Internet security is getting so complex that we have to remember a zillion different passwords…or risk using just one and having it stolen.

It’s not a huge deal if the websites you frequent allow you to click on the “forgot password” link, and then they just email you a new one. But it can get quite annoying, especially if your main computer goes down (and you, therefore, have limited access to your email (and just hope you didn’t forget your email’s password too)).

Recently I had to call my hosting company to get a lost password, but I didn’t remember the email address I’d used to sign up! It was a mess, but I finally got it.

So what’s a frequent computer-user to do?

I just read an article that suggested having a base password that you use most places, and then using some form of the place you’re visiting in the password. For instance, if your base password is your street name, and you’re making a password for your Ebay site, you might use “MainEbay”.

Another site suggests using a computer program (which probably requires another password…aack!) I’ve tried making a list of all my sites, as I go to them, and writing down my usernames and passwords for each. But if I were really paranoid, I would only write clues about the passwords, just in case a password thief breaks into my home.

What do you do to keep track of your 101 passwords (and the associated usernames)? Or do you just throw caution to the wind and use the same one whenever you can?

Recently I wrote two posts, one about Barack Obama’s election, and the other about using holiday cards for marketing. Both mysteriously disappeared, and the only thing I fiddled with today was my Google Adsense.

Has this happened to you? Have I been hacked? Have you ever been hacked?

From now on I’m going to save all of my posts on my computer separately from my blog. Maybe we should all do the same.

Talk amongst yourselves while I try to sort this out.

Brady Bunch fans might remember that old song…something about changing and growing up.

In my case, I finally realized one reason I’m not as productive as I’d like to be. My laptop was kept right in front of the couch, in the living room, in full sight of the TV.

Besides the obvious TV distraction, the couch is too comfortable, the laptop too far away (can’t keep it on my lap and I didn’t have a decent table), and my daughter constantly wants my attention when we’re in the same room.

Yesterday I finally moved the laptop to my makeshift office, which is also my daughter’s playroom. It’s housed on a real desk, with a real office chair I was given, and it faces the wall. No more distractions, unless, of course, my daughter is home and needs me.

I even plugged in my Skype headset and made some cold calls (part of my action plan).

Have you moved your office equipment to a place that’s more conducive to work? Did it work for you? Share your ideas!

We sing a variation of the alphabet song with my daughter. I can’t describe the tune, but it goes, “A A A A A A A A, A A A. B B B B B B B B, B B B. You get the rest. For each letter there’s a series of 8 fast repeats, then 3 long ones.

The other day, when we got to the W’s, my 3-year-old chimed in, “W W W Dot.”

I just had to share that hilarious story. I asked her where she got that from, expecting her to say television or mommy, but she said, “From the computer.” Go figure.

Someone I know just found out she/he would be without the Internet at home for about 10 days!

Here are some signs, exhibited by my “friend”, that may indicate an Internet addiction.

1. You cry like your dog died upon hearing the news that you won’t have access for 10 days.
2. You are willing to sit on the floor of your old apartment, where the internet isn’t yet shut off, just like a junkie squatting in an abandoned building.
3. You find yourself trying to guess your neighbor’s password so you can “borrow” their Internet.
4. You find yourself telling the Internet company that having a connection is a “life or death” situation, and you really mean it.
5. You are unable to imagine the 10 days will ever end, and you feel like the world has come to a virtual end.
6. You find yourself checking old email just to get a fix.

As for the identity of my “friend,” I have to plead the fifth. LOL!

Can you think of any other Internet addiction signs you’ve “witnessed?”

If you’re a regular reader here on Crayon Writer, you know all about my luck with computers. Well, things are finally looking up, and I’m super excited!

After I sent in my new HP Pavilion dv6226 for repair, it came back running hotter than I remembered it and they didn’t fix the strange high-pitched squeal it sometimes had.

So I called Hewlett Packard’s customer support immediately. For about an hour I talked with some guy in another country who couldn’t talk to me outside of the script he was following.

After yelling at him, I talked to another agent who told me the laptop needed to be replaced. She sent me to their case management group, who shuffled me back and forth from manager to manager, with the story changing each time about the fix for my problem.

Finally I got a new manager who apologized for my weeks of torture with the staff, and he took care of everything. In a HUGE way. Granted, he saw how much I had been through and was ready to bend over backward to please me. And I was quite perturbed. I even asked him if they would give me stock options for my troubles. No, I didn’t get that request.

