Computer Stress:
Pay Attention Now or Pay Dearly Later
By Cheryl McKeary

Most of us working on computers today have developed a love-hate relationship with them. We love the possibilities of what can be done but we hate it when it prevents us from getting our work done. Have you been minutes away from completing a job when the machine freezes and you lose what you’ve been working on? You save a file and then can’t find where it went?

Ever notice how your computer senses your stress level? The more stress you’re under, the more your machine senses this and reacts accordingly.

Ask any computer person what irritates them the most about computers and you’ll get many different answers. There are some preventative measures you can take to help in your quest to be in control of your computer. Irritations come in varying degrees from losing a file (minor irritation) to losing a hard drive (major irritation). Here are some of my recommendations for saving your sanity.

Learn to save and save often
If you get involved in a project whether it’s typing a letter or creating your next bestseller, you don’t want to lose your data during this session. One quick way to save is to learn the shortcut key (Control S for the PC) and (Command S for the Mac) and get in the habit of using it every 5-10 minutes. If you can’t get yourself trained to automatically save, check to see if your program has an automatic save option. Microsoft Word, for example, allows you to turn on Auto Recover (Tools>Options>Save on PC or Tools>Preferences on Mac) so you can work and forget about losing information in case of crashing.

Save documents with a name you’ll remember
The more documents you create, the more important it is to connect the title of the document with the name. If you save documents with the title “Untitled1,” “Untitled2,” “Document1” or “January 27letter,” will you ever be able to find them again or remember the contents of the document? The day you don’t have two minutes to spare is the day you’ll end up opening every untitled document to find the one you want. It only takes a few extra seconds to come up with a title to give you an indication of what is in the document.

Know where you save your document
Just about every computer owner I know has said at one point, “I saved my document but it must not have saved because I can’t find it.” Blame the computer all you want, but you probably forgot to notice where you were saving it. When you pull up the Save Dialog Box, train yourself to always look to see what folder you are saving it to.

If you forget where you saved it, you can always try going to Start>Find File or Folder (PC) or File>Find (Mac) and typing in a portion of the document name. (This, of course, assumes you took the previous hint of saving it with a name you remember.) You can do more advanced searches as well. The more information you remember about the file, such as date created or date modified, the better your chances of finding it.

Backup Your Files
No doubt you’ve read countless articles on backing up your files in case of hard drive failure. This is probably the biggest preventative maintenance you can do especially if you lost your hard drive. I learned the hard way that if you’re working on a long-term project, be sure to back it up every time you work on it either to a Zip or CD or even to another place on your hard drive. Why? Have you had a single file go bad or corrupt? Are you making changes constantly and ever wish you could get back to a version you created just yesterday? By saving the files as a copy with the date (i.e., MynewbookCOPY 2-17.doc) you’ll always have a previous version to revert back to in case of disaster.

Sluggish Computer
As you open programs, save documents and create new documents day after day, you may notice your hard drive slowing down and taking longer to do certain tasks. A quick fix that may help is to do some computer maintenance. On the PC, go to Start>Accessories> System Tools>Disk Defragmenter and run this program. You can also set the Maintenance Wizard to run on certain days just to keep your hard drive operating efficiently. On the Mac, try rebuilding your desktop. (Hold option + command keys as you start up your computer). A program such as Norton Utilities can further assist on maintenance on your computer.

Internet Downloads
Do you download new drivers, upgrade or purchase new software from the Internet? If you do, you probably just install them and don’t back up these new files. If you put all your downloaded files on one CD or Zip drive you’ll have a handy reference for those times you need to reinstall software and then want the updated files as well without having to download them again.

Viruses
If you’ve ever experienced a virus in your computer especially from email, you know how important it is to have an antivirus program installed. Norton Antivirus, Macafee VirusScan, AVG AntiVirus and many other programs all have good virus protection. If they are not being updated at least on a weekly basis (depending on your usage), they are not helping you. Some antivirus programs can be set to check for updates automatically everytime you go on the Internet. The price you pay for these programs and updates is well worth the piece of mind you’ll get. Imagine your relief when your antivirus program automatically deletes the file due to a virus preventing you many headaches and potential disaster.
UPS. Another recommendation for anyone wanting to avoid losing files is to get an uninterruptible power supply. The ones with a battery backup are great if you’re working in a program and the power goes out. It will give you time to save your documents and shut down without losing any data.

End Task
If you can’t quit out of a program and your mouse appears frozen, try pressing control–alt–delete and then when a dialog box comes up, press End Task. Caution: you will lose any unsaved data, but it may allow you to regain control of your computer and restart if you need to.

Restart. If all else fails and the computer just isn’t working the way it should, restart your machine and walk away. Don’t let it know of your aggravation, or you’ll be in for more problems when you least expect them.

Cheryl McKeary owns and operates a desktop publishing business and uses both MAC and PC computers. She can be reached at cheryl@mckearydesktop.com.