it is best to run the defrag program in Safe Mode. To get into Safe Mode, when your machine is booting up, before it gets to the Windows logo, press F8. Run Defrag before you go to lunch, or as you leave for the day. It takes awhile.

5. Back up your data, regularly. If your business data in your computer is critical, do a backup daily. You can choose to only backup data files which you have changed during the day; you don't have to do a full backup of your entire hard drive.

6. Regularly use an anti-virus program. Below are links to sites where you can check your disk for viruses now, for free. House Call will check your disks immediately; InoculateIT is a program you load onto your computer and it will check your machine every day. Of course it's not enough to just have installed a virus checker once; you have to regularly download the updates so the virus checker looks for the newest viruses. I download the InoculateIT update every couple of days; it only takes a few seconds to do so.

7. Windows users, you should always have an emergency boot disk handy just in case the worst happens. To create one, open the Control Panel and choose Add/Remove Programs. Click on the Startup Disk tab and click the Create Disk button.

8. To be safe, manually back up the Registry before you make any changes. Go to Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information. Once you've opened the System Information application, click Tools in the menu and select Registry Checker. After a quick scan of your system, Registry Checker will offer to make a backup. Click Yes to replace the oldest backup file with a fresh one.

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