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                                     12
                                



                               Protecting your
                              Computer and your
                                    Data





















Help Guide to Buying a Computer


     


Chapter 12 - Protecting your Computer and your Data


     This is a commonly forgotten area of owning a computer.  Unfortunately, the
idea never even occurs to most users so that dreaded day comes when something
important disappears because of some disaster and the user is left helpless. 
Fortunately, with a little planning, most disasters can be avoided and recovered 
from and this is what most users just don't realize.  Since there are so many 
different "disasters" that can occur, I've broken the more frequent disasters 
and solutions down into sub areas below.


Backing-up the Computer
-----------------------

     The number one precaution a user can take to protect themselves from losing
precious data is to simply make a backup of the computer's hard disk.  The
software needed to make backups has been available by a number of software
manufacturers since personal computers came into existence and is relatively
inexpensive.   In fact, MS-DOS 6.0 (or newer, such as 6.22) comes with the
software to make backups (MSBACKUP) so users have no excuse not to make
backups.  With a backup of the entire hard drive, users can now afford to lose 
all data from their hard drive (and even lose the hard drive itself), because 
they have a backup.  With a few steps and about an hour or two, the data can be 
back in place, exactly the way it was before the disaster.  Now, isn't that 
little bit of time backing up the data worth  the piece of mind you'll gain?  
Consider backing up like paying insurance, because every time you make a backup, 
you pay for insurance.  Unfortunately, this is a lesson that most people must 
learn the hard way, but maybe you'll be different.

     To make the process a little more understandable, consider that a hard 
drive has so much space that is used by documents, programs, etc.  The backup 
program figures out how much space is being used and copies all of your 
documents, and programs to some type of media such as floppy disks or a storage 
tape.  The floppy disks or storage tape(s) can then be stored in a safe place 
and used again only if you're making another backup or performing a restoration 
of the data (because your hard drive crashed).

     There are several ways to backup the data on a hard disk.  The most common
is to use diskettes to hold the information and depending on the size of the 
hard 












Help Guide to Buying a Computer


     


Chapter 12 - Protecting your Computer and your Data


drive, this can amount to a few dozen or many hundred diskettes.  A faster and 
more convenient way to backup is to use a tape drive.  This is like a disk drive 
except it uses a tape that looks like a small version of a VCR tape and can only 
be used for backing up data.  Good tape drives sell for $150 to $300 these days 
and can backup anywhere from 250 megabytes to 850 megabytes per tape.  Can you 
imagine having to use 600 diskettes to backup a hard drive?  Neither can most 
people, which is why tape drives are the obvious choice for computers with hard 
drives bigger than 100 megabytes.  Other advantages of tape drives are they can 
backup the same data in considerably less time compared to using diskettes, and 
the tape drive can backup all the data totally unattended (without user 
interaction).  These are some reasons why most businesses use tape drives to 
backup their precious data.  They simply cannot afford to lose data and they 
must have something that can do the job fast and unattended during the night.  
When making backups, three or more distinct sets of backup tapes or diskettes 
should be used.  That way if one set gets ruined then there are still two more 
sets to fall back on.  Once the initial full backup is made, partial backups can 
be made that only backup what data has changed.  Using this method will require 
more time to restore if a disaster occurs, but should be adequate for most 
users.  If you want maximum protection then always do full backups.  Remember, 
your hard drive backup must be kept current, otherwise it isn't protecting you 
and you're just asking for trouble!

     When you purchase the computer, ask the dealer to include a tape drive and
expect to pay extra for it.  If you already have a computer, then consider 
buying a tape drive because it will give you the added insurance all computer 
users need.  There are less than a dozen tape drive manufacturers, so computer 
manufacturers buy the same tape drives you see selling in computer stores.  
Therefore, don't be worried about quality differences between tape drives 
included with a new computer and the tape drives sold separately in stores.  
Make sure the tape drive you get (separately or with the computer) can store 
enough data on one tape to completely backup the entire hard drive.  If you want 
to save money and don't mind having to use several tapes each time you make a 
complete backup, then you can get a tape drive that won't store as much data on 
each tape.
















Help Guide to Buying a Computer


     


Chapter 12 - Protecting your Computer and your Data


Viruses
-------

     Another increasing risk to your data these days is the computer virus.  A 
virus is a computer program that often hides itself from the user so it can do 
something destructive to your data, programs or documents.  For example: one 
common virus is named Michelangelo because on Michelangelo's birthday, the virus 
will erase everything on your hard drive!  Therefore, having a virus is not 
something you want and should be avoided at all cost.  A number of software 
makers sell programs called "Anti-Virus" software that will detect and destroy 
viruses.   In fact, MS-DOS 6.0 (or newer, such as 6.22) comes with anti-virus 
software so again users have no excuse not to check regularly for viruses.  
Since no program can catch all viruses, having your backup of the entire hard 
drive is essential.  These programs are constantly updated so make sure you 
keep yours up-to-date.  This will help to protect you against newer viruses and 
keep your virus protection strong.
     

Power
-----

     Since computers require clean power, the computer should be, if possible, 
on an electrical circuit that doesn't have other major appliances (air 
conditioners, refrigerators, heaters, etc.) on it.  Circuits that have too many 
major appliances on it can cause too little power (called brown outs) being 
available for the computer, and this can cause damage to your computer.  
Therefore, think ahead of where you will plug your computer in.  A great way to 
combat brown outs or more important, blackouts (total power failure), is to 
purchase an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS).  An UPS is an electronic device 
that meters the power going to the computer and will supplement (from a battery) 
that power if it senses there isn't enough power for the computer.  The battery 
inside the UPS is constantly charging so it can instantly jump into action to 
provide supplemental or full power to your computer.  This is advantageous 
because it can prevent damage to your computer, allow you to properly exit any 
programs and save anything you may be working on before the power totally goes 
off.   An average UPS will provide 15 to 30 minutes of full power to the 
computer before its internal battery runs down and usually costs $100-$250.













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Chapter 12 - Protecting your Computer and your Data
     
     
     Another device that monitors the power going into the computer is called a
surge suppressor.  A surge suppressor can detect and sometimes (depending on the
strength of the power surge) stop a power surge (spike) and thus prevent damage 
to your computer.  This is one area where you get what you pay for because cheap
models cost less than $50 and can't stop much of a surge, but superior models, 
that cost above $1,000, can stop fairly large surges.  Don't get me wrong, any 
protection is better than no protection, but expect only as much protection as 
you pay for.  A good UPS will usually have a surge suppressor built right into 
the UPS.

     If you take everything I've mentioned above into consideration then you're
ahead of 70 percent of all the computer users out there and 90 percent less 
likely to get burned by a disaster.





































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