How’s your computer running? My laptop has been driving me crazy – nonstop computer freezes last week! I think one or two updates and/or new programs I added didn’t like each other. Between caregiving, traveling, and writing, I didn’t have time to deal with it, so I decided to do a thorough backup and reformat it all. Then I could rebuild it nice and neat the way I wanted it for all the writing I am currently doing. It’s been going fairly smoothly with only one minor glitch, which Norton solved wonderfully for me.
I couldn’t find the envelope my Norton Internet Security (NIS) software came in. That envelope has the key I have to type in to be able to use NIS. I went ahead and tried installing it. I was so happy when it asked for the key AND told me where I could find it online if I couldn’t find the envelope. I love Norton and their products anyway, but this was just one more reason to appreciate them. It was rather nice to received the care instead of being the caregiver for a minute. 
I logged on using my desktop computer, found the key, and plugged it in. Since then I’ve spent the day adding update after update, slowly and carefully, to watch for possible conflicts.
I decided that makes today the perfect day to remind y’all to provide some of the great caregiving to your computers. Back up all your important medical records, word documents, email files, password information, music, financial spreadsheets, etc.
Once you have everything nicely backed up, do a little spring cleaning in summer. Make sure your important programs are all current on their updates, that your antivirus software is running scans regularly, use your best anti spyware, and maybe even blow your computer out gently with a can of air.
Of course, even when you do that, you can still have problems. Software conflicts arise, programs can be corrupted, and hardware can break. But having your important things backed up will protect you from those nasty occasions when you, too, experience those nasty computer freezes.
Even thought it takes quite a while to rebuild it all, it’s still less traumatic than having to start from scratch without backups. And that helps you as caregivers, freeing you up to keep taking good care of your aging parents and darling grandkids, free from the stress of losing valuable data.
