There are a lot of ways to backup your stuff. You can backup everything or just what you consider essential.
If you want to backup everything including Windows, there are a number of programs that can do this for you. Acronis is very popular, but I prefer Macrium Reflect, free for home users.
However, a recent system crash convinced me that perhaps that’s not the best option for me. I had a really bad crash, nothing could fix my Windows. I tried everything, but Windows would not load. ‘last known good configuration’ would not work, system recovery gave the message something like ‘Windows couldn’t do it’, it was apparently totally broken. Windows kept trying, but to no avail.
I couldn’t even load the Recovery CD to restore my complete backup. Fortunately I still have the Recovery partition on this computer and Windows gave me the option to do the ‘back to original status’. This was apparently the only option I had so I got a brand new install of Windows 7.
I guess I could have kept trying, but I was tired of going in circles, so now I had a new install of Windows. I could have done a restore after the new install, but, what if the problem that caused the horrible crash was in the restore?
So since I have all of my data backed up I decided I would just go with the new install. I will admit it took me about two days to get back to where I wanted to be, but I did get rid of all that ‘crud creep’ that happens with Windows.
I use Karen’s Replicator to back up my data. It may not be for everyone, but it works for me. I have it scheduled to run all the jobs every day just before I normally turn my computer off. It generally takes between five and ten minutes to run every job. It backs up my documents, my pictures, my Firefox profile and my Snagit captures all to an external drive. Every two weeks I exchange the external drive and the last used one is taken to my bank box.
To see how to use Karen’s Replicator, see my article on Dave’s Computer Tips.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Firefox Broken?
Today I wanted to login to my Yahoo account. But I kept getting an error and couldn’t get to the login screen.
I tried with Chrome and got there just fine.
So what’s going on with Firefox? Maybe a bad cookie? Who knows.
After running the latest version of CCleaner, Firefox let me login with no problem, so perhaps it was a corrupted cookie. But then again, it could have been a corrupt temp file.
But it works now so that’s good. Of course now I have to get security codes sent to my phone on a bunch of sites!
The fun stuff just never quits.
I tried with Chrome and got there just fine.
So what’s going on with Firefox? Maybe a bad cookie? Who knows.
After running the latest version of CCleaner, Firefox let me login with no problem, so perhaps it was a corrupted cookie. But then again, it could have been a corrupt temp file.
But it works now so that’s good. Of course now I have to get security codes sent to my phone on a bunch of sites!
The fun stuff just never quits.
Monday, June 23, 2014
When Things Go Wrong Part 2
After the bill pay episode, as if that wasn’t enough, my email starts going haywire.
On Monday, the same day of the bill pay screw up, my email starts getting 'funny' (weird).
I noticed I got the same email from several folks, but not everyone. Just a few, but still it was irritating. My first inclination, it was another Yahoo Gotcha.
But then duplicate emails were coming from other sources. So I figured maybe there was a corrupted email on the server so I logged in and deleted all of the email there.
Tuesday, there was a deluge of duplicate emails, mostly from the day before! Again I logged in and deleted all of the mail on the server.
Wednesday. Still receiving all the duplicates. Can't get the mail screen on Charter server to come up so I can delete the mail.
Charter mail is starting to really piss me off.
Thursday. Still a trickle of duplicate mail from Charter. Still can't get to the mail account for Charter on the web.
Friday. More duplicate emails, the same emails that keep coming and coming, originally posted on Monday. I finally got logged in to Charter mail. Again I deleted all the mail online. (I wonder why just those few and not all email?)
The following week there are still some of the same emails trickling in to my Charter email. Finally the duplicate emails stopped coming. It took almost two weeks for the duplicates to stop.
With this email episode, I made the decision to move all my mail to outlook.com. While it may seem like I didn't just want to wait until Charter fixed the problem, there is an underlying reason for changing. If the merger between Comcast and Time Warner goes through,( and I will be very surprised if it doesn't,) my Charter email will probably go away because Charter will become Comcast in my area.
Since I have no idea what may or may not happen with Charter email, at least I am now ready for any change.
On Monday, the same day of the bill pay screw up, my email starts getting 'funny' (weird).
