2 Do not use Internet Explorer unless the website does not work in anything else.
Firefox is cross platform (will work on Windows, Linux, Mac), far safer, and in my opinion a better all around experience.

There is IEtab.
It is an extension for Firefox that uses the built in IE engine to render pages that want IE.
The default is to use the Firefox engine, but if a page checks for IE, then IEtab kicks in and starts the IE engine for just that page, and nothing else.

I use it a lot for Windows update.

I hope this helps somebody.

Personally I’ve had good results from DriveSavers, but have never dealt with Kroll OnTrack (though I’ve now heard several people point them out as a good place to deal with so I will be using them for my next data recovery project).

Other companies have been problematic. The main problem I’ve encountered is overpromising. Meaning: They’re not really in the data recovery business, but they won’t tell you that. They just undelete files, etc.

I don’t want to say too much (third party intervention pending), but there are certain companies that you should never do business with.

True enough that internal drives are guaranteed to go with the box if stolen, and that PWS problems can affect drives, but:
· Things connected to your computer (external drives) are not really protected from being stolen in a break-in.
· I’ve lost power supplies without losing hard drives.
· Companies that restore drives (like Kroll OnTrack) can bring back your data regardless of failure, so I wouldn’t call it dat “lost,” just expensive to restore.

On your third point though, I disagree about backups being external not mattering. When the HDD fails you lose both your OS and your backup.

When the power supply goes and takes everything connected to it with it, again you lose everything (I’ve had this happen to me).

When someone breaks into your apartment and steals your computer, you lose everything (this also happened to me, the terastation mounted in a kitchen cupboard was thankfully overlooked, and I had been backing up regularly to it – sometimes paranoia does pay off:).

And I do agree that a fireproof safe is a good idea, just ensure that it is a safe that is specifically designed for computer media, as electronic media has a much lower threshold for heat damage than paper does, which is what most consumer fire safes are designed to protect (learned that one the hard way with a customer that lost all data in a fire, including the DVD’s and LTO tapes in her Sentry fire proof safe).

Yes, I can see me getting a lightweight Mac at some point but still relying on PCs for that 1%

CAD drafting, hardcore video and audio editing, VoIP, the list goes on.

(2) Ask your family support person to connect using LogMeIn free. It saves everyone time and frustration. Let them figure it out (ridiculously simple) and then end all the explaining and confusion and just let them connect and see and fix the actual issue. They can also give you tips at the same time.

(3) Backup yes. Must be external drive, no. Unless you are putting it in a fireproof safe (you should) or moving it off site.

Internal/external: either way, it’s just a drive connected to your computer. And online backup is a good option (they’ll overnight you DVDs of your data). Much better than NO backup.

What else is there besides email, web, images, and mp3?