Geek Advice: How to protect your computer like a geek, part one.

Blogged on Saturday, March 15th, 2008 by Rachael. Filed in Geek Advice.

[NOTE: This is a Windows-only routine. For those of you with Mac or Linux routines, please leave me a link in the comments section, so that I can link them from here. Thanks!]

I have a weekly routine that I use to back up, protect, and update my computer - so it stays as shiny and usable as possible, and so that there aren’t so many ‘OH CRAP!’ moments. Like the kind that happen when your hard drive crashes and then you remember, as you stare at the black (or blue) screen of despair and death, that that last time you backed up your important information was three or four months ago. Maybe. And also you’re not sure where you put those disks anyway.

Then you think of all the documents and photographs and downloads and game data and chat logs you might have just lost, FOREVER, and the bottom drops out of your gut, and you feel like crying or screaming or giving up and walking away. Or maybe you just put your head down gently on your keyboard and sob quietly.

Never fear! A geek is here to help. :)

In my arsenal are these free applications:
BitDefender (antivirus)
Spybot Search & Destroy (spyware killer)
SpywareBlaster (another spyware killer)
FileHippo Update Checker (an update checker, like it sounds)
Gmail account (optional - for doing backups, if you don’t have an external drive of some kind)
Gspace Firefox addon (for doing those backups the easy way)
CCleaner (hard drive and registry cleaner)
Defraggler (a defrag utility, although you can also use Windows’ native defragmenter)

Don’t get all click-happy and download those until you read (and bookmark) this post, because some of them may require you to restart your computer, and if you’re like me you might have already forgotten what you were doing when the restart is finished - and then you’ll be kicking yourself when your hard drive crashes, because THAT is when you will remember what you were doing.

Step One: Back That Stuff Up

Okay, let’s begin!

The first thing you’re going to do is back up your data. FIRST. I know you want to use the pretty shiny apps, but you have to be smart about this, and do it the right way around. Back up your data first.

If you have an external hard drive that you can keep hooked up to your computer, or a flash drive that can hold at least your most recent weeks’ worth of gotta-keep-it data, then use that. As a secondary (or primary) backup device, use a Gmail account, with the recommended Gspace extension, to back your data up again. As an additional backup device, especially for photographs, use CD or DVD-Rs. I don’t recommend rewriteable disks, because that leaves open the possibility of overwriting your data. Depending on how much data you need to back up at a time, you can most likely get away with using one disk per backup.

I am assuming, for this post, that you all know how to do a backup. This isn’t a backup tutorial (although if plenty of people are confused, I’ll be happy to write one).

However, I will remind you to be smart about what you decide to back up, and how you do it. If your backed up data is confusing, then most likely your folder hierarchy and current organizational habits are confusing, and you should most likely spend a good ten to fifteen minutes organizing things in a way that makes sense BEFORE you back it all up. Trust me, this makes things simpler in the long run.

Gmail with Gspace

If you would like to try the Gmail/Gspace backup option, here’s a quick rundown on how that works:

First, sign up for another Gmail account. Don’t use your existing personal account, because it will quickly fill up with the data you’re backing up, and this will be unnecessarily frustrating. For a good name, try something like backup.yourname@gmail.com. If you have a lot of media that you want to back up and you’re worried it will fill up a Gmail account right away, then you will want to make several new addresses (for example, music.backup.yourname, or photos.backup.yourname). Keep track, obviously, of all your new account names and passwords, because they won’t do a thing for you if you can’t access them. I suggest writing all this down on a sticky note or notebook or in your planner/journal.

Second, download the Gspace Firefox extension. This only works with Firefox, obviously (and right now it does not work on Firefox’s version 3 beta releases), so if you are an IE user, don’t worry over this step. I’d encourage you to try Firefox, partly for the additional productivity hacks it offers, such as the Gspace extension.

You will have to restart Firefox to use your new Gspace extension, so be sure you have this post bookmarked in case you lose track of it.

Once it’s installed, put in your new backup Gmail account information, open the folder that has the data you want to transfer, and drag-and-drop it. Yep. It’s that simple. [NOTE: If you stay logged into your Gmail account normally, you’ll be logged into it still when you install Gspace. Make sure you log out of it in the Gspace interface, and log into your backup account, otherwise you’ll have a hilarious yet possibly annoying snafu.]

Got that? Great. Before we go on to step number two, there are several other good places online to store your documents for your possible backup scenarios, and here are just a few: Mozy, Box.net, and Carbonite.

Step Two: Windows Updates

Okay, I can hear you thinking at me - what makes that step two? Isn’t that done automatically all the time? Well, SURE, if you like being interrupted in the middle of an important project (or goofing around online, or playing a game, or whatever) because your computer HAS TO SHUT DOWN RIGHT NOW. If you have Vista on your machine, it’s even more likely that you will be interrupted without any warning whatsoever as your screen suddenly blinks and then you’re told (if you’re lucky) that it’s logging off. And then not to touch anything because it’s not done. No really. DON’T. TOUCH.

I dislike computers that don’t ask my permission, and no matter how many time it complains at you to ‘fix it’, I recommend that you turn off automatic updates. It will give you greater control over what your computer is doing, and really that’s better for you and your computer in the long run. Not to mention it’s better for your data.

After you run the updates manually (just go to the Windows Update website in IE, since it doesn’t like Firefox and will tell you so), make sure they are all completely installed and that everything is working correctly before going on to the next step. Now is your chance to turn back the clock and uninstall anything that got borked (or borked something else), while you still have all your data freshly backed up. Use System Restore if you have to. [NOTE: there is no guarantee that System Restore is going to work every time, so be as careful as possible - don’t assume the secondary safety net will save you.]

Done with that part? Great!

Step Three: Software Updates

Next up is updating all your software. Most of your software won’t automatically update itself or check at all, unless it’s an Adobe product or an Apple product. Or, of course, your antivirus software, which should be checking in daily at least once for definition updates.

The best and easiest app I have found so far to update software is FileHippo’s Update Checker. It’s a little app that you put anywhere you like (just don’t forget where), and it scans your computer when you run it to see what software you have and whether it’s been recently updated. It will take you to a special page on FileHippo’s website that lists all the updates you could have if you wanted, and from there you can download to your heart’s content.

I recommend that you only install one or two at a time between restartings; some updates might mess with other updates if you install them all at the same time BEFORE the recommended restart that most of them have.

Done with that part? Wasn’t it fun? Pat yourself on the back, you’re halfway there!

Go to part two!