Beyond trying to protect your computer from worms, viruses, etc -- BACK UP what you write on an EXTERNAL hard-drive. Consider emailing a copy to yourself, assuming you use an email program that allows you to retrieve old emails from any computer. Or you may want to put your most important files on a CD or DVD and place them in a safe-deposit box.
Aside from bad computer programs, which frankly I don't know what joy the person who writes those evil things takes -- there are so many other ways you can lose data on a laptop, that you should never have something you've spent days and days writing, just in one location. You could have a fire, a hard-drive failure, a flood, a spouse who steals your laptop..... the list is long. Make extra copies that aren't all in one place!
Okay, I'm getting back off my soap box now.
Aside from bad computer programs, which frankly I don't know what joy the person who writes those evil things takes -- there are so many other ways you can lose data on a laptop, that you should never have something you've spent days and days writing, just in one location. You could have a fire, a hard-drive failure, a flood, a spouse who steals your laptop..... the list is long. Make extra copies that aren't all in one place!
Okay, I'm getting back off my soap box now.