Mr. GoodByte Lee Frank Did'ya ever -- abruptly -- have to drop everything? All of a sudden, your plans go south and you're up to your ears in alligators? Well, it just happened to me. Here I was, set to produce another automotive analogy gem; all ready to show how Defensive Driving relates to computing. Then -- whack -- it hits me! How can I tell you how to protect yourself with Defensive Computing, if I don't tell you FIRST what to do in an emergency? So here we go with . . . Panic Stops There are problems you can prevent and problems you can prepare for. Then there are the others. The first group you deal with before they occur. You act before the fact. The other problems, the ones you can't prevent or prepare for, can only be handled after they happen. After the fact problems come in two flavors. The first kind provides time to search for a solution. The second kind don't give you this luxury. With these, after the fact, you can only react. Often, this reaction is panic. So much for the boring taxonomy, now let's see if I can get your attention. LOOK OUT! DUCK! BEHIND YOU! Sorry, just trying to induce the panic posture. Since this is Mr. GoodByte, we'll begin with automotive panic. In Columbus' undreamed of America, everyone is free to experience fear behind the wheel. Is Bill Gates' United States of Computing any less dangerous? Yes, when it comes to your life and limb; no, when it's your data. An early personal computing disaster was the accidental formatting of the hard disk. These unwanted formats lost precious data and programs. The culprit? A new, easy to use, semi-friendly Disk Operating System (DOS). It was quick, even when making mistakes. DOS saved time and typing by assuming a default drive. But why it allowed people to format that default drive was always beyond me. Next in the evolution of popular calamities were motherboard barbecues. These were caused by lightening by way of phone lines into internal modems. Users, especially electronic bulletin board system operators (BBS sysops) became more cautious. Today, hardware and software are more sophisticated and more protected. Our cars have airbags and ABS. Our computers have surge protectors, UPSs, and even automatic backups. Still, panic is always lurking, always possible. The question, however, is what to do? Shutting the eyes is common, but not of much useful effect. Soiling the pants is not infrequent, but relieving one's self does not spell relief. Or should we follow the advice from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? Namely . . . DON'T PANIC! As if we had a choice. Panic permits few options, less time, and no questions. In a crisis, time is just what we don't have. No time to think, no time to analyze. We must act, and act with speed and precision, if we wish to survive. At this point, you should be thinking about reactions when driving, e.g., hitting the brake. And you're probably wondering, "A brake on my computer?" Hummm. Is it the reset button? Is it the big red switch on the side? Ummm. Hey, Mr. GoodByte, where's the auto analogy? Unfortunately, the computer, being more complicated than the car, has many ways to collide accidentally with concrete reality. There is no single brake that will bring things to a halt. Let's look at some emergency reactions in different situations. A simple example: you ask the printer to print and it begins to produce mysterious gibberish. Most of you know what to do. You simply stop the printer. Take it off line or just turn it off. Now you have the time to find out why your printer wants to communicate with extra-terrestrials. When the words you process turn messy, the best action is no action. If you suspect your document has become corrupted, don't save it! Hopefully, an earlier version is available and free of contamination. The same is true for spreadsheets and databases. It's your data; don't replace a good copy with a bad one. When you strongly suspect something is being put onto a disk without your knowledge, what can you do? Well, if it's a floppy, just pop it out to prevent any more damage. Pushing the eject button, or turning the eject lever, or opening the floppy door (if you have an antique) will prevent further diskette pollution. Fine for a floppy, but what if your hard disk is under attack? In this case, all you can do is reset, reboot, flip the on/off switch or whatever it takes to restart the machine. If you were right, the mischief may or may not already have been done. But even if you were wrong, there may still be collateral damage. (Only a writer could be grateful for the euphemisms of war.) Either way, you now have another problem: what's wrong and how to repair it? The good news is that you have time. Without a quick panic stop, your entire hard disk may disappear. If you're lucky, your only problem is cleanup. Your computer, like your car, will have fewer problems (and fewer panic situations) if you give it plenty of preventive maintenance. Your panic reactions can be improved through preparation. Know what can go wrong, plan your responses, practice your reactions, even if it's just a mental simulation.