MAINTENANCE FOR YOUR COMPUTER
As you probably know, backing up is a very important part of the
preventive maintenance routine for your computer. You should back up
your OOPS!® data files on a regular basis. The rule of thumb is you need
to back up only as often as you are willing to retype everthing you have entered since your last backup.
There are some other preventive maintenance measures you can take to
protect your investment in your computer, its applications, such as
OOPS!®, and your time . . . disk utilities, surge protectors and
powering down.
Keeping your computer in a controlled environment may not be possible in
your situation. Therefore, you need to be extra careful to prevent
hardware problems or at least catch them early. One of the most common
hardware problems that can affect OOPS!® (or any application) is bad
sectors on the hard disk. When your data files get written to bad
sectors, you cannot read your data. To guard against bad sectors, a bad
FAT (file allocation table) and other problems, you should run one of
the disk utilities on the market on a regular basis. A disk utility,
such as Norton Disk Doctor (The Norton Utilities), will check for and
correct minor disk problems before they become major. Again, rule of
thumb, only do it as often as you are willing to start over from scratch if you lose your entire hard disk.
If a disk problem occurs and you call a service technician to fix your
machine, the chances are good that the first thing the service person
will do is run a disk utilities package and many times this simple
procedure will correct the problem, but time is lost and you still get
charged for a service call. It is cheaper and faster to have such a
package in-house and installed so you can use it yourself and avoid the
lost time and expense in calling a technician.
If you have a problem in OOPS!® and call for support, our technical
people will try to determine whether the problem is software or
hardware. This is not always an easy task, but a disk utility helps to
rule out hardware problems. You may be asked to run a utility,
especially if you get a message like "Disk Write Error" or "Disk Read
Error" from DOS. If you do not have a way to analyze your hard disk,
there will most likely be a delay in getting your OOPS!® problem
corrected while you call a hardware service technician.
Another good and simple computer PM procedure is to install a surge
protector. PCs are quite susceptible to power surges; surge protectors
are inexpensive and can be purchased at computer and hardware stores.
Make sure you buy one that is fused.
Finally, simply turning your machine off when it is not in use makes it
less vulnerable to accidents from power fluxes, snooping, etc. If you
cannot turn your machine off, at least exit from OOPS!®
You already realize the importance of preventive maintenance for your
equipment or you would not be running OOPS!® Your computer needs PM too.
FAXING TECH QUESTIONS
When you have a question for OOPS!® tech support, one way to get it
answered is by fax. When you fax a question or a problem, it is
important to include the following general information:
Your company name
Your name
Your fax and telephone numbers
When you can be reached
Specific information on your problem or question
-- Circle what is unusual or wrong):
Description of what was going on when the error occurred
Faxing is particularly useful for custom reporting questions. Your fax should include:
Print screens of any error messages i.e. "Cannot Open File"
Any error messages
Sample page of report (NOT entire report)
Description of what is wrong or what you would like.
Faxing is a good way to get your OOPS!® questions answered. It is
especially useful if you are away from your telephone a lot and are hard
to reach. The next time you have a question, try faxing it to our
technical support fax hotline at (412) 364-9088.
