Virus and Data Security Issues for PC's and Laptops Part 1 July 2010

Virus and Data Security Issues for PC's and Laptops Part 1 July 2010   From time to time most of us experience the downside to computing.It usually happens at the worst possible time, and when we are busy with other activities and just don't have the time to deal with what just happened.THE CRASH ..."The system was working fine; it's been good for two years without a hitch. I opened an email and BAM!, some code shot across the screen and now when I try to boot my computer it won't load and it gives me a blue screen with text on it.""I was on the net, and I entered a link to a website that someone sent me, the computer will no longer connect to the internet even though everything else on the computer works fine!" "I turned on my computer… it won't get past the text that appears on the screen"If you have not yet experienced one of these two scenarios ... don't worry, there is a good possibility that in the next year you will.The issue itself can be a fairly reasonable repair as far as cost, but the damage that it can do to your data is much more damaging and precarious.Let's go into why your data is in such jeopardy.First, it is a well known fact that we all get comfortable with our data being where it is when we want it, and because it was safe yesterday, it will most likely be safe today and in the foreseeable future. We rarely take the time to consistently back the data we just updated or saved to our Hard Drive because we are complacent. This data (scanned images of our genealogy, letters to business accounts, budget spreadsheets, irreplaceable photos, music, and many more kinds of data), if not backed up and protected by some other means than just our computer, puts this data at risk of being lost. "My data is safe, I just edited it and saved it"NOTHING could be further away from the truth than that statement.Your computer is dynamic, not static. The data on your Hard Drive is moved and relocated every time you use it, every time you access that data. The files are opened, managed, and then resaved to your hard drive by the various applications you use (Word, Internet Explorer, Fire Fox) in locations that are usually dependent on how you are using your computer. The movement of these files is automated by the Operating System (OS).Typically, this process goes on in the background of the OS without a hitch, but when something goes wrong, it can go terribly wrong, taking your data away from your reach more quickly than you react. That spreadsheet or resume that you just saved follows no rule for its "freshness". It does not matter how long ago you stored something or where on the computer you placed it… if you have a data failure, then you have a data failure, plain and simple. Your data can be gone whether it was last saved yesterday or a year ago.Many times this data loss occurs due to what is called a "Hard Failure".Hard Failuresare actually electrical or mechanical failures in the mechanisms that make up all the components of your computer or laptop.Hard Failures can be due to any number of things going wrong.As a guess, probably about 20% or less of the hardware in your computer or laptop revolves around mechanical devices that have a much higher failure rate over time. The remaining 80% of the hardware revolve around electronic devices with no moving parts and a much better Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) rate. In fact, many of the replacement devices that you purchase may have a publicized MTBF in the specification for the part. They are usually listed in operating hours but can be listed in many other formats. Both electronic and mechanical devices can be affected by a Hard Failure. If a chip malfunctions your data is usually at less risk, but not always. We will cover in later posts why failures in some electronic components will not affect your data and why other chip failures will. In most cases a Hard Failure is due to the failure of Hard Disk Drive (HDD), and this type of failure can be the most devastating to your data. It can also be the easiest to protect while everything is running smooth. The Hard drive is roughly 80% mechanical and 20% Electronic. Generally if the mechanical components fail, the data is, for all intents and purposes, gone. There are however firms that offer services to recover the latent data on the failed hard drive at a cost. This form of recovery can be expensive. It requires intensive care for your data. Generally, the parts inside the HDD are removed and reinstalled if possible, into a working model and the data (or as much as can be saved) retrieved and moved to a functioning drive and returned to you. Costs for this service range from hundreds to thousands of dollars. In this case, and in just about all cases, the value of the data needing to be recovered is worth much more than the cost of replacing the HDD. The typical costs for a HDD replacement is about $70 if you do it yourself and about $100 if you have it done for you. If you need to reload (reinstall the OS to the Hard Drive so that you can use the computer with Windows or another OS), it will cost more. HDD failures are easily recoverable if you take precautions. Always save your non-replaceable data to a CD, a USB thumb drive, another HDD (Portable USB Drive) or some other service such as an online backup service. Do this as often as you can based on the importance of your data to you. Remember, failure to keep this data on another device is a sure sign that if the data is gone tomorrow, it is really not that important to you. In the next discussion,"Virus and Data Security Issues for PC's and Laptops" Part 2, we will cover electronic failures that can have an impact on the security of your data.   Thanks for reading!   Affordable Computer Solutions, LLC 8142 Seneca Turnpike Clinton, NY 13323 315-735-6266