Word to the wise...

1. Back up your pictures, videos and important docs on your computer onto an external hard drive or burn them to a disc regularly.

2. In addition, make sure you have an anti-virus program installed and that you update it when necessary.

If you do not do these things, don't blame me if you are up all night worrying about 2 YEARS of pictures and videos being GONE FOREVER.

Also, you will end up wasting HOURS of your life trying to retrieve your items, reconfiguring your computer, and FINALLY backing up all those thousands of pictures and videos.

How do I know all of these fabulous tidbits of information, you ask?

Because I have 1 computer (with all of my business stuff on it) that I am a good girl and keep everything backed up and virus program installed and functioning.

I have a laptop however, in which I use for internet, blogging and picture storage.... and because I am stubborn and lazy when it comes to stuff like this... as I was happily surfing the net last night on said laptop, it was infected with a virus.

After spending some time with the nicest Geed Squad guy on the planet this morning, I discovered that it was a rather tame virus, which didn't delete my hard-drive, but hid and locked everything so that I cannot find it or access it.

In lieu of giving them $350 to restore my computer I am spending hours of my precious and valuable time that, quite frankly I do not have to spare, trying to fix it myself.

Yikes.

This will be a once in a lifetime deal, people. I've learned my lesson. Amen.

In addtion, I had MANY blog posts already done and waiting to be posted on the laptop. They are gone. So, there may be another bout of blog silence until I can get this figured out.

Grrrrrr.