To give you more reasons why you should backup your data now, allow me to reiterate the 5 phases of grief, from data loss that is, as detailed by the author of the article.

Denial. As from any other loss, the person directly involved starts off with denial. In the case of loss of data, the computer user/owner would always assume that it’s just a software issue and a reboot will get things restored just fine.

Anger. Of course, if he’s tried rebooting for the nth time already and nothing seems to be happening that would indicate possible recovery, denial flies out of the window and anger sets in. He could blame the manufacturer of the hard drive he’s been using, he could seethe with anger at the power company causing the outages that eventually led to the demise of his PC, or most of the frustration would be at his own failure to use a backup in the first place.

Bargaining. As soon as the anger abates, bargaining for the most feasible and least costly potential recovery solutions would begin. He may consider buying a new hard drive and transferring the contents himself. Or could it be possible that data loss recovery is no longer as expensive as they once were? You’d sure wish they were but unfortunately, that isn’t the case just yet.

Depression. If he’s gone through all the options and getting back lost files seems to be still way out of reach, what’s a data loss victim likely to do? Wallow in despair, that’s what. Just thinking about the photos, music, notes, important documents, and all other what-have-you’s gathered throughout the years would make anyone just want to have a good, long cry – at the very least.

Acceptance. But after having gone through all these stages however, what else really is left to do? In the end, you’d simply have to come to terms with the fact that you’d just have to forget this particularly frustrating episode in your life, or else spend a fortune on recovering all that lost data.

If you don’t want to waste precious time – and tears – going through all these 5 stages of data loss grief, make sure you have an online backup solution that you can count on. Have a look at our Carbonite review and Mozy review to find out why these two are the top-rated online backup services today.

And with technology being where it is these days, it’s quite easy for travelers to get Wi-Fi or internet access while traveling. Airports, hotels, malls, and other public venues are now hotspots that provide instant Web access. But then again you have to ask yourself: Doesn’t the convenience come with a price? Are you in fact, putting your business or personal data at risk?

The simple answer to this is yes. You have to remember that the public hotspot you are currently using is also being utilized by many other individuals. And if someone with malicious intent attempts to hack or gain access to any of the data being sent over the wireless network, he could certainly do so. Further, constantly bringing your laptop with you obviously puts you at risk for theft.

To lessen the chances of losing data or falling victim to hackers, here are some tips to help protect your data while traveling:

• Keep your laptop closely guarded. Laptops are portable, and therefore thin and light, and basically, easy to get from right under your nose. To physically safeguard your laptop from thieves, nothing works better than making sure it’s close to you at all times. If you feel the need to sleep while in trains or public transports, put your laptop in its designated bag first and then wrap the bag’s strap around your arm.

• Avoid using public networks when transmitting sensitive information. This rule applies even when you’re not on the road and you’re simply accessing the web through a coffee shop or from your hotel room.

• Use encryption technology. If using Wi-Fi in public can’t be avoided or even if you use it sparingly, it’s always best to use protection that deters hackers from infiltrating your system. This is especially necessary if you are constantly handling sensitive or confidential information. With the use of effective encryption technology, data loss can be avoided.

• Use anti-virus and anti-spyware tools. Viruses, spyware, and other malware wreak havoc on any PC or laptop, sometimes causing it to slow down drastically, or worse, wiping off files and important documents. Stop such infiltrations by installing protection on your laptop particularly when you’re not confident of the security of your internet access.

• Use online backup and storage. When you know that your important files and data are being automatically and regularly backed up, you can always rest easy knowing that whatever happens, you won’t ever have to deal with the consequences of data loss.

The risks of viruses, theft, hacking, and consequently data loss, are unavoidable for those who travel often or even just occasionally. But if you put in the necessary precautions to protect your data such as installing security tools or using online backup solutions like Carbonite or Mozy Home, you should have little to worry about.

The registry is simple in explanation. It is a database where your operating system keeps track of every file that interacts with one another from your programs to your personal settings. However simple that may sound, the average registry is an absolute mess! Left unchecked, they can become like that tangle of hair in the drain that makes your sink drain slowly. You computer can slow way down and even crash completely. As that tangle gets worse, so does the problem. And this is one mess that will not straighten itself out without some help. So keeping your registry clean is vital.

Your typical registry cleaner program is very easy to use. Most people don’t like the idea of digging that ball of hair out of the drain, so the registry cleaner is sort of like getting a plumber. You give it some basic parameters and it does the rest for you. You can get registry cleaners programs for numerous different companies, so it is recommended that you first research which ones have gotten positive feedback. Once you have a registry cleaner, you will immediately notice the benefits of cleaning up that messy registry.

When the cleaner goes through your registry it will remove all the files associated with programs that no longer exist. For instance, if you uninstall a game, the files for that game’s association with your graphics card, sound card, internet, etc, will all still be in the registry. Getting rid of these files can clean up huge amounts of space. That means your computer will run faster, especially at startup when the registry loads. Coupled with defragging your hard drive, you will notice a much quicker computer as well as one which is less prone to random crashes.

While a cluttered registry is not always the cause of slow operation or computer crashes, it is a very common one. And even if you aren’t experiencing crashes, keeping your registry clean is a very basic rule with computer maintenance. You have to make sure that you are doing everything that you can to keep your computer in tip top shape. That may mean getting yourself a registry cleaner program and running it frequently so that you never have to worry about those annoying slow downs and computer crashes.

The single best thing you can do to prevent non-hardware computer crashes from occurring is to do regular maintenance on your computer. You wouldn’t drive your car for years without changing the oil, so why would you let your computer operate for that long without cleaning things up? First, run regular scan disk and defrag programs. You should do this every couple of months at the least. You also need to get a registry cleaner and run it at least as often. Set a schedule for yourself so that you don’t forget. And if your computer begins to feel sluggish or slow, you can always run the programs again.

Viruses can cause huge problems for anyone who spends a lot of time on the internet. You owe it to yourself to have a good anti-virus program. Browsing without one is just asking to have your data corrupted, or worse, stolen. When you get an anti-virus program, make sure you read up about potential software conflicts. Oftentimes, the anti-virus software can be the cause of crashes as it may disable some programs it sees as hostile, even if they aren’t.

A sound piece of advice in how to prevent computer crashes that are hardware-based is to have multiple hard drives. Try to keep your operating system on its own drive. If an operating system goes bad, you can often just install a new drive with a fresh OS and you will be fine. If your data is on separate hard drives, they will remain unaffected. Two hard drives are recommended, but having a third drive for backups is optimal. Drives with huge storage capacity run relatively cheap today and there really isn’t an excuse not to have an extra one on hand.

If you follow these few simple steps, you will find that you have a much better time avoiding crashes. Regular maintenance of your computer is essential and the programs which perform these procedures do not require any expertise. Most of the programs only require that you click their start button and they do all the rest. Protecting yourself with good anti-virus software and a data backup strategy ensures that if you should have a threat of a virus or crash, you are prepared. The causes of crashes can be numerous, but the methods for how to prevent computer crashes are basically all the same and fortunately, they are steps that anyone can take.