I have worked for years on computers and have a fairly extensive knowledge of their operation as well as experience in the use many different software programs. Also, I want to make it clear – I do recognize they are just machines. However, this doesn’t keep me from screaming at it, calling it names, and threatening it with a sledge hammer or other various forms of punishment, in the vain hope I guess of making it shudder in fear and immediately start working again. If you have ever behaved in this very unprofessional way, rest easy. I have absolutely no intention of cleaning up my act and being nice with the darned thing when it goes south on me. In my mind it’s really the only civilized way TO behave short of destroying it, which is too expensive in the long run. Fight the temptation to bash it, and whatever you do, don’t shoot it. Discharging a firearm in the city limits is against the law. Not to mention the fact you’ll scare the daylights out of anyone near you.

Have you ever been so frustrated you wanted to scream? Of course you have. Have you ever picked up a pillow, put your face in it and screamed yourself senseless? Okay, I know I sound a bit loony, but hey…it actually helps sometimes. So think of the money you will save in therapy if you’ll just cut loose and scream at your computer. Don’t yell at Tech Support. THEY can hang up on you! And let’s face it. They’re not really there with you and there’s no way they can really appreciate your trauma. So why give them one more excuse to drink heavily when they get off work? I personally don’t want to be responsible for that kind of damage. You’re probably saying to yourself – “Self. I can’t scream obscenities at my computer. My boss is in the other room and my fellow workers will call SWAT to haul my butt in.” This is unfortunately true. So here is my prescription: if you are not alone in an office, then get a small pillow, bring it to work, and take it into the bathroom with you and SCREAM. Into the pillow that is. Don’t just hold it and scream or they’ll still call someone to take you away. Okay, that’s my scream therapy. I think you might be surprised at how much better you’ll feel. If nothing else, I usually end up laughing at myself for acting stupid which ultimately makes me feel better.

You’ve probably already figured out that I’ve had computer problems and am using my blog as a venue for venting. Hmmmm. A Venting Venue. Not bad. Anyway, you would be oh so correct in that assumption. After I lost everything this past March (I’m calling it the Crash of 2012), I have struggled to rebuild everything. I can only imagine what businesses with inventory and huge customer and accounting databases go through when their computer systems fail. I know what I’ve been through with the loss of data, and I’ve also realized what can happen if you don’t back up EVERYTHING. I have been using Carbonite to back up my files, blissfully ignorant to the fact that I am not signed up for the service that backs up video or, in my case, video and swf (flash) files. I have a good number of clients for whom I’ve built flash into their websites. Gone. All gone. Also, my software. So much of my software is downloaded and if I’ve had it for more than a year, I have to purchase it all over again. Fonts. Gone. I had one font alone that was $250. QuickBooks. I have nothing from 2012. I think you get the picture.

Thanks to Jody Miller at The PC MD, I now have a complete new hard drive tucked into my tower that “mirrors” the entire computer, software, data…everything. This way if the main doohickey (that’s the hard drive) or the mom (that’s the motherboard) die, then I have my “stuff.” Speaking of Jody, if you ever need great in-office or in-home service, call her. Now there is an example of a cool head in action. She didn’t call my computer names (she did mutter some), but she kept her composure throughout that awful ordeal – she spent several hours trying to save me. And she took care of my problems as best as she could (since it was toast she did a lot of consoling), and then she recommended and installed the protection against future hardship. Thank you Jody! If you need her, call 533-1951 or visit her website at www.thepcmdaz.com. If your computer is down, it will probably be easier to call her than visiting her website.

The lesson in this post….make sure your backup service covers EVERYTHING you need it to. And do the separate drive thing to mirror your content. That way all you have to do is switch over to it and you’re up and in business again!

 

Happy computing and success to you!