Surviving a Crash

The one thing everyone dreads when working with a computer is the "blue screen". Depending on the particular issue it sometimes turns into an unrecoverable crash as the result of a virus or spyware. computer crashing

For the second time in 7 months my computer crashed and after being unable to reboot it myself, I had to take it in for repair. They got it to boot, but there was a bigger problem. The problem stemmed back to damage the system suffered as the result of spyware and the repair made back in December instead of fixing it only covered it up and it soon became a "black hole" into which more spyware programs were being downloaded and unnoticed by my anti-virus program and two spyware programs.

The first attempt to correct the problem was to "refresh" the system, a process which leaves the data intact on the hard drive and repairs the damage done to Windows only. Unfortunately the damage was so extensive that the system became completely unstable leaving the only option of reformatting the hard-drive.

To protect your computer from these malicious programs, keep your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs updated and scan frequently. The tech who worked on my computer advised that all the protective software I had previously used against these unwanted downloads was actually allowing them to download and not be detected. He also said that one should use only one manufacturer for both your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs; i.e. do not use a Norton program with an AVG or McAfee program. The ones I will be using now are AVG's free anti-virus and anti-spyware.

Also, make sure your Windows and browser updates are current. If they aren't, your system is vulnerable to attacks.

In addition to protecting your computer with an anti-virus and anti-spyware programs, there are some other things you can do to help make the restoration somewhat easier should you have a similar experience.

Back-up your data often. There is nothing more frustrating than losing some or all your files in a system crash. (I'm usually pretty good with my backups, but in this last instance, I hadn't backed up my system in two months.) If your computer tech truly knows what he is doing, he/she will back up your data before he works on your computer (whew!, saved by the Tech).

The only loss I experienced after all of this was some screen saver images and my AOL filing cabinet files and the latter may still be available from the backed up files at my computer service company.
Keep a written/printed index of the folders backed up on each disk. It makes keeping your next backup task easier as you may not always have to back up every disk with every backup (for example, I have 8 separate disks currently for my backups). Also, when backing-up your files to a CD, leave enough room for the future addition of files into the folders backed up on the disk.
Keep a "paper" notebook of your computer. I have created a book which includes the following:

A page showing computer model, serial number, service tag and express service code in addition to the support phone numbers.

Another page details the programs which had been pre-installed by the manufacturer.

There's a page listing all the additional hardware and utilities I've installed as well as the date of installation.

And a page detailing all the other programs I've installed along with the date of installation.

This notebook will provide you with the information you'll need to reload all the appropriate software to your system after the reformatting of the hard-drive.

Another tip that may be useful to you is that when you download a program from the internet, download it to an "Applications" folder. Install the program, but don't delete the .exe file. Leave it in the Applications folder which you will also back-up. This way you won't have to go back to the internet to download them again as you already have them.

Don't back-up system folders or your Program Files folders. These programs will have to be installed again after a reformat.

Well, I hope the above gives you some helpful hints should you experience a dreaded computer crash.

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