Office disasters happen. Usually at the most inconvenient time in your project. Good old Murphy of Murphy’s Law is waiting to trip us up.

This weekend my 7-year-old computer started sending me messages that it was lying on its death bed and I should call the funeral home to make arrangements real soon. It’s been complaining about its bad back and chest pain for a while now, but I’ve ignored it.

After the CD drive refused to recognize any disk and the computer spontaneously rebooted itself in the middle of my work, I decided maybe I should listen to the whining and do something about it before it croaked in the middle of a big project.

So I bought a new computer. A cheap one, mind you, but it is still years beyond my old computer in technology. And then the fun started.

Since my old computer is still working I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal to transfer files from it to the new one. And yes, that has gone well, overall. Thank goodness for memory sticks.

But then we get to the things that don’t transfer well.

Install Disks for Everything

Do you think I can find my copy of Microsoft Office? Of course not. So I loaded up the trial copy for now while I hunt down my disks. I have 60 days to find them before the trial expires. I hope it’s long enough.

I did manage to find the CDs for my printer and cable modem. Big sigh of relief or I wouldn’t be here right now.

Email CDs, Settings and Files

The new computer wants me to use something called Windows Mail. But all of my contacts and a HUGE number of archived emails are in Outlook format. I transferred the Outlook databases over, but I have to find a copy of Outlook to install so I can use them. Then I have not remember the settings to connect to my account at my ISP. So for now, no email. I cringe at the hundreds I may have waiting when I finally get back in.

Feed Reader Software and Subscriptions

I use the Sweetie Reader from Alice at www.internetmarketingsweetie.com and I love it. I have around a hundred blog subscriptions in there and quite a few posts marked for follow-up, like a companion post on my blog. I can re-download the software from internetmarketingsweetie.com, but I need an export of my existing subscriptions. I pray it has that capability.

So, what’s the moral of the story?

When is the last time you backed up your documents? Do you know where your install CDs are? Do you know how to export contacts or feed subscriptions? Do you know email account info, in case you had to set it up in a different email program?

If your computer broke tomorrow, would you be able to recover in a short amount of time or would you be crying as you tried to remember obscure settings and rebuild everything from scratch?

Don’t be like me. Get prepared today just in case Murphy comes knocking!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!