'Crash course' in computing calls for advance preparation

ATLANTA — Your computer is a sneaky beast. It acts as if the two of you are best friends — that it'll always be there for you. Don't be fooled.

It is waiting with a snarky smile until you have an important e-mail to send, or a crucial project for work or school. Then, when you need your friend the computer, it crashes.

I promise, if you mess with computers long enough it'll happen to you, no matter how faithfully you maintain the beast.

That's why it's important to prepare for disaster in advance. Think of today's column as a true crash course. We'll talk about what to do on that sad day when your computer crashes.

The Web is full of advice — both helpful and stupid — on how to cope with a crash. There are software programs that promise miracle healings and technical instructions that require a degree in engineering and two aspirins to read. But we're going to stick with basics today — practical things a home user can do.

Let's start with some advance preparation. Frequent readers can recite this along with me, but it's too important to ignore. Install and use software that guards against viruses, spyware and other malware. Use a UPS — an uninterruptable power supply — to guard against voltage surges. Protect your information by making frequent back-up copies, using either an online service or an external hard disk.

The hard disk is the root of all evil when it comes to computers. Failures of the processor chip or the components on the computer's main circuit board are rare. But the hard disk is a Frankenstein of technology. It's part electronic and part mechanical — with a motor that spins internal disks around at breakneck speed. You can't see it but it bears a small tattoo: born to die.

If you're lucky you can use various tools including Windows' built-in Recovery Console to fix things. If you're luckier still, you may be able to use one of Windows' restore points to automatically roll things back to a time when your computer hummed along with no problems.

It's also important to learn how to start your computer in Safe Mode. You can use the Windows Help button to learn about each of these methods now, while your computer is working — just enter those terms (Safe Mode, Restore Point, and Recovery Console).

But there are times you are faced with installing a new hard disk, reinstalling Windows, and then all your programs, and finally restoring the data from your back-up.

But what about times when you need a working computer right now, not two days from now?

One nifty way around that problem is Back in a Flash. It automatically makes back-ups of your data. It can get you back to computing instantly, even when your main hard disk is beyond repair.

Besides containing your back-up data, it has its own operating system and its own programs for e-mail, writing, and editing, Web browsing and a few other things. In a disaster, you boot your computer from it and finish important tasks immediately before replacing a dead hard disk. Read about it here: www.backinaflash.com.