Dealing with Technology ‘Glitches” (grrrr..)

So, I haven’t been as present in writing my blog for over a week now; my computer went down. I was sitting in my office with it running fine; I turned around and then noticed a blue screen. Then black. I was able to turn it on, but it kept saying ‘no boot detected.’ Being resourceful, I turned to the internet (from my phone) to see if I could determine the problem. I was able to do a systems check, which then showed “no hard drive detected.’ Uh oh….

I am amazed at the power of Youtube, as I was able to find a video teaching me how to check the hard drive (I had to go buy a special screwdriver); unfortunately, it still didn’t work. The next step – other than not panicking – was to call someone. This person was able to detect the problem and fix it, at a very inexpensive price. But that didn’t take care of all the problems – I had my applications that had to be re-installed, which took a couple days and calling someone else.

The good news is, I’m back! For me, who also teaches online, this could have been very bad. But, I learned some things from this:

• you are more resourceful than you know – not only was I able to try and fix the computer (and do some reinstalls), but I was able to use my tablet and phone to get some work done
• calling for help is not a bad thing – isn’t that why us ‘experts’ exist?
• be sure to BACK UP your data regularly; I am thankful that I have an external hard drive but will work to back up my data more regularly
• do not panic; I worked to remain calm that things would work out well – I didn’t want to put that negativity into the universe and invite it in
• utilize your contacts for referrals and services; the person who fixed my computer was someone I met at a networking event
• make sure you have all your user ID’s and passwords kept in one location, as well as account numbers so you can get back in business quickly
• you are more resourceful than you know

Hopefully, I’m good to go for quite a while; I know computers have their ‘shelf life’ but I don’t anticipate any more problems. I’m good to go and back in business. Thanks for your patience and readership.