UGH!! First Computer VIRUS!!

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Originally posted by catnapper
Now I want to toss a lot of stuff on some CDs, but need a run to Staples for more.

Just a little thing I "discovered." I have way too many pics and videos to back them up to Zip drives, CDs and I couldn't even considered old fashioned floppys. I even tried a few of the mini USB drive thingys and the last one I bought was around $80 or $90 and was (I think) 256 MB. I started doing some research, and for a little over $200.00 I got a 250 GIGAbyte drive!!! Yes, most people have hard drives that are 40 - 80 gig, this external one is 250! The 400 gig was over $400.00, so I went with the 250 gig. So with this external hard drive, I can back up my entire laptop, Terry's entire PC, my entire PC at work, my boss's entire PC and still have room left over! So for a little more than double the money of the mini USB, I got, like, 1,000 times the space!

So my point is, instead of spending money on CD's that only fit relatively miniscule amounts of data, look into an external hard drive for back up purposes. Kim, I know you're not loaded and coming up with an extra $200.00 might be a stretch, but they do have "smaller" hard drives for less money, maybe around $50.00 or so, so look into that before you spend money on CD's. The one I got connects through a USB port so you just install the driver and plug it in and you're ready to start backing up! I got my from Amazon.

Debbie, that is weird! Terry once got a virus and he got this spiral thingy going in the middle of his screen. He could still use the computer - he just couldn't see anything in the middle of his screen where the spiral thingy was. Thank goodness he could still use it though, because that was a long time ago now and I hadn't backed up anything on his computer prior to the virus so I was able to get the important stuff off before I reformatted. Learned my lesson about backup, and now do them on a regular basis.

And just FYI, I too would not format unless absolutely positively necessary. Doing it every month is a little extreme and would be a total pain in the rear! I've had to do it a couple of times and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy!

[catnapper]

Thanks for the tip Debbie! I was thinking about a backup external hard drive, but never figured they could be had for aroun $50. I'll have to consider that when I go shopping next. It would be a life saver should anythign ever happen to my computer -- I have soooo much information on her for work that if it was lost would be devastating to me and my work.