My hard drive went a few weeks ago. Not as bad as a virus but just as devastating. I was lucky to have backed up all my personel info but not all the programs I had. It took me two, twelve hour days to reload the programs and all their updates off of the internet. I went out and purchased a 40Gig USB external hard drive which now has a complete backup of my XP OS. AND there's still plenty of room for other stuff on it. The price of the drive is worth it. I can restore my system in no time. I can carry it with me and plug into anyone's computer [[careful on this one as you open yourself up to more viruses]] to download or upload files and programs.
Years ago they used to sell tape backup drives for you to do this, I guess that we've gone back in time as this has become an important process once more! I still have and use a ZIP Drive for my personel files and I'll occasionaly burn a CD with more of my other programs on it, like I have all my downloads of SEIV and the game all backed up on a CD and a DVD along with other programs that I have fine tuned over the years.
- Remember to keep your cookie settings on HIGH.
- Block all sites until you need them.
- Get Spybot S&D and turn on the Tea Timer to protect your Registry. Don't forget to donate!
- BACKUP often!!!
