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2Much.net’s MBase Network: Recession Proofing A Company To Thrive When Most Take Dives
Montreal, Qc. (February 2, 2004) -- In a year which has tested the fortitude of even the largest high-tech Titans, 2Much Internet Services not only survived but thrived, carrying along and bolstering those clients who have had the commitment and...
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Backing Up Your Stuff Part 4: Preparing For Disaster
Okay, picture this ... your computer system has been destroyed by the most recent outbreak of the dreaded typhoid Mary virus. You never knew what hit you. One minute the system was fine. You received a nice email with an attachment which you opened, and boom, your system crashed. You rebooted but it got an error. Now what?
Or you could have mice (the animals) in your house. Mice love to create nests in warm places, and your computer is pretty warm. Just imagine all those little teeth gnawing away on all of the wires ...
Worse yet, imagine it rains and a leak appears directly over your hard drive ... or your "friend" spills coffee on the CPU cabinet. I could go on and on about what could happen to your computer.
I don't know about you, but I spend more time on my home computer than I do watching television, reading, eating or anything else except possibly working at my day job. When my computer has a problem, especially one that results in a boot failure, I get extremely angry. I feel like I have been betrayed by my best friend. If the system gets damaged, I feel just as much pain as if a good friend went into the hospital.
The thing to do is to make sure you are prepared for the worst possible thing that can happen ... total system failure. This is a very difficult task to write about as there are many different ways that a computer can eat itself or be eaten - perhaps as many ways as there are computers.
It is beyond the scope of this article to go into great detail on how to make your system totally recoverable. There are many other great resources on the internet and in the documentation that originally came with your computer which will help you prepare.
Briefly, though, what you need are the following:
- The CD ROM containing the operating system installation files. This virtually always comes with a new system. It will be labeled something like "Windows 95" or "Windows 2000".
- Any other kind of recovery CD that came with your system.
- A bootable media. Sometimes the CD ROM itself is bootable. More often, you will get one or more floppy diskettes with your system. Keep these in a safe place.
- An emergency repair disk. This is usually one (sometimes more) diskettes which contain all of the configuration options for your operating system. You need to create these occasionally (they are not automatic) - usually whenever you make a major change.
- Copies of all of the updates and patches that have applied to the operating system. What I do is maintain a writeable CD with a copy of each service pack and hot fix that I've installed. It is also a good idea to keep a text file (one the writeable CD itself) with a list of what needs to be installed in the correct
order.
- Copies of each of the applications that have been installed on the computer. If your applications came on CD, then keep those in a safe place. If you downloaded the applications, then store a copy on a writeable CD. In addition, you will need to keep copies of any patches or updates to these applications on writeable CDs.
I like to keep a box with all of the above items in a safe place. I call the box my "crash cart", as it contains everything that I need to restore my system to health in the event of a software error.
In addition it's a good idea to keep the following in the crash cart:
- A sheet of paper with a list of people and companies you can call for help in the event of disaster. This may include technical support numbers of the computer manufacturer, the operating system company and any applications providers.
- A log of all of the changes and installations that were made to the computer system. This will be invaluable to determine what to recover in what order.
- All of the documentation that came with the system in the original box.
- Another sheet of paper with network information (TCP/IP addresses and such), modem settings and other control panel values. This will be important if you ever have to type it all back in. Some of the most important information is any settings or values provided by your ISP which allow your computer to get on the internet.
When you have a few spare minutes, when it is raining out and the television is showing nothing good at all, when the kids are in bed and the husband or wife is asleep, when you are totally bored out of your mind ... then recover those manuals that came with the system. You know which ones I'm talking about ... the ones you have buried in your closet under five feet of clothes behind the Christmas tree.
Now, open the books and read them. They will usually have some instructions on how to recover your system in the event of failure. This is the information that you need to understand, and it's better to spend the couple of hours up front reading than it is trying desperately to figure it out one evening - the day before that term paper is due, of course.
And in the worst case, if you have all or most of the above items you will have the materials that the computer geek in the house down the street will need when you come begging for help at his door...
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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Tucows Downloads - Download Freeware and Shareware Software |
Download freeware, shareware, and demos. Maintains over 45000 software titles that are tested, rated, reviewed and ready to download. |
www.tucows.com |
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Free Software Downloads and Software Reviews - Download.com |
Download shareware, freeware and Demo software for PC, Mac, Linux, and Handhelds categorized into categories, plus software reviews. |
www.download.com |
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Computer software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
This includes application software such as a word processor, which enables a ... Application software is often purchased separately from computer hardware. ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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Shareware.com - Search for shareware programs and free software ... |
Search for shareware programs from more than a dozen downloadable software directories. |
www.shareware.com |
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Jumbo: Free & Shareware MP3 files, Games, Screen Savers & Computer ... |
Source of free and shareware computer programs and utilities for PC and Mac. Evaluate software and read product reviews. Download games and screen savers. |
www.jumbo.com |
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Computer Software in the Yahoo! Directory |
Browse categories featuring sites devoted to computer software, including shareware and freeware download sites, operating systems, desktop customization, ... |
dir.yahoo.com |
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IEEE Software |
IEEE Computer Society's magazine covering all aspects of software, including software engineering. |
www.computer.org |
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Free Downloads on ZDNet | Shareware, Trialware, Evaluation Software |
ZDNet's Software Directory is the Web's largest library of software downloads. Covering software for Windows, Mac, and Mobile systems, ZDNet's Software ... |
downloads.zdnet.com |
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FSF - The Free Software Foundation |
Free software is a matter of liberty not price. Think of "free" as in "free speech". |
www.fsf.org |
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Apple - Software |
Software products for your digital life. ... The perfect addition for professional review. QuickTime Broadcaster. Encoding software for live events. ... |
www.apple.com |
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Open Directory - Computers: Software |
In Partnership with AOL Search. about dmoz | report abuse/spam | help. the entire directory, only in Computers/Software. Top: Computers: Software (38471) ... |
dmoz.org |
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freshmeat.net: Welcome to freshmeat.net |
About: The Web browser is probably the most frequently used software today, ... Web professionals can use the software for functional testing and regression ... |
freshmeat.net |
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Software - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF) |
Listing of the GNU software packages. |
www.gnu.org |
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Sun Software |
Get enterprise-class software--Solaris 10 OS, the Java Enterprise System, ... Sun Java StorageTek Software reduces cost and complexity with a single, ... |
www.sun.com |
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Internet Real Estate.com -- owns and operates a portfolio of the ... |
SOFTWARE.COM · SWEEPSTAKES.COM · PHONE.COM PODCAST.COM ... Software.com | Sweepstakes.com | Phone.com | Podcast.com | Shop.com | Safety.com ... |
www.internetrealestate.com |
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Joel on Software |
A weblog by Joel Spolsky, a programmer working in New York City, about software and software companies. |
www.joelonsoftware.com |
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Amazon.com Software: Computer & video games, business, accounting ... |
Online shopping for computer & video games, business & office productivity software, software from Microsoft, Apple, Adobe & more; accounting, antivirus, ... |
www.amazon.com |
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IBM Software - Home Page |
IBM home page for all of its software products, including Lotus and Tivoli, with keyword search, category browse and AZ product names. |
www.ibm.com |
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Opera web browser: Homepage |
Copyright © 2006 Opera Software ASA. All rights reserved. Skip navigation. Opera Software ... Copyright Opera Software ASA . All rights reserved. ... |
www.opera.com |
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Google Directory - Computers > Software |
Search only in Software Search the Web ... Software Categorized by Letter: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ... |
www.google.com |
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