Toshiba 8000 Tecra 8000 Users Guide - Page 166

142 Troubleshooting Guide Developing good computing habits Developing good computing habits This section suggests some good habits to develop so you are prepared if things go wrong. Save your work frequently. You can never predict when your computer will lock, forcing you to close a program and lose unsaved changes. Many software programs build in an automatic backup, but you shouldn't rely solely on this feature. Save your work! It only takes a few moments, and it could save you many hours of work to recreate files. On a regular basis, back up the information stored on your hard disk. Here are a few ways you can do this: ❖ Use Windows to copy files to diskettes. ❖ Connect a tape drive to the system and use specialized software to copy all your data from hard disk to a tape. Some people use a combination of these methods, backing up all files to tape weekly and copying critical files to diskette on a daily basis. If you've added your own software to your system, you should back up the software as well as the data. If something goes wrong that requires you to format your hard disk and start again, reloading all your software and data from a backup will save time. Read the manuals. It's very difficult to provide a fail-safe set of steps you can follow every time you experience a problem with the computer. Your ability to solve problems will improve as you learn about how the computer and its software work together. Part I: Getting to Know Your Computer