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As our computers get more sophisticated, they become more hypersensitive and we rely on them more. This is a recipe for disaster if we ignore common sense guidelines of good computing. Computer crashes are what keep us technicians in business. You can avoid them and other expensive problems by following a few good housekeeping rules.
Computers work until they don't. It's always a real shock when they quit but when they do, you'll wish you had a backup. Backing up the files you've worked on recently can be as simple as copying them to a diskette or a Zip disk or activating an automatic backup program. If you don't know how, get help. At most, it will take 5 minutes a night but can save days of work and anxiety if you have a crash. Also, while you are working during the day, save your documents manually, every few minutes. Then, if you do have a crash, the last save you made will be what is left on your disk for later recovery.
A virus that takes a second to enter your machine through a floppy disk or the Internet, can wipe it clean in about as much time. The only way to protect yourself is to run a virus protection program at all times. Two of the most popular are Network Associates' Mcafee VirusScan and Symantec's Norton AntiVirus. Check your local office supply store for these. And whichever you use, keep it updated. Once you've learned how, it's easy. These days, if you don't run a virus protection program, the odds are very high that you will eventually get a virus. It's well worth the effort.
New Mexico has frequent power outages and 'brown-outs' (when the power level drops but does not go all the way out). These are deadly to computers and often happen almost instantaneously. To protect your computers and peripherals, use surge protectors or battery backup units which are available at your office supply store. Prices vary but buy the best you can afford in relation to the importance of your of your data. Many computer problems are avoided by this simple, inexpensive safeguard.
I'm talking about your chair, desk, light, ventilation, etc. If you spend more than half an hour a day at the computer, these are important. There are lots of guidelines about this but common sense tells us that your arms, legs, neck, back and eyes should be in comfortable positions and not strained. If necessary, raise or lower the monitor, the chair, get a better chair, arrange the light so there is no glare, arrange ventilation for your space. This usually costs nothing but you will find you make less mistakes and are less fatigued.
If you use your computer for work, don't install games or demo applications on it. They are both often poorly written software that can alter the basic operating system of your computer just enough to make it unstable. Stay with newer versions of commercial applications that are well tested in the marketplace. Also, if at all possible, follow the 'One Person Per Machine' rule. Sharing a machine with your family or even other work colleagues ups the likelihood of problems immensely. A second, inexpensive machine for an employee or your kids could save your valuable business data.
This is a topic for a whole article in itself but suffice to say, common sense here goes a long way. All documents you create (in any application) should be saved in orderly folders on your machine, not just anywhere the computer suggests! If you don't know how to set this up, ask for help. It only takes a few minutes but orderly file management might mean the difference between someday being able to retrieve lost data or not. Also, it makes it so much easier to find things on a regular basis! So, if this hasn't scared you back into the stone age, take a few minutes to asses your computer setting against this checklist. For the most part, once you make these changes, you'll never have to do them again and your computing experience will be more secure, more streamlined and ultimately, a lot less expensive. David Goldberg |