Having just had a recent major computer crash myself and and having just heard about a household who had all their computers stolen, here are some useful hints to prevent you losing ALL your valuable data, or at least to enable you to recover it after a disaster.

Backup

Keep all your data files, the ones you generate yourself, in one area on your computer (under one top level folder). It is then easier to back up and restore.

Back up all important data regularly to CD or another computer (preferably both).

Back up any essential data immediately you generate it to CD, floppy, memory stick or another computer.

Keep this back up data in a safe place, not necessarily in the same room as your PC.

Keep ALL your installation disks in a safe place together with the Product Keys (the code you type in to make the software work). You cannot restore your software if you do not have the disks.

Emails

For your Emails, use Outlook (the full Microsoft Office version if you already have it) rather than Outlook Express (the free Windows cut down version). You can then save all your Email folders (in particular your Inbox and Sent Items) as well as your Address Book and then restore these after a crash.

Write down or take screen dumps of all your Email accounts and their settings. Otherwise you may have a big problem getting your Email to work again. Remember or write down your passwords.

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

Write down or take screen dumps of all your ISP accounts and their settings. Otherwise you may have a big problem getting your ISP to work again. Remember or write down your passwords.

Anti-Virus Protection

If you have not got any virus protection, then get some quickly. A virus infection is the most likely cause of your computer problems.

Most of the older versions of the various Anti-virus packages (including Norton) do not give full protection against the latest infections, despite subscribing to ongoing updates. If your annual subscription is about to expire, do not renew it. Buy a brand new version, which should come with a free year of updates. It is probably cheaper and gives you better protection.

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