Kaze Uta Budo Kai Forum Archive

Over the weekend I had the wonderful experience of a computer failure. Fortunately, it was only the power supply; the data on the hard drive was intact. So, here's a few things to think about:

• Backup your data. It's simple. It takes a few minutes every now and then. Pictures, documents (like that resume you've grown over the years, with hours of editing), spreadsheets (like your checkbook register), source code, phone book list, browser bookmarks... the list goes on and on. Burn things to a CD or DVD, then make sure you can read it on a different machine! USB drives work well too.[/*:m:xiio8r5h]
  
• Usernames & Passwords. I'm responsible for a lot of stuff here in the cloud of the Internet. Websites, forums, who knows how many e-mail accounts, Facebook, MySpace.... etc, etc, etc. I typically use different passwords on everything (smart). They're usually very ugly (smart). That makes them hard to remember (not so smart). I have gotten into the habit over the years of making a spreadsheet or a piece of paper with all that information, then locking it away in a small safe. Easy & secure.[/*:m:xiio8r5h]

So, what are some of the joys of a new system?

Well, let's see. Aside from starting with a clean slate on a faster machine, not a whole lot.

It's a sincere pain in the rear to first delete all the crap on a new PC you don't need. And, it seems many manufacturers don't include media if you need to format the system & reinstall from scratch. That means burning 12 CD's to create a backup set. Nice way to get acquainted with your new hardware.

Then you have to download & install stuff. Internet Explorer ran once, just long enough to download Firefox. There's all the security updates & multiple reboots, even on a new machine -- even Windows 7, due to be released later this week, has updates waiting for it I'm told.

Little things you take for granted, like that DB9 serial connection... well, that's tough. You have to find a USB-to-serial adapter, install it, configure it, test it, troubleshoot it, and somehow hope it works. Otherwise, things like your GPS can't be updated, nor information uploaded & downloaded.

I was using Microsoft Office, but I won't be paying for a new version of that now. Instead, check out OpenOffice. It's free and does everything I need. My resume will need some touch-up, as the import didn't go extremely well. Of course, if it weren't for crazy nested tables to make it look pretty it wouldn't matter.

Software that you've installed, well... this part sucked the most. National Geographic TOPO is kick ass software for being in the woods. The downside: copying all the data CD's to the new machine. For Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Missouri & Arkansas it was several hours of just copying.

Because I backed things up semi-regularly to a USB drive, life wouldn't have been completely catastrophic if I'd lost the hard disk. The 9 year old thing is sitting here whirring away in a temporary cradle as I make double sure everything is done.