My story begins in late June, while visiting family in thegreater Los Angeles area following A&WMA’s 2008 AnnualConference & Exhibition in Portland, OR. My brother andI took off for the Getty Center that Friday morning for abit of art, architecture, and inspiration in a Los Angelesmountaintop setting. I left my notebook computer tocharge its battery. After returning from our outing, I decided to check my e-mail and upload dozens of photostaken that day for safekeeping. I powered on the com-puter and it began to boot up… then it emitted a ghastlyelectronic scream as it shut down, not to be brought to lifeby any normal means. Thus, my nightmare began.

IT Support: Not Always There When You Need ItAs the owner of a small business with limited IT support,I had purchased an extended computer warranty. After returning home to Houston, I took the computer in forwarranty service. At least three technicians verified at dif-ferent times that the computer did not power on. Theypromised to call me within 24 hours, and offered me aloaner computer if they could not diagnose the problemquickly. Since this was my primary business computer, Icould afford to wait only a day or two before retrievingdata stored on the hard drive.

The Suspense Builds…The wait began. The service department did not call aspromised. With no ETD (estimated time for diagnosis), Ichecked out my computer to recover the data. Since thecomputer did not power on, this was a challenge, but oneI could take on. As a kid I was curious about how thingswork and have moderate mechanical skills—all I neededwas a steady hand, a small screwdriver, and a few uninter-rupted minutes, right?

Definitely Not for the Faint of HeartThe user guide provided with every computer is valuablein pointing out the location and purpose of every conceivable part that a computer user should need. If youmisplace it, you can easily download a user guide from themanufacturer’s Web site. Then again, the user guide doesnot show how to disassemble a computer, upgrade it, orreplace parts without causing damage and/or voiding thewarranty. This requires a more elusive, model-specificmaintenance and repair manual, or technical manual. Youcan find a technical manual with a good Internet searchengine and a bit of patience. The technical manual provides clear, easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions forcomputer technicians.

As with many subcompact computers, the hard drivesits in the middle of the computer, and is difficult to access. Armed with illustrations and a small screwdriver, Isafely removed the hard drive, ready to put it into an external housing to access the data… but the housing hadconnections for an older technology … Agghhh! A trip toan electronic parts store yielded a USB-powered enclosurecompatible with my 18-month-old notebook drive. Back atthe office, 30 minutes and a few dollars later, I attachedthe (now external) notebook drive to another computer,and… not so fast! Agghhh!

The Suspense Is Killing Me!Most offices use network storage, tape drives, externalhard drives, online storage, or a combination of these.Each of these options provides adequate capacity to backup an entire notebook computer. In general, backing upan entire computer is neither recommended nor required.As a computer gets older, it accumulates a lot of instructionsand programs that slow it down, though periodic housecleaning can help improve performance. Also, backing upall data can cause unintended risks (See E-Discovery RulesReach Beyond Litigation; EM August 2007, 24–25). Finally,backing up a high-capacity hard drive takes a lot of time,

emc o l u m n

NIGHTMARE on Elm StreetIT Insight by Jill Barson Gilbert

Jill Barson Gilbert, QEP, is a governance, risk, and compliance software thought leader and president of Lexicon Systems, LLC. She applies information systemsand technologies to facilitate well-informed, strategically-aligned decisions. Reliable knowledge enhances enterpriseagility via improved compliance, risk management, business performance, and sustainability. E-mail: jbgilbert@lexicon-systems.com.

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much of it wasted if you take the first and second points toheart. What should you back up to protect from futuredata losses and downtime?

Let’s assume that your organization has the software in-stallation files for the programs installed on your machine.If so, then trim data backups to critical information thatyou could not otherwise replace, for example:

• documents, spreadsheets, and small databases—your“work” or project files;

• any special templates you use frequently; and • e-mail, if not backed up on a server or online—

remember the consequences of saving everything.

Gooey, Not IckyOnce I reassembled my notebook and returned it for service,I received a loaner computer loaded with Microsoft Office2007 and Windows Vista. But my computer had Office2003 and Windows XP—I was waiting for the first VistaService Pack (issued just about the time this story began)before upgrading my own machine… Agghhh!

I found Vista Service Pack 1 and Microsoft Office 2007pretty easy to learn. Occasionally, I had to use the Helpfiles to find my way. I like Vista’s new graphical user interface(GUI, pronounced “gooey”) and find it runs well on 2 MBof RAM; 3 would be even better. While Vista has its critics,it is said to be more secure than Windows XP. With the latestService Pack, Office 2007 works like a dream. It offers a selection of templates, formats, and designs to make workeasier. You can save your work in a format compatible withOffice 2003, which much of the world still uses.

On June 30, 2008, Microsoftstopped selling Windows XP.Many organizations will leapfrogfrom Windows XP to the next op-erating system after Vista. This

will let them phase in hardware and memory upgradesneeded for the newer operating systems. Some organizationsopt to run Office 2007 on XP while gearing up for the nextoperating system.

EpilogueAfter three weeks in the shop, my notebook computermysteriously powered on and came to life, so I brought ithome. This nightmare taught me to use a more reliabledata backup utility and to check backups often, that Web-based e-mail can cure a host of evils, and that learning new operating systems and software can be pleasant, notghoulish. To this date, the freakish problem with my note-book never has been diagnosed… some mysteries cannotbe explained. em

Agghhh!Agghhh!

awma.org october 2008 em 27Copyright 2008 Air & Waste Management Association