This was the look on my face when my laptop stopped working suddenly about a month ago. It all started with the cursor not responding and then freezing up totally. Took it to Staples for their tech guys to have a look at it and they could find nothing wrong, no virus and can’t seem to figure out why my cursor freezes or goes erratic when the charger is plugged in.

But after some testing and eliminations, getting a new battery and a new charger I finally found the problem, my charging cable was bad. So got a new cable. Problem solved. But still my initial reaction was “Oh Shit.”

I’m sure this is a story that happens daily and we just have no idea what to do. But it was a lesson in having alternatives or a backup plan for just such an emergency. I was lucky that I have the use of a desktop and also a spare laptop. I must admit my Sony laptop is over 7 years old, but it still works great and apart from replacing the original battery two years ago this has been my first major problem. My laptop has been my constant companion for the past 7 years and hopefully will continue for at least another year or two.

In the mean time while working on figuring out what my laptops’ issue was I still had to work and and use a computer, which brings me to the sync function on the Firefox web browser. I have to say I use Firefox as my default browser and I have quite a few favorite folders on my bookmark toolbar. It was daunting to think that with all the activity that I’ve done transferring all that manually was not an option. Luckily I had signed in with Firefox and decided to try out the sync function on my temporary work station. Happily the sync function worked great. Once I was on my spare computer I just logged into Firefox and sync it and there were my bookmarks, passwords and all, the transition to a new computer was smooth and easy.

I must say having a backup plan for emergencies is a good way to secure your continued work and the features on your web browser, which ever one you use it’s good to use them and keep them up to date because you’ll never know when you’re going to need them.

Enjoy your week.

Althea – VYPA