February 13th, 2009
13 tips to help prevent Friday 13th PC disasters
Whether you’re superstitious or not, PC disasters can strike at any time (usually when you least expect them and are most in a rush). However, over the years I have found with that with proper planning and preparations many disasters can be avoided, and those that do strike minimized.
Problem is, many people leave the planning and preparations until it’s too late and they’re hit by that awful “Oh shucks!” moment. Not planning for future PC disasters is like kicking a baker’s dozen of black cats while walking across a bed of broken mirrors beneath a bunch of ladders.
Below I’ve compiled my top 13 tips to help prevent those PC disasters, both today and in the future. Don’t leave the security and well-being of your PC to chance!
Enjoy …
#13 - Backup. Backup! BACKUP!!!
I feel like I’ve been saying this particular mantra for almost 20 years now and still people don’t listen. It’s now easier than ever to make a backup of your important data and yet I get daily emails from people looking for help to recover important data from dead hard drives. If the data was that important, it should be backed up … multiple times!
CDs, DVDs, tapes, USB flash drives, hard drives, backups to cloud services … all these methods (plus more)Â are available and they are cheap and easy to use.
#12 - Have secure off-site backups
A backup stored on a second hard drive installed on your PC (or worse still, a second partition on the same hard drive … gahhhhh) is not a sensible backup solution. In fact, it’s not a backup solution at all (unless stupid solutions count)!
A proper data backup needs to be able to cope with fire, theft, floods, and all those horrible total loss scenarios that haunt your nightmares and wake you up drenched in a cold sweat. If your backup plan won’t cope with these kinds of disasters, it’s not a backup plan!
#11 - Up-to-date virus scanner
If only I had a dime for every system I’ve come across that was running outdated antivirus software and loaded with malware. I remember a time when a monthly update schedule was just fine, but we’re now living in very different times and a pause of a few hours in receiving updates can allow malware to gain a foothold in your system.
#10 - Run deep security scans of your systems
Don’t keep on putting off those deep antivirus scans of your PCs just because they take time. If you’re using the PC now schedule a scan for when you’re not going to be using the PC, even if it means leaving your PC on overnight on that day. Deep scans are an important defense against systems becoming compromised.
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Adrian is a technology journalist and author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology. He also runs a popular blog called The PC Doctor. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations
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