Computer dead, lost only a couple pages of a new rewrite.

[SeverinR]

Watching a Youtube trailer
Virus alert popped up,
Clicked delete virus,
Computer shut down and only has a cursor blinking on a black screen, keyboard locked.

SInce lightning killed my last computer, I have made a point to save most work to my email account.
So only a few pages of a rewrite from a early story I wrote, was lost.

Will be a while before I can get a new one. Would have really been upset to loose everything.

Invest in a quality virus scan. AVG and Norton missed this one.

[Butterfly]

Those random virus popups are usually trojan viruses, don't trust them and don't click them... use your own scanner installed on your comp instead to check. I say this from learning the hard way.

[Steerpike]

A couple of things that might help:

1) If you use Dropbox and write in a program that autosaves often, you can help yourself out even after something like this; and

2) If you use Linux for writing, you'll find that the number of viruses that affect it is extremely low.

Also, if you need to access files on that hard drive, you might burn a linux LiveCD (linux mint for example) if you have a computer you can use to download and burn it. Then, when you boot the liveCD you can pull up the hard drive with your Windows installation on it and access all of the files saved there. I don't know how many times I've recovered files for people using a linux liveCD when Windows went kaboom.

[Butterfly]

Some cheeky monkey stole my brand new laptop in a break in once, and I lost a lot. Now I have several regularly backed up flashdrives hidden in various places, just in case, like.

[Steerpike]

I have some backup drives as well, but Dropbox has been awesome for me, particularly as I write on three different computers.

[Sheilawisz]

I am so sorry that this happened to you, Severin =(

What I do is that I burn all the important stuff into CDs, and I also email my Fantasy novels to myself and I keep them safe inside my email account. I am happy that you did not lose too much information...

So, are viruses like that very common in Youtube?

[Amanita]

I'm suffering from a similar problem. After getting the last windows updates, my laptop doesn't work anymore. I hope it can be repaired, but if not, all my planning will be lost. (I've sent the actual stories to a friend who can send them back.) Was feeling too secure because it has been working without problems for three years now and didn't make back-up copies of anything. Now there are many things I'm missing, including the materials and learning plan for my chemistry exam. So I didn't remember what I had planned for today. The plan is lost but I could regain the materials because their accessible online, but my netbook is so awfully slow, I'll only do it if I don't get the laptop back tomorrow. Earlier this evening, it needed three hours for new windows updates. Really annoying this is.
Maybe Windows found out that I encouraged Sheila to get an Apple and now they want to destroy me.

More seriously, maybe I did get the same virus from You Tube, I'm using it quite often myself. If this is the case, it might actually be good that my netbook doesn't manage to display videos.

[T.Allen.Smith]

I have some backup drives as well, but Dropbox has been awesome for me, particularly as I write on three different computers.

Another vote for Dropbox..... Simple, effective, and accessible from any computer.

[Steerpike]

Amanita - burn a linux liveCD and you can at least access the files on your Windows hard drive, before you have to format or reinstall or anything.

[Penpilot]

Computer hardware may not be ruined. Could be just your operating system corrupted. Files may still be there. Take it to someone who can pop the hard drive and retrieve files and reinstall the OS. Hopefully you have a friend that can do this.

Some cheeky monkey stole my brand new laptop in a break in once, and I lost a lot. Now I have several regularly backed up flashdrives hidden in various places, just in case, like.

A little tip I learned. If you have an old broken laptop, leave that out in the open as bait and stash your newer one. Laptops are easy smash and grabs. Don't leave them in plain site.