Janet Hall, The Organizing Wizard and Certified Pyramid Feng Shui Practitioner, offers professional organizing services to small and large businesses and also works with individuals, families, seniors, and individuals with ADD and ADHD in dealing with home clutter and time management.

Janet Hall has written organizing articles for various publications. She is the owner of OverHall Consulting, and Organizing By Phone and has written several organizing booklets. Subscribe to her FREE organizing newsletter at www.overhall.com/newsletter.htm or visit her web site at www.overhall.com.

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D - BUST YOUR COMPUTER
B - Stands for Back Up
Wouldn't it be nice if our computers would give us a warning before our computers "crashed"?

Warning, Warning, your computer will crash in three hours, stop what you are doing and perform a backup now!

I truly believe that never has once critical instruction on a piece of equipment been so widely ignored then this, make a backup of your information!

Is it ignored because people don't have the time, they forget, or they don't know how to perform this easy task?

Whatever the reason, here are my 10 top reasons for performing a backup:

1. Your computer is giving you 'fatal' error warnings.
2. You've created and typed a lot of new documents.
3. You've changed a large file/report that contains a lot of graphic art.
4. You've been doing design work.
5. You've installed new software.
6. Your computer is noticeably slower.
7. You've completed a project.
8. It would be extremely time consuming to re-create your materials.
9. It would be a disaster if you * lost * your information.
10. Your livelihood depends on your computer and the information stored on it.

When was the last time you performed a backup of your computer files, folders, or (C:) Drive?

When was the last time you backed-up your software?

Things that can cause your hard drive to "CRASH":

1. Viruses
2. Wear and Tear
3. Power Surges
4. Improper Ventilation
5. Dust
6. Heat
7. Human Error

According to Elisa Williams, in her article "Sooner or later, you're gonna crash": ...all hard drives eventually will fail because they are made up of mechanical parts that at some point-though it may be years and years-will wear out and malfunction. Most drives built for home use have a lifespan of about 10,000 to 50,000 hours. If you never turn your computer off-which many people don't - that time passes quickly. One year equals 8,448 hours on your [hard] drive.

This is all kind of scary isn't it? Well, maybe performing a backup is scary too. Now you can chase those fears away!

Microsoft users can do a backup using the backup function found under * System Tools * on their computer. There is a wizard that will guide you through the process. You can get FREE step-by-step instructions on how to use this feature. I use this function on my laptop and I use an Iomega Zip Drive on my main computer to do my backups. I find the Iomega quick, efficient, and easy to use. You can also customize your backups as in Microsoft. Editors Note: With the extremely low prices of CD-ROM Burners and blank recordable disks (about 25 cents per disc when bought in bulk) there is no excuse for not backing up your important files or hard drive.

You can also have your backups performed for you by a service and stored off-site for you. Having someone else do backups for you takes away the headaches of having to do them yourself and it is reassuring that they ARE getting done and are stored off-site. This is something you need to think about because you never know when a disaster might strike your building or where you store your backups.

So, what are you waiting for? Schedule a date and time and please do at least one back up before next month.

Smiles, not Piles,
Janet L. Hall