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System and Data Recovery

FIRST, call the merchant that sold you the PC to see if you are still under warranty, in which case they are responsible for repairs, provided the failure is hard, not soft. How do you know? Someone has to do a diagnosis.

If either your machine or Windows will not start, it is probably due to one of the following:

  1. Your power supply has failed, as indicated by the silence of cooling fans and the absence of power lights. Your machine is at least five years old. You should replace it now, and you should not spend any money on repairs as multiple failures will surely follow. All of your data is safe. If you wish, I can help you purchase a new machine and then migrate your data and programs as well.

  2. The partition has been destroyed, usually due to a power failure or inadvertent discharge of static electricity, or the Windows operating system was corrupted by a write error during a forced shutdown. I will rebuild your partition or reinstall your OS, using your original CD key, which I will retrieve from your hard drive. There is no loss of data with either of these services.

  3. Your hard drive has become corrupt due to bad sectors. Like a string of pearls, you lose one pearl, and you lose the entire string. Your data is gone! I guarantee you that I will recover all recoverable sectors. Please note that I offer no guarantee on data that resides on bad sectors, but my success rate is very good.

  4. Your boot reports "I/O error" or "Primary Master not found." If you need the data, SHUT DOWN! This is the worst possible scenario, but I will fix it! Nine out of ten times.

How to Prevent Malware Infections

  • Don't ever download a file that you did not specifically go on the Internet with an intent to download.

  • Don't ever click on an advertisement offering you an "IQ test."

  • Once infected, do not cancel or close a pop up resulting from the infection, usually a "Warning - you are infected." Simply click and hold the mouse button on the Window title and drag it as far off your screen as possible.

  • If you ever see a file named "autorun.inf" file on a thumbdrive, you should delete it. You should also consider yourself infected and take action to disinfect your machine and any machines on which the thumbdrive was used.

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  • Don't ever follow a prompt to disinfect your computer if you do not specifically see the name of your anti-virus program in the title of the Window displaying the prompt. Do not click the "cancel" button either. Instead, simply close your browser.

  • Don't ever follow a prompt telling you to pay a fee to prevent prosecution for a copyright violation.

  • Don't ever download a file that is supposedly required in order to view an image or video, ever.

  • Learn how to inspect the "headers" in your email. (It's a different set of clicks for each email client.) If the To: field is empty, or if the email address in the Reply-to: field is different from the one in From: field, do not follow any links in that email.


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