I don't know about your, but I depend upon my computer system
daily to help me survive and prosper. I keep everything there:
- My daily journals - My writing - Letters and memos - Documents
for personal and work issues - FAXes - My photo album (over
10,000 photos) - Graphics art that I've produced
In addition, if you are anything like me, over the years you've
downloaded thousands of different things off the internet. You
may also have installed some files from CDs and floppy disks, as
well as receiving numerous files via email. Some of these
downloads include such wondrous things as:
- Paint Shop Pro tubes, brushes - Photoshop filters - desktop
themes - outlook stationary - Screensavers - Wallpaper - ICQ
skins and sounds - Fonts - Sounds - Videos - Innumerable other
things
In fact, this is one of the activities that makes the internet
so enjoyable - being able to download and install new features,
plug-ins and cool stuff as often as you can.
These files tend to take up massive amounts of space on your
hard drives. On my system, my outlook stationary alone requires
over 150 megabytes, my desktop themes are getting close to a
gigabyte and I have over 200 megabytes of Paint Shop Pro tubes.
This phenomenon is made even worse because most people (myself
included) never throw anything away. I have kept just about
everything that I've ever put on my computer, until today I have
over 100 gigabytes of lord knows what!
Add to that yet another issue: many of us store files on remote
systems. Many people use their free hosts editing tools to
create and modify their web site files directly on the internet.
The files are never downloaded to their author's hard drive. For
example, I receive at least a couple of emails each week from
someone asking how they back up the files on Geocities or MSN or
any number of other hosts.
I used to create a backup of my entire system to a Zip drive
once a week. This soon required two zip disks, then 3 and then a
dozen. I switched to tape, which helped for a while. Before too
long, however, I found my backups took all night long and
required several tape changes. This was getting out of hand -
not only did the backup require an incredible amount of time,
but the system was slow while it was running and it was obvious
that it would be very difficult to do a restore if it became
necessary.
At this point, many people make the fatal decision to stop
performing backups at all. This is not a good idea, as there are
many hazards to the health of your computer.
- Hundreds and even thousands of new viruses are created
monthly. Any one of these could destroy your system and erase
years of work. Even if you have the best antivirus software on
the planet, there is still the possibility that a new virus
could get through your defenses. A hacker could penetrate your
firewalls (assuming you have one) and do whatever he pleased. He
could, if he wanted, delete files, modify them or even download
them to his own system.
- Your system could be damaged or destroyed by more mundane
threats such as water leaking from the upstairs bathtub or mice
chewing on the disk cables.
- You could accidentally delete files yourself.
- A new installation of a program or an operating system upgrade
could render your system unusable.
- I have heard tales of lightening striking nearby power poles
and rendering systems completely unusable.
So if your system is getting so crowded that is is difficult if
not impossible to perform a full backup, what do you do to
protect yourself?
About the author:
Richard Lowe Jr. is the webmaster of Internet Tips And Secrets.
This website includes over 1,000 free articles to improve your
internet profits, enjoyment and knowledge. Web Site Address:
http://www.internet-tips.net Weekly newsletter:
http://www.internet-tips.net/joinlist.htm Daily Tips:
mailto:internet-tips@GetResponse.com
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