Instead, I got a brand-spanking-new awesome laptop and lots of perks that make me ready to sing HP’s praises from the highest mountain top (okay, maybe not the top of a mountain, but you get the idea).

Now let me tell you what HP did for me.

1. I got a free 3-year extended accidental damage warranty.

2. They included a 300GB personal media drive. Backups are a breeze now.

3. HP sent me a Belkin easy transfer cable so I could transfer all of my settings and files from the old laptop to the new. It worked like a dream. I didn’t even have to configure my 3 or 4 email accounts again.

4. The new laptop they sent was a just-released model. 17-inch screen. Built-in webcam. And did they give me just the basic settings? No. I got beefed up everything. Memory, speed, extra battery…everything!

So now I get to play with my HP Pavilion DV9700t, and the computer drama is finally over (knock on wood).

The moral of the story? If it’s justified, make your complaint heard. And ask for compensation for your troubles and wasted time. You may not get stock options, but you never know if you don’t ask.

The real point of this post? I love my new computer and everything that’s included with it! HP outdid themselves in taking care of the problem. I’m probably a customer for life (though they really need to work on their first line of customer support representatives).

Curious about the specifications of my new notebook? Let me know!

I’m either extremely unlucky or lucky, depending on how you look at it.

Last year my desktop’s fan broke. But I had a laptop that I’d been using, so no problem. Later, probably last February or March, the laptop died. No problem. I had just bought a new laptop a couple of days before, and they were able to recover the data.

Then, just last month, the new laptop died. I couldn’t get the data recovered, but I didn’t have a ton of things to worry about anyway (I had emailed a lot of things, and saved some in the website’s files). So no problem, really.

So now, just after I got the repaired laptop, my desktop crashed! But I did backup the data before the crash (finally learning my lesson). So no problem, right?

Finally, at the (hopeful) end of this computer saga, my newly repaired laptop is running way too hot, so I have to get HP to replace it.

Lucky? Unlucky? I don’t know, but I sure hope the drama ends soon. As a lesson to us all, backup, backup, backup! If you don’t know how, find someone who does. It’s no fun starting over all of the time.

I was having some technical issues, but somehow I figured out that a certain code decided to make things act up. I deleted a script for feedburner, and all of a sudden everything worked fine.

After much research, I finally found out from a co-founder of Feedburner that there was a glitch in their new Adsense program, which I’d recently activated.

I was quite pleased at how quickly Feedburner replied to the question, and at how fast they fixed it.

All systems ready to go!

It happened again. My computer crashed (at less than 1-year-old), but I never felt the need to backup my data.

If you’ve been reading Crayon Writer for a while, you know that my last laptop’s hard drive crashed earlier this year.

So what am I going to do to avoid this in the future?

Hopefully my ideas will help any other lazy backer-uppers too.

I will cc myself on any important emails I send. Perhaps I’ll cc them to my “free” email account. This way I won’t lose important emails.

I will also email myself important documents I’m working on (or have finished), like my resume or a client’s project.

I will turn off my laptop or computer more often, or at least put it in “standby” mode. I think my hard drives burned out from overheating.

Finally, though I’m a bit lazy, I will backup my files at least every two months. I found a computer store in town that charges just $40 for this service.

And while we’re working on prevention, buy renter’s or homeowner’s insurance. If you get burglarized or your neighbors aren’t handy with an oven, you may not lose everything you own (monetarily speaking). I just signed up a month ago.

I sure wish insurance could magically recover my documents. Here’s hoping the computer fixers can get something from my fried hard-drive.

 Any other advice for avoiding computer catastrophes?

The computer doctor saved the day! Sorta.

I got most of my files retrieved, but the computer itself isn’t up and running yet. No matter for now. I got what I needed. Unfortunately, my daughter won’t have her own laptop yet, but she’s content (for now) to play with it even though it doesn’t do anything.

This past week has been a busy one. Besides working on writing projects, I’ve had to clean up my backed up material. I had thousands of old email messages to wade through. I’m a bit of a packrat when it comes to the computer. I had to actually delete a lot!

Couple all of this computer work with dealing with a very spirited 20-month-old, and things are very hectic. But that’s the life I’ve chosen.

And I’m loving it!