All computer users, at some point, have lost data from their computer: either because the document processing software did not save the most recent changes, or because of accidental deletion.

My typical way to lose files is when I am cleaning out superfluous files and discover that I have tossed out something crucial!

What can you do to prevent such disasters? Are there techniques or software that can help? Sure – there are many solutions to this problem. First, however, let’s start with the basic strategies to keep what you store on your computer safe: not only your documents, but your valuable pictures and other files.

First, you must back up every piece of data externally. For example, I copy my photos to DVDs at least every six months. This might sound excessive, but consider my recent experience. A year ago, my PC was infected with a really nasty virus that led to a blue screen nearly every time I booted up. I had to reinstall my OS. In order to wipe the virus out, I had to format both of my hard drives ( believe me, I tried the easy way out by merely reinstalling the OS and performing checks with a variety of anti-virus software – no dice). Eventually, I was left with two clean hard drives.
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Most of you folks use MS Word as your main word processing tool. Often, you contact us to say that you have lost data. Perhaps it was not saved where you can retrieve it, or you suspect a virus interfered with your computer’s functioning. How can you avoid these problems?

First of all, we want to make it clear that we realize that some of you really encounter software issues that prevent you from meeting a deadline. But we also can clearly see that others of you freelancers out there cite software problems as an excuse to delay submission.

This is either because you are struggling with time management, or because life, as they say, “happens”!

In any case, most likely you will be fined for such instances, either by lateness fines, or by separate fines imposed by the QA Dpt., depending on the frequency of such occurrences. We cannot determine the truth of your assertions, so any fines, most likely, will be applied to all of the cases.

There are ways for you to prevent many such troublesome issues.

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