Don't curse your computer for crashing - curse yourself for bad housekeeping

No matter what the marketing men tell us, computers are complex and fragile. They can't really look after themselves.

"I know what the problem was now: viruses."

"How many viruses do you have?"


"How did you manage that?"

"The bloody thing wasn't updating."

A familiar tale. My friend's antivirus program had indeed stopped updating its database of known threats, but he was unaware. As a consequence, the operation of his PC had slowed to a crawl, then a halt.

A cursory glance every week or so at the status of his antivirus program would have saved him, and me, many hours of frustration. A friend in need ... he'll certainly be busy when he eventually gets up and running again.

It's important to realise that like a car, your computer needs regular servicing if you want it to stay in tip-top condition. Without regular checks, it will eventually break down, sometimes taking all your important data with it. More often than not, your computer has stopped working because you didn't look after it. You just wanted it to work.

Maybe you are quite diligent with regard to your computer housekeeping, but then through no fault of your own you fell foul of a hard disk failure. But it's OK, because you'll just refer to your backup, right?

"I lost all my MP3s last week when my drive failed," grinned another friend a month ago. He smirked because he knew that the loss of his files would annoy me more than it did him. If he wasn't bothered, I shouldn't have been. But I was.

It's all so silly: trouble-free computing is simple. Enable your automatic update program, get a free software firewall and some antivirus software. Then download a program to deal with adware and spyware. All that is required is 10 minutes each week to check they're up to date and doing their bit.

Finally, regular backups. Most new computers have built-in DVD writers, but even external ones come in at under £40, or you could even use a USB flash drive.

So, no excuses then. If you don't treat backing-up as a priority and you find that your "stupid" computer keeps dying, along with all your files, just ask yourself one question. Could I have avoided those hours of cursing and crawling around under my desk?

If you still can't be bothered, close down all your programs, turn off the computer and put it back in its box. Then go out and buy yourself a leather-bound ledger for your accounts. Ledgers are great because they don't need to be serviced and they definitely don't get viruses. Better still, get an abacus.

Then you can work out how much time your "stupid" computer was saving you.


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