Tech Tip: Careful With Those USB Drives

November 10, 2009 by Chris · Comments Off
Filed under: Tech Tip

usb drive Tech Tip: Careful With Those USB Drives This week’s tech tip is about a painful lesson I was taught last week. There I was, on the couch, the cat curled up next to me, my laptop fired up. Perfect. For a reason that escapes me now, I shifted my position. Next, came this horrible screech. Really, it was the worst sound. When I moved, I forgot about my USB drive, plugged into the side of my computer.

Fortunately, it didn’t break. It is bent. I do have to wrap a rubber band around it to keep it together. Visions of all that data being lost flashed through my mind. Again, fortunately, I do regular, weekly backups. All would not be lost.

The first thing I did the next day was to buy another drive and copy my files onto it. I use my USB drive occasionally between computers. I have recovery software on it as well as anti-virus software. When I’m at the day job, sometimes I’ll take my work with me, in case things are slow. I would have been lost had the drive broke.

Take away this little lesson: always know where you’re USB drive is.

Tags: backup, usb drive

Tech Tip Tuesday–Mail Browser Backup

April 28, 2009 by Chris · Comments Off
Filed under: Tech Tip

I almost crawled over my desk and attacked my computer this past weekend. You know the feeling.

We had our first big rain Sunday. For whatever mysterious reason it is, rain and a cable Internet connection don’t play well together. I’m told a satellite connection also has a mean streak. Well, the Internet was giving my connection lost errors just about every other page. When you’re trying to blog online, that is paramount to a disaster. You get nothing done.

So, I did the first thing anyone should do if their computer acts goofy for no explained reason: restart. Let Windows reload all those DLLs and start over. I started Firefox only to find my extensions and theme gone. For those of you who use Firefox, you know how precious those add-ons are. Fortunately, I had done my weekly task of backing up my browser. I restored the backup and here I am back writing.

This utility, Mail Browser Backup, is a free utility that backups up not only Firefox, but also Thunderbird, Opera, Chrome, and more. Backups are quick as was the restore.

So, here’s today’s tech tip; save yourself a great deal of frustration and possibly a visit from the cops by backing up your email and browser weekly. If the time comes for a restore, you’ll be glad you did.

Shutters

Tags: backup, Tech Tip