I noticed I got the same email from several folks, but not everyone. Just a few, but still it was irritating. My first inclination, it was another Yahoo Gotcha.
But then duplicate emails were coming from other sources. So I figured maybe there was a corrupted email on the server so I logged in and deleted all of the email there.
Tuesday, there was a deluge of duplicate emails, mostly from the day before! Again I logged in and deleted all of the mail on the server.
Wednesday. Still receiving all the duplicates. Can't get the mail screen on Charter server to come up so I can delete the mail.
Charter mail is starting to really piss me off.
Thursday. Still a trickle of duplicate mail from Charter. Still can't get to the mail account for Charter on the web.
Friday. More duplicate emails, the same emails that keep coming and coming, originally posted on Monday. I finally got logged in to Charter mail. Again I deleted all the mail online. (I wonder why just those few and not all email?)
The following week there are still some of the same emails trickling in to my Charter email. Finally the duplicate emails stopped coming. It took almost two weeks for the duplicates to stop.
With this email episode, I made the decision to move all my mail to outlook.com. While it may seem like I didn't just want to wait until Charter fixed the problem, there is an underlying reason for changing. If the merger between Comcast and Time Warner goes through,( and I will be very surprised if it doesn't,) my Charter email will probably go away because Charter will become Comcast in my area.
Since I have no idea what may or may not happen with Charter email, at least I am now ready for any change.
Friday, June 20, 2014
When Things Go Wrong
Starting on June 9, stuff started to go wrong.
That Sunday I logged into my credit union. I could see my account balance, but when I tried to get into bill pay to see if I had a bill to pay, all I got was a blank screen. OK, try later.
Monday the same problem.
I contacted the credit union to see what was going on, they stated no problem on their end, try a different browser. Besides Firefox, I tried Internet Explorer, Chrome and Safari. No go.
According to the customer service rep, my browser is not supported. (Oh dear, my credit union is NOT up to snuff!) I am using the latest version of all browsers. They are not certified for the updated browsers!
Since I have been using the latest browser for quite some time with no problem, something must be going on. Maybe there’s a problem with my computer? So I tried another computer. Nope that didn’t help.
Back to the Credit union customer service. After explaining I have tried four browsers and two computers, and still can’t get into the bill pay option, they decided perhaps it was on their end.
Eventually they did something that allowed me to finally get into the bill pay screen and all seemed to be OK.
Tuesday I checked my account online and now it wants me to signup for bill pay? WHAT! Are my scheduled payments going to be made? Will I have to redo everything? Another frantic connection with customer service that won’t be available for another hour. After I explained again what’s going on, and what seemed like a very long wait, my bill pay is back and all is well.
What a relief, but I am a bit concerned the site isn’t certified for the latest browsers.
I think I am too reliant on technology and this also concerns me.
That Sunday I logged into my credit union. I could see my account balance, but when I tried to get into bill pay to see if I had a bill to pay, all I got was a blank screen. OK, try later.
Monday the same problem.
I contacted the credit union to see what was going on, they stated no problem on their end, try a different browser. Besides Firefox, I tried Internet Explorer, Chrome and Safari. No go.
According to the customer service rep, my browser is not supported. (Oh dear, my credit union is NOT up to snuff!) I am using the latest version of all browsers. They are not certified for the updated browsers!
Since I have been using the latest browser for quite some time with no problem, something must be going on. Maybe there’s a problem with my computer? So I tried another computer. Nope that didn’t help.
Back to the Credit union customer service. After explaining I have tried four browsers and two computers, and still can’t get into the bill pay option, they decided perhaps it was on their end.
Eventually they did something that allowed me to finally get into the bill pay screen and all seemed to be OK.
Tuesday I checked my account online and now it wants me to signup for bill pay? WHAT! Are my scheduled payments going to be made? Will I have to redo everything? Another frantic connection with customer service that won’t be available for another hour. After I explained again what’s going on, and what seemed like a very long wait, my bill pay is back and all is well.
What a relief, but I am a bit concerned the site isn’t certified for the latest browsers.
I think I am too reliant on technology and this also concerns me.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)