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Natural Awakenings Westchester / Putnam / Dutchess New York

Safeguarding Valuable Computer Files Is Good Insurance: A well-protected computer is just like a good insurance policy.

Aliza Freedman

Aliza Freedman, owner of the Computer Fairy, has a cautionary tale about properly safeguarding home computers—and it comes from one of her clients, a longtime teller of tales. Freedman recently received a panicked phone call from this client, a short story writer who had 400 titles archived and sorted on her computer but suddenly couldn’t access any of them.

“My client was nearly in tears,” she recalls. “When she went to open the file that contained all her stories, her computer kept giving her an error message saying that the file could not open. When I got to her house, I reminded her that when I was there six months earlier, I’d installed a program, just as a precaution, that allowed her to restore damaged files. So she was able to recover that invaluable file.”

Many people don’t give much thought to the what-ifs of computer safety, she notes. “You would be amazed how many people store family photos on their computers, hoping to keep them safe, when they actually aren’t keeping them safe at all. Much of my time is spent recovering clients’ damaged photos and documents.”

The moral of the story? “A well-protected computer is just like a good insurance policy,” Freedman says. “If you haven’t done it already, now is the time to ensure your home computer has up-to-date protection from viruses and hackers, and has a complete and automatic backup system for all your files and photos. Fortunately, this was one story with a happy ending.”

For more info, visit TheComputerFairy.com or call 203.554.5975.