We rely on our computers so much, at work, at home and in our leisure time, that it seems almost impossible to remember a time without them or contemplate what we’d do without them. Unfortunately, no matter how advanced our computers become, there’s still a chance that they could fail or become damaged, and when that happens it always seems to be at the worst possible time. Here are three things to do if your computer suddenly fails, or if it begins to show the sign of an impending failure.
1. Don’t Panic
Prevention is the best form of cure, of course, so if your computer begins to behave erratically, shows signs of data loss or makes strange noises, then you should seek expert help from a computer repair and recovery technician immediately. It may be, however, that your computer fails without warning, or at least without you noticing the warning signs. When that happens, it can seem like a domestic disaster but don’t panic and try to switch your computer off and on numerous times or you could make the situation even worse. Take a deep breath, evaluate the situation and then call a repair specialist; remember that the sooner you take this step, the sooner repairs can be carried out and your computer returned in a working state.
2. Note What’s Happened
Dealing with computer failure can be stressful, especially if you’re in the middle of an important task, and with stress and panic can come confusion. A repair engineer will want to know what happened, but if you’ve been in a panic you can easily forget what happened and the sequence of events that led to the failure. That’s why you should stay calm, as in our first point above, and write down what you noticed and what happened when the failure occurred. This could be vital information for the rapid repair of your computer, so don’t take the risk of simply committing it to memory.
3. Recover Your Data
Your local computer repair shop may be able to fix your computer, but what about that all-important data stored upon it? When we lose files, we lose work and potentially money, when we lose photos, we lose something even more precious – memories. Losing data after computer failure is traumatic, but it doesn’t have to stay lost. There are Secure Data Recovery locations nationwide, and companies like this are experts in recovering data from computer hard drives, solid-state drives, USB drives, and memory sticks, flash drives and even CDs and DVDs. The most reassuring thing of all about their service is that they make no charge if they can’t recover the data, so you have nothing to lose.
Your computer and the data upon it are precious, so don’t take the risk of making faults worse by trying to fix it yourself using data recovery software or file repair options. Expert help from hardware repair and data recovery specialists can have your computer back up and running quicker than you imagine and with that all-important data ready to access once more.