Tornado PC Repairs

To help understand why a fragmented hard can slow down your computer it may help to understand the process better, or how the operating system populates the drive.

A hard drive consists of a number of different blocks and sectors and this is where your data is actually stored. When you write data to the drive rather than place the data in a predetermined position the data is dropped almost randomly over the entire hard drive.

To exacerbate matters a single file can consist of a number of individual pieces of information that are scattered around and when you query the drive for the information the drive heads have to visit multiple sectors of the drive to pick up the full file.

This is in effect like cutting up your credit card and scattering the individual pieces around the house, if you go on line to make a purchase you would then have to run round the house to collect all the individual pieces of your card in order to make payment (get the file our need).

In hard drive terms this is called a fragmented drive. A fragmented hard drive can also shorten the lifespan of your hard disk as the heads have to work many times harder to scour the drive to find all the parts of the fragmented file.  Windows has its own free defragmentation utility you can use as part of your system maintenance, or you could buy a more refined version that lets you set automatic background defragmentation of your drive during slack processor and usage cycles.

Data recovery is a computing term that is used to describe a situation where data stored on a desktop computer or a laptop is lost. In this scenario, data recovery measures would be taken to restore the data. There are many reasons why data can be lost and many different ways that it can be restored.

One of the most common reasons for data loss is human error. A user may, for example, delete a file from their computer by mistake and may need to use data recovery solutions or tools to get it back. In this instance the user could use the Recycle Bin facility or, if that doesn’t work, use specialist software or a data recovery expert to find the file on their system and to restore it.

Data is sometimes also lost by overenthusiastic computer buffs who mess around with their system to try and make it run better. Playing with partitions, for example, can result in data loss — there are specific programs that can help restore data if this happens. Sometimes, it is simple to click on the wrong button when you are working on your computer and to see data loss as a result because you inadvertently mess with the system itself. Again, there are a variety of programs that could offer a solution here.

Another common reason for data loss is physical damage to your computer or to one of its parts. If you accidentally drop your computer case then you could damage some of the delicate parts that make your system work. The damage here could well result in data loss. This kind of damage is usually best handled by a data recovery specialist unless you have the technical skills yourself.

Viruses and other forms of malware can also cause data loss problems when files are corrupted as can software bugs. The solution here is often to simply run your anti virus program or to install one if you haven’t got round to it! The anti virus software will source the virus and get rid of it from which point you shouldn’t have the corruption problem.

It is also possible to need to recover data from a variety of computer peripherals such as portable storage media such as disks and drives. The solution to problems here will depend on the damage/cause of the data loss. Sometimes, a simple software fix will help you restore your data here and sometimes you will need expert help.

Don’t think that you will never need data recovery yourself. It is easy to believe that this kind of thing only happens to people who are careless or who do not take good care of their equipment but this is not necessarily the case. Computers are made of various key components which can sometimes simply fail without warning.

These kinds of mechanical failures often bring with them data loss of some kind. In some cases you may lose files and in others you may not be able to use your operating system at all. There are various fixes here most of which are best carried out by an experienced computer technician/data recovery expert.

Everyone does maintenance on their computer in one form or another. You have the surge protector, you have the antivirus installed and you may even have a registry cleaner or ad protecting program. You may even be as bold as defragmenting your hard drive on occasion. But do you have a system or plan? Do you have any of your important data on backup?

Everyone with a computer has lost data at one time or another. A sudden system crash or mistakenly deleting something can wreak havoc on your nerves or business. A thunderstorm and power surge to you power supply can fry your data. Sometimes it can be saved by taking the entire hard drive into a technician for recovery and it can be a long, tedious, and expensive process.

If you have information on your computer that you want to make sure you keep, then you need to back it up in some way. Depending on how important the data is to you, you may want to consider two types of backup. Depending on the data you want to protect you may need to create a backup on a daily or even hourly basis.

There are many types of backups and many ways to do it. You can use DVDs or CDs, external hard drives, online servers, or a “thumb drive”. Burning data to a CD or DVD is very simple. Select the files you want to save and save them. Online servers can be set to just a simple click of the mouse and it will synchronize with your computer and do all the work automatically. Thumb drives have replaced the CD and DVD with ease of use. Plug the thumb drive into the USB port and save your work and take it out when you’re done. Put the thumb drive into your pocket or purse and you can retrieve your data from any other computer you use no matter where you are. The thumb drives can have as little or as much memory as you need and can be password protected or even use thumbprint scans to protect your data if anyone else ever gets their hands on it.

A full backup may be a bit of overkill if you are backing up your personal computer. A full backup creates a mirror of your entire hard drive, including every file and folder that is on your computer. But this option can be used in conjunction with a differential backup. This type of backup creates the backup of only files that have been changed or upgraded. You could create a full backup and then weekly or monthly depending on the importance of your data, complete a differential backup which will keep your backup up to date.

You computer probably already has a snapshot backup in it’s programming. It creates a mirror of your hard drive and backs up the images of your files. You can also choose disk imaging. This will allow you to back up your entire hard drive or just certain files of your choosing. However the programs that are already installed on your computer for this job may not be the most user friendly.

Most people find that the unattended backup is the easiest to use. There are multitudes of software on the market that will automatically backup your system to your specifications without you doing much of anything else. Always choose the program you want to use carefully. While consumer friendly use is a major point, you’ll want to make sure that you can set it up and make changes to it when needed.

These programs are usually very easy to use and all you have to do is follow the prompts on the screen and it will complete all the work for you. And you don’t want to spend hundreds of  pounds on a program meant to backup data for some Multi-National Company’s PCs when you just want to protect the data on your home computer. There are plenty of reasonably price software packages that will do the work you specifically need done without breaking the bank.

You can research different companies and programs on the internet. There are forums that people that have tried the products will tell if it was good or bad or easy or hard to use. Be an educated consumer. Go ahead and pick the brains of your computer savvy friends. Many times your friends will be eager to show off their knowledge of computers.

Software backup is the best way to save your work, your correspondence, even your family pictures. Anything can happen to a computer at any given time. Just a simple power surge can destroy years of memories. So data backup is an important part of any computer maintenance. And it may just save your sanity later.

Viruses seem to becoming thick and fast recently, worse than the diseases they were named after!

The people who write these are getting more and more sophisticated as they develop more ways to get round a PC’s anti-virus prgram.

These malicious programs, which probably started life as playful code have evolved into rather potent tools capable of making even the most advanced IT infrastructure hidden behind hardware firewalls grind to a halt.

This is why it is imperative to make sure your antivirus is always up to data because as new viruses are found the antivirus vendors are updating the software to ensure there software can detect this malevolent code.

Unfortunately though to really secure your home or business pc from attack and to reduce the vulnerability of your system it is advisable that you also make sure you have other software installed that can detect malware for example Malwarebytes, as the effects of this can be as if not more devastating than a simple virus, and can in certain circumstances leave your PC open to hacking or even digital theft and identity theft.

If you do keep passwords and sensitive documents on your computer you should always password protect the files using standard functionality that is built into most office software suites