3 Steps to Reduce Computer Crisis Stress

3 Steps to Reduce Computer Crisis Stress

There are 3 steps you can take to reduce stress related to a computer crisis. 

By computer crisis I mean a situation where the computer is running very poorly, or may be infected by malware (annoying popups), or may have a hardware part failing (odd noises), or worse yet has crashed and won't restart. 

Be proactive! 

Do these 3 things to reduce your stress when the inevitable happens... 

• Make regular backups of critical data - locally and offsite. For local backup you can use a USB drive. For offsite, I recommend Mozy.com. Worst case, if your computer fails or is hit by damaging malware (such as ransomware), at least you will have your data available to restore when the crisis is resolved. Note: You will need an offsite backup solution to recover from a ransomware attack because this kind of attack can encrypt even your local backup. 

• Deal with the problem promptly. When the computer starts to act up, if you can't fix it, get help asap. Putting it off usually only makes things worse. It's the same as was when you hear an odd noise coming from your car's engine compartment. Better not ignore that one!

• Do regular maintenance. This means installing important updates for all software, and doing tune-ups and clean-ups. Also run security software scans regularly. For businesses, I recommend scheduling maintenance at least quarterly, or having someone in-house be tasked to do it. For home users, do maintenance at least 2x/year. 

As the old adage goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

It's also a risk tolerance issue: ask yourself how comfortable you are risking a computer failure that could ruin your day. 

Thanks for reading.
Sam

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