Know What To Do In Case Of A Computer Disaster (NAPSA)—Most families have an emergency plan for what to do in case of a fire or other natural disaster, but what would you do if your computer crashed halfway through a major project or when your child has a book report due the next day? Knowing what to do now to prevent critical informa- tion loss, and how to respond later when systems inevitably crash, can get you through a computer crisis unscathed. Create a safety net now, before you experience a critical malfunction: e Make sure your key programs are set to create backup copies and to “auto-save” at least every five minutes. Train yourself to hit Ctrl+S every time you finish typing a thought or get up from the computer. Like hitting the carriage return at the end of a line on an old typewriter, train yourself to makethis second nature. Make sure you have proper virus and spywaresoftware set up and activated, and run a system scan like the free PC Health Check from support.com every 90 days to head off problems. In case of emergency, try these triage tips to bring your computer back from the brink: e If your PC freezes, hit Ctrl+Alt+Del and click “Task Manager.” Try closing all other pro- grams, like Web browsers, to see if you can get back into the program and save your work. e If that doesn’t work, try selecting the program you are working in and click “End Task.” Whenit asks if you want to Force Quit, try choosing “No”to see if this unfreezes the application. Train yourself to hit Ctrl+S to save every time you finish a thought or get up from the computer. e If all else fails, click “End Task,” agree to end, and then immediately restart your system. When your system restarts, run a virus scan. Open the program you were working in and save the backup version that you created by setting up your safety net. e If you continue to have problems, you may need an expert from a remote tech support ser- vice such as support.com. By calling 1-800-PC-Support, youll reach an expert, empathetic Solutions Engineer who can quickly diagnose and repair your problem over the phonefor less than the cost of an in-store or inhome repair visit. Even if you don’t know what’s wrong with your system, the North Americabased engineers are specially trained to perform System CPR for people who aren’t computer experts. There’s no need to invite a stranger into your homeor leave your computerat a store.
