With all of the recent news about Search Engine Optimization, you could almost forget that the thing we did here before these dang intertubes took over our lives was Computer Care. Through PC-VIP we do fixed-cost business computer support world-wide, and at The Computer Answer Guy you’ll get the best break/fix computer care in New York City.
And this week, courtesy of Google, business is pretty good.
The problem has been resolved, but last week Gmail broke, as over 150,000 users suddenly found their Gmail accounts replaced by … nothing. Sure, it’s free, but when your Gmail vanishes you aren’t thinking about how much you paid for it; you just need to get it back.
Wouldn’t it great if you could get your Gmail back in seconds, and you didn’t have to pay through the nose for the privilege?
Some computer support truisms have existed since the time of old-school software like PrintCache. The most basic is that you need back up your important stuff.
Doing back-up is a little more complicated when your files live in the cloud, and different again when there are literally no files to back up, but unless you’re OK with sitting on your hands for a week while your cloud services provider restores your important data—or worse, losing your data altogether—back it all up you must.
The Answer Guy can help get your back-up plans in order, or with a little perseverance you can set things up for yourself; just as we tell you is the case with our Search Engine Optimization Services, what we do is (mostly) not rocket science. But please: get in the habit of backing up your data. I’ve been telling clients that for about 25 years, and cloud computing has proven is that it’s still an uphill battle that you’re going to lose eventually unless you prepare for it.
By the way: note that the link I used above to tell you about the Gmail failure points to Lifehacker.com. Lifehacker is a GawkerMedia property, and just one of many web sites that made a bunch of noise on the subject. If you run into Nick Denton or his lapdog Tony Kaye, feel free to point out that I’m still sending them traffic.
