When I turned on my computer this morning, instead of my usual desktop that I've used for the last several years I got a "brand new" desktop. One that stated "This is a temporary desktop. None of your files are available" (or something equally as scary) and "Welcome to your new HP computer" (this computer is anything but new). I'm using MS Windows 7, because 8 is a horrible mess (I know this, I use it at work) and therefore, I fear that Windows 10 is more of the same awfulness, only newer. I tried switching users under the misguided notion that I had accidentally logged on wrong, but it said I was logged in as myself. So, I restarted my computer and all was as it should be. Phew!

Does any of you computer gurus out there know what happened? This terrified me as I was afraid that all my writing was gone, vanished, vamoosed! (Even though everything was working as it should just last night.) Is this something I should worry about or is it a one time glitch? I do have a terabyte external storage thingy, but it has never worked properly and most times when I turn it on to download stuff onto or off of it, it usually switches off before I can use it. (A complete waste of money, in my opinion.) Good thing most of my LnC stories are backed up on the Archives!

Any help or soothing words to calm my racing heart would be appreciated. Thanks.

I can't help you because I use a Mac, but believe me: back up is the way to go. It's a lesson I've had to learn the hard way! If you don't want to commit to an external device, you may want to consider a cloud service like Dropbox or something like that...

Soothing...umm...When Windows does this, it usually means only your settings are in danger, not your files. Had this once or twice, too. Not fun. At all. As for finding them again if the worst happens...do you save them in the "My Documents" folder or some other place? I'm asking because the "My Documents" folder might get switches with a new one and the old one is a couple directories away. It's like when all of Lois's stuff got moved from Apartment 105 to 501.

As for the backing up: If the external storage doesn't work, go and buy a thumbdrive or two and do regular backups of your files. One week on the first thumbdrive, second week on the other one, then back to the first one for the third week. Personally, I'm using one of the synchronized cloud storages (google, Microsoft, Dropbox, etc) for my fics to get an off-site storage in case of really bad damage. That's aside from regular backups. (and since they're available on the Inet anyway, I'm not concerned with potential privacy issues for those )

Michael

Reports so far say that Windows 10 is a bit faster than 7 and a lot better than 8 if you disable the bits that invade your privacy. And you can restore back to Windows 7 for the first month after switching.

Thanks for all the advice, everyone.

Hidden Moon, I also learned early to back up. (So early in fact that I recall when floppy discs were floppy.) This is why I bought the external terabyte drive. It was supposed to automatically back up the important stuff on my computer every week, instead it installed a migraine program. (The one good thing it did was save everything from my old computer, so that I could transfer it to this computer when it was new. THEN, it broke down.)

I'll definitely have to invest some thumbdrives, Michael. I'm not one to trust my "hardcopies" of my writing to something I can't touch. With my luck, I'd put everything on the cloud and then the next week, the Internet would get infected with the worst super virus and everything would be lost. Nuh-uh. No way.

I'll keep that in mind, Marcus. When I stop by my local office supply store to pick up those thumbdrives, I'll take a gander at Windows 10. If, like Windows 8, it's made for a Smart Phone instead of desktop computer, I'll skip it.

Thumbdrives are an excellent back-up. I use them all the time, most of my FoLC stories are on them.

But I also suggest saving to the cloud, just in case the drives are damaged or lost.

Well, I do have all my emails to my betas in existence, should I ever need to rebuild a story.

2 Thumbdrives later, all my writing and pictures from my computer have been backed up. Thanks for all the advice!

I refused Windows 8 because of its smart-phone-like appearance, too. But I've been using Windows 10 for some time now and I'm liking it. I disabled all the privacy invading options and it's working fine so far. It's faster than Windows 7 and I'm thinking about to switch definitely to 10.

Andreia

I downloaded Windows 10 yesterday after checking it out at Staples. I use Windows 8 at work and HATE it, but Windows 10 doesn't seem to be as evil. I need to review that article that Lynn referenced above again to make sure I turned off all the privacy control issues. I like that I UNpin the stuff I don't like from my start menu and task bar (such as Shopping and sports... ugh!)

The one thing I haven't figured out yet is how to make my Task Bar icons larger. It seems as if my eyesight has deteriorated overnight. Everything, including font, is sooooooo small in Windows 10. I also don't like that it assumes that it was downloaded onto a movable laptop/iPad computer. I, too, am hoping that some of my slowness issues will have disappeared, but I haven't worked with it long enough to notice any improvement.