I’ve just uploaded a new issue of the weekly letter I write for private clients and members. You can read the entire letter by logging into the member area.
One of the topics I cover is how to protect your computer. Because this is so important, I’ve included that portion of the letter below…
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Nate Brooks Letter Excerpt
Business Growth & Practical Insights
Are you prepared for your NEXT computer hard drive crash?
Every year about 40% to 45% computer users LOSE important emails, documents, photos and other important information.
Unfortunately, most of us are not prepared properly for any type of computer disaster. Probably, they never believe it will happen to them…so they take a chance and become lazy and undisciplined about having a Computer Disaster Recovery Plan.
Last Saturday, October 4, 2008, I was typing on my laptop… getting ready to write a trading report. Then, I heard a slight, barely noticeable grinding sound that I had not heard before. I looked at the computer and unplugged my laptop cooling board and re-plugged it in and the noise seemed to go away…so I assumed the noise was just a vibration noise from the cooling board to the laptop computer. I looked away for about 45 seconds and when I turned my head back to my computer…I noticed the computer had shut down. By the way, I later discovered that the light grounding sound was the sound of a hard drive about to crash.
Now, I must admit…I WAS IN A PANIC…because I didn’t have my data backed up, I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t have a Computer Disaster Recovery Plan…bottom line – I DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO!
Do you know what the first thing you should do if your computer crashes?
I didn’t have a clue…so, I picked up the phone and called a computer friend of mine to ask for advice and here’s what he said immediately…in an almost shouting like voice,
Do NOT turn on your computer…Do NOT turn on your computer…Do NOT turn on your computer.
Now, I don’t know about you, but, my first instinct was that I should turn on my computer to “see” if it will comeback on. And, I spoke to several people and they told me that was what they either did, when their computer crashed, OR that is what they would do if their computer crashed. Unfortunately, for the people who said, “they did try to turn on their computer”, ALL of them LOST the data on their hard drive and had to start over from scratch…literally.
Fortunately for me, I got the correct advice and that is why I am typing this newsletter to you. I don’t want you to make the mistake of trying to turn on your computer when it happens to you and I wanted you to have a detailed recovery plan outlined and PRINTED OUT on paper so you know what to do.
Here’s the reason WHY you don’t try and turn your computer on. What I found out was that when a hard drive crashes, many times it may only come back on…just one more time. So, you want the hard drive repair technician to be ready to pull the data off and put it on a backup drive.
That one piece of advice was absolutely critical and quite possibly saved me all sorts of pain and anguish. I was able to get ALL of my data restored onto a back up drive…and now I have a backup program running and saving everything to an external hard drive and I am up and running with the least amount of interruption to me. I am not an EXPERT in this area…but, I believe I can at least give you some simple things to do…that may just save you lots of aggravation and possibly hundreds and hundreds of hours. Please stop what you are doing and take action on this BEFORE you have an unfortunate computer crash.
Computer Disaster Recovery Plan
1. If you don’t have a backup system currently, immediately go to Carbonite Computer Backup and get their online backup system for about $50 per year. This is what I am now using as my redundant offsite backup system.
2. Get an external hard drive and install backup software so you can start backing up your computer every day. I recommend that you go to the place where you would take your computer, if it crashes, so you can obtain their expertise as to which backup system is best for your computer.
3. Find a good computer repair technician. Ask them one question – If my computer just crashed, what should I do first…meaning, should I attempt to turn it on to see if I can get it to work…or should I not turn it on? Can you tell me what your advice would be regarding this approach or does it even matter? If they answer that question correctly, you may have found your computer repair technician. Have their phone number ready and in your recovery plan sheet of paper.
4. Remember…DO NOT TURN ON YOUR COMPUTER…when your computer drive crashes…DO NOT TURN ON YOUR COMPUTER.
5. When you get your computer back, install any drivers such as your printer drivers and then, start doing the other steps.
6. Write down your Windows Licensing numbers for your operating system and MS Office, at a minimum. If you are like most people, you have no idea where the CD installation disk are (that would be the best thing is to have these disks…but, if you don’t, take a moment right now to write these down), these numbers should look something like (these are just examples, not real numbers, so you know what you are looking for): For Windows XP, look at the bottom of your laptop and look for the Product Key, it should look something like CBD82-PW32R-XXKDE-FPRTJ-T8XXE and you should also have this number on your software disk. The other number you want to write down should look something like 76487-OEM-00902H-12566. For MS Office, you can open up one of your programs such as Excel or Word…then go to the HELP tab and go to the About Windows section, you will see a number like 73941-640-0010106-57486. If you have these numbers written down, your computer repair person can legally place these programs on your computer, with their disks, but, using your official registration numbers with Microsoft. It would be nice to get your computer back with at least these the operating system and MS Office installed so you don’t have to do these two yourself.
7. Make sure you have written down exactly how you would re-establish your email account, if you are not using a web based system. So for a roadrunner email system, like Time Warner, you should write down the pop-server, smtp-server, username and password. Import your data from your back up drive for your email program…remember for Outlook…that is a .pst file. That would be the file to look for on your back up drive. This could take a couple hours depending on how much data you are importing.
8. With your other important programs such as Word or Excel file folders, don’t try to import all the files at once, it could take several hours…so look for the key files you need and import just what you need to start working again.
9. You will also have your special programs like Adobe Acrobat Reader, Skype, WordPress, Firefox and several other things to download over again. Just do these one at a time, over time, so you are not overwhelmed when getting started again.
As I stated in the beginning, I am not a computer expert. However, as a day trader, I want to make sure you have a simple plan for this so you are not devastated if your computer crashes. I want you to get back up and running as soon as possible so you can start making money again. It is a nightmare that can be managed in the course of a few days to get up and running and another week or so to be close to fully operational again.
Always remember, if you know how to day trade, you just need to put a little money into an account and you can pull yourself out of ANY financial hole fairly quickly…so even if you have to buy a new computer and start from scratch…you can regroup. There is no better business in the world… because the opportunities for your upside possibilities are unlimited. With the right trading setups, proper money management procedures and solid discipline you can change your financial future, in a short period of time.
Whether or not you are currently trading, as a part of taking control of your financial future, you should learn how to do it so you can invest your own money properly in your own Self Directed 401 K Plan.
It takes courage to get started and do whatever is necessary to learn how to trade. Call me if you want to talk to me at 512-748-4237 and I will help you get pointed in the right direction.
Many of you have a history with me from the early 90s, where I taught entrepreneurs and salespeople how to be successful in business. Now, more than ever, people also need to learn the skills on how to grow their professional businesses. As a part of these skills, you also need to have computer survival skills which is why I devoted this portion of the newsletter to developing a Computer Disaster Recovery Plan.
One of my early sayings when I got started selling real estate in a down cycling market, when we were in a recession, was, “There’s a recession out there and I am choosing NOT to participate.” I went to work and just kept my mindset right and I achieve immediate success because I believed I would find the business when I followed my disciplines and kept learning new skills.
My personal commitment to entrepreneurs wanting to grow their businesses is to teach them exactly how to WIN regardless of the economic climate and regardless of whether or not anyone else wants your business to succeed… Life is full of possibilities when you learn the proper skills… Make that commitment to yourself… right now… this very moment!
Your browser may not support display of this image.Your browser may not support display of this image.All the best,
Nate Brooks
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