Somewhat like the groundhog this past Wednesday (Groundhog Day), the Business Computer came on, blinked a few times, then retreated back into a black hole. I spent most of the rest of the day trying to convince the computer that it was time to wake up and get back to work. I would not have been quite so concerned if I had backed up the computer really, really, recently, but I hadn’t. All our email correspondence was at risk. That was when I wished I kept our emails in the Clouds, and hadn’t downloaded them all.
I can’t say for sure what happened, but Windows was clearly upset about something. This otherwise faithful operating system went into an endless loop of starting up then closing down. I tried all sorts of measures, (good thing I had another computer to look for solutions) and eventually resorted to a complete Windows reinstall. Remarkably, that went without a hitch. Of course, then I had to download a kabillion Windows Updates, but when the dust had cleared, all our business files were right where I had left them. I promptly backed them up.
The lesson, then, is this. Someday your computer will fail. You will feel much better about it if you backed up all your documents quite recently. You will feel much, much better if you have the disk that lets you reinstall Windows if need be. You will feel much, much, much better if you have the disk that lets you reinstall all your applications too.
Back up my hard drive? How do I put it in reverse?
– Author Unknown –
Yesterday it worked
Today it is not working
Windows is like that
– Margaret Segall, 1998 –
Computers are like air conditioners. They work fine until you start opening windows.
-Author Unknown –
If Bill Gates had a dime for every time Windows crashes… oh, wait a minute, he already does.
– Author Unknown –
Amusives 