"Warning! Warning, Will Robinson!"

Did you ever watch the series (or the reruns) "Lost in Space?" Pretty cheesy (can you believe that network, looking for a Sci-fi series, picked "Lost in Space" over "Star Trek"? What were they thinking?!). But the way Dr. Smith always got the family into trouble just as the episode wound to a close always left you with that cliffhanger feeling that brought you back again the next week to see how it worked out. My favorite character was the robot. I loved how his disjointed arms would wave wildly, the antenna on his head would spin crazily, and his multi-colored lights would flash alarmingly while his mechanical voice cried, "Warning! Warning, Will Robinson!" That little guy Will was lucky. He had someone to alert him to every impending disaster.

Wish I'd have had that the other day...

I had just been thinking, "It's probably about time to back up the "My Documents" folder again." I try and remember to do that every couple of weeks. But a phone call here, a drop-in there, and the day was over and I never gotten around to making that backup yesterday. I turned off my perfectly functional computer last night, turned off the office light and headed home.

This morning I came in, turned on the computer, went downstairs to get a cup of coffee, and came back up to the office to read my email while I drank my coffee. I clicked on the desktop icon and glanced over some notes on my desk. When I looked back the screen had frozen, and the mouse had locked up. Control-Alt-Delete did nothing, so I hit the reset button. I waited through the boot-up process again (I get so impatient at times!), only to have the same thing happen. Reset button! It locked again! Reset! Lock! Reset! Lock! AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!

I put in my Norton SystemWorks CD and rebooted, hoping to be able to boot directly into Disk Doctor. No joy. Now I remember... it boots only into Norton Antivirus. Sweat was beginning to bead on my forehead and I could feel my face starting to get flushed. I had just spent four days building a new web site for our church. Although I'd successfully uploaded it to our host, all my files were on my computer. WHY HADN'T I DONE THAT BACKUP WHEN I THOUGHT ABOUT IT?!

I found a couple of diagnostic applications that could run from the command prompt, but they all said that my hard drive was in proper working order. Must be a corrupted file, or a conflict with a driver. Man, was I starting to feel sick...

Then I remembered about "Safe Mode". So I booted up- ONE... MORE... TIME, hit F8, selected "Safe Mode", and almost jumped up and shouted for joy when I saw my desktop, even in it's deformed state with all those over sized, pixelated icons in that antiquated 640x480 display mode. Okay, I was "in". Now what? I knew the answer was right in front of me, but so help me, I couldn't remember it. With uncharacteristic patience I scrolled through every program and utility under "All Programs" until... THERE IT WAS! "System restore"! I selected a system restore point from earlier this week, clicked on "Next", and waited anxiously. IT WORKED! I was saved. I'd been given a "re-do". As soon as the boot-up sequence completed, I pulled out my trusty external USB hard drive and made that backup. I'm not nearly as stupid as I may look.

Sometimes... no!- "often" in life we know what we should do, but fail to do it. As a result, all seems lost. We wish so desperately for another chance. A fresh start. A new beginning. You know, don't you, that's exactly what the Bible promises? "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASU) Don't ever be tempted to throw away life- no matter how bad the disaster. God's ready to give you a fresh start if you just turn to Him (don't believe me? listen to my "Words of Hope: But God"). Whatever you do, DON'T GIVE UP! Drop me an email and let me know if I can help you with that process.