Tips on Avoiding PC Data Loss

Data is important information that is stored on your computer. You can lose this data due to several different reasons, such as:

• System failure due to hardware malfunctioning, malware infections, registry damage, and hard disk failure.
• Sudden power failure and electrical surges.
• Natural threats, such as fire, earthquakes, and bomb blasts.
• Data (hacking or through external media) or system theft.
• User errors.

You can take several measures in order to prevent this data loss. First and foremost, ensure that you implement an efficient and well-tested backup strategy to make regular backups of your data. Usually, it is recommended that you implement a backup strategy that enables you to save your data both offsite and onsite. You may also choose an online backup service that is more economical and easy to use. You must always test your backup strategy to ensure that it is reliable and you can use it easily to restore your data in case of a problem. Frequency of backups depends on several factors. For instance, before implementing your backup strategy, you must ask questions, such as

How critical is the data?
How often the data changes?
What kind of threats the premises in which your data is located is prone to?
Windows XP and Windows Vista also include the System Restore utility that basically takes the backup of your system settings and configuration information at a particular time. This computer recovery utility is useful to restore your system back to a last working state in case of a system failure. Although useful, one of the main disadvantages of this utility is that all your backup data is saved on the hard disk, and if the system problem occurs due to hard disk failure, it may not be possible to restore your system. In this case, you may even have to reinstall your system and restore your data from a backup taken earlier.

There are certain tasks that you can perform to prevent data loss due to system failure. Some of these tasks are explained below:

• To prevent system failure due to virus and spyware infections, you must install tools, such as antivirus and antispyware on your computer. These tools help you scan and remove malware infections from your computer. You must take care to keep these tools updated and enable their real time protection to ensure that your computer is protected against the latest malware at all times.
• You must keep your registry free of corrupt and erroneous information because this junk information damages the registry and thereby may result in system failure. For this, you must perform regular registry maintenance and make regular registry backups. You can do this easily with the help a reliable registry cleaner tool.
• To prevent hard disk failures, you must keep the disk free of unwanted and fragmented files. To do this, you must use the Disk Cleanup tool to help you remove obsolete files from the computer and use the Disk Defragmenter tool to consolidate the fragmented files on the system.
• To prevent problems such as overheating that may result in hardware failure, you must keep your system dust free. You should periodically open up your system and vacuum it to remove all deposited dust on its components. Finally, to prevent data or system thefts, you must keep your computer(s) in a safe location. You must especially be careful with mobile computers, such as laptops. Moreover, you must take care to keep your backups in a safe and secure location.