Reader Comment Link May Have Crashed My Computer

 
I hope no one else clicked on a recent comment – which I’ve already deleted – referring to “nice name for a blog…” If you did and it caused computer problems for you, I apologize.

I was curious – a bad mistake – and clicked on the link, which I normally don’t do unless I recognize it. This time it took me to a suspicious-looking screen. I immediately closed the window, ran my anti-virus software, and shut down the computer, but it was too late. When I tried to restart later, it was fried, is now in the shop for repairs, and I’m working on my laptop.

So, the lessons I’ve learned from this are:

Back up your files regularly and frequently. I’m ecstatic that I started doing it every morning, so if all goes well, I’ve only lost a few dollars to repair the desktop unit and a few hours to reinstall the files and software.

If you rely on your computer for almost everything – as I do – it’s money well spent to have a backup computer sitting around. You may not be able to do everything you want, but it’s a great comfort.

And never, ever click on a link or open an email unless you know who it’s from!

Let’s all try to practice safe computing!