Always have a reliable backup. You never know when disaster will strike. But mark my words: Every hard drive fails eventually, and if you don’t have a good backup of your personal data then when your drive does fail, all that data will be gone forever. I recommend a dual backup. Use an external hard drive and a simple backup program so you have easy access to your stuff if you need it, but also spend a little money on a cloud backup solution like Mozy or Carbonite. That way, if your computer is ever stolen or it bursts into flames, you have a reliable copy of your data stored online.一直有一个靠谱的备份。你永远不了解灾难什么时间会发生。但记住我的话：每一个硬盘最后都会失效，假如你的个人数据没一个好的备份，那样当你的驱动器失效时，所有数据将永远消失。我推荐双重备份。用一个外置硬盘和一个简单的备份程序，以便你在需要时轻松地访问你的东西，但也花一点钱在像Mozy 或Carbonite那样的云备份解决方法上。如此，一旦你的电脑失窃或失火，你在线存储的数据就有一个靠谱的复制。
Keep a recovery checklist. If you ever have to “rebuild” a computer – reinstall programs, set up email, reconnect to your printer, and so on – I’m sorry. It’s no fun. But it’s even less fun not knowing what to do, or having to aimlessly browse the Internet looking for instructions. Here’s what to do instead: Take the time right now to write down all the steps you need to get a new PC up and running, including all the special settings. Keep that paper printed out and in a location that you can easily get to when you need it.记录一份恢复清单。假如你过去“重建”过电脑，重新安装程序，设置邮件，重新连接打印机等等——我非常抱歉。这没任何乐趣。但不了解干什么更无趣，或者不能不漫无目的地浏览网络探寻指令。这是要做的事情：目前花时间写下你需要重启并运行电脑的所有步骤，包含所有特殊设置。把那张纸打印出来放在一个你需要时比较容易找到的地方。
only change one thing at a time. Need to upgrade, fix, or replace a few things? Make changes to your PC or network one at a time. Adding new memory to your computer? Install it, make sure everything still works for a day or two, and then replace the video card. If you change two or more things at once, it can be really hard to know how to troubleshoot the system when things go awry.一次只改变一件事情。需要升级、维修或更换一些东西吗？叫你的电脑或互联网每次只改变一件东西。要添加新的内存到你的电脑吗？安装吧，确保所有仍能正常运行一两天，然后更换显卡。假如你一次改变两个或两个以上的东西，当事情出错时非常难了解怎么办系统问题。
The simplest solution is usually the best solution. One of the problems with my home network was that it was needlessly complicated. My wireless extender made my entire network more fragile and convoluted. I tried troubleshooting for a spell, but in the end I did what I should have done to begin with: I replaced the router with a new, high quality model. Miraculously, the new router had the range to reach all around my house and solved all my glitchy network problems without the need for an extender.最简单的解决方法一般是最好的解决方法。我家庭互联网的其中一个问题并没那样复杂。无线扩展器使我的整个互联网愈加脆弱和复杂。我试着修复一段时间，但最后做了我刚开始就应该做的事情：用一个新的优质的路由器替换了原来的。奇迹般地，新的路由器覆盖了我房屋的所有范围，在无需扩展器的状况下我解决了所有缓慢的互联网问题。
Have a cookie. Having computer trouble? It can get really frustrating, really fast. Remember to occasionally walk away – take a break, have a cookie, and decompress. Then take a fresh look at the problem a bit later, knowing there are more cookies what last one came from.吃块饼干。遇见电脑麻烦？这真的会非常快变得非常沮丧。记得偶尔走开——休息一下，吃一块饼干，减一下压。然后稍晚会儿用新的见地看待这个问题，了解还有最后一个想法到来的更多饼干。
