Keep a Spare PC at the Ready for Emergencies
Here's one way to give the economy a much-needed kick in the pants: Buy a spare PC. Note that I didn't say a "second" PC--I mean a spare one you keep on hand in case of system emergencies, like the one I experienced yesterday.
The short version: Suddenly, and without warning, my brand new desktop system started running slowly. Really slowly. Like, launch-a-program-and-wait-three-minutes slowly. I've seen that on old, malware-infested XP boxes, but a quad-core Vista machine just 10 days out of the box? Something was definitely amiss.
I never quite pinned down what, despite hours of trying and cursing. Today it's back to its zippy self, but for a good chunk of yesterday, I wasn't sure how I was going to resolve the problem.
I was, however, able to keep working. That's because I keep a spare PC on hand, one that's ready to fill in at a moment's notice. How is this possible? Through the magic of synchronization.
