A ten point contingency plan for working off-line
June 24, 2008
All of us bloggers have experienced unexpected and unwelcome “downtime”.
This can occur when your webhost is down or your internet connection is down or when your web host is “fixing” back end problems.
That’s why it’s advisable to have a ten point contingency plan for working off-line when you cannot access you blog.
At the end of this post I have asked my readers to chime in with their additional suggestions but below are my top ten.
- Clean out and categorize your bookmarks.
- Clean out your email program.
- Clean out and organize the image and music files on your computer.
- Organize your document files and delete those you don’t need.
- Delete programs you don’t use.
- Write your next blog post in an off-line blog editor or plain text editor.
- Run any maintenance programs you don’t have auto-scheduled.
- Write down your logins and passwords for all your sites, blogs, email accounts, where you purchased your domain names, etc. on 3 x 5 inch index cards and get them ready to put into your safety deposit box.
- Unplug your computer, take the cover off and clean out the dust [edit: with a soft damp cloth].
- Try to remember what you were doing before starting to blog and get up and do one of those things.
- Get up from the keyboard, shut your computer off and do something completely different. [ A new point supplied by a reader in the comments below.]
- Take time to organize security copies and back-ups, making sure your back-ups are up-to-date. [ A new point supplied by a reader in the comments below.]
Readers: Please post your additional “what to do when offline” suggestions as comments.
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Useful, as always, though I especially like Point 10. ;)
All great suggestions…things that I never seem to get done on a regular basis…there is always something more important at the time!
I generally use down time to do something completely different, make a piece of jewelry, take pictures, laundry :0)…I work from home!!
Cheers
These are all great tips for a newbie who hasn’t had any downtime yet. I especially like the tip regarding passwords stored on index cards. I thought I was safe having them stored in my AOL filing cabinet:-P. These are all great ideas that I’m sure I will need in the future, so I’m going to store them in my AOL file cabinet – lol. Thanks for the tips!
@Jennifer
Number 10 is my favorite. :D When it’s sunny outside I would probably slough off numbers 1 -9 . ;)
@azureislands
Yay! You just supplied number 11 :P
11. Get up from the keyboard, shut your computer off and do something completely different.
@mariamichelle
I recommend having KeyPass. KeePass is a free open-source password safe. Passwords can be stored in highly-encrypted databases, that can be unlocked with one master password or key file. http://keepass.info/
I have found that my 3 x 5 file cards have bailed me out in times of trouble too.
1-7, and 10 are Great ideas. Ideally, I’d remember to change my passwords too often for a hard copy to do me any good, but I have a hard time remembering to do so, or remember a password after I do. I’d replace number 9 with using a damp cloth after you’ve powered down. The canned air is usually not very good for the environment (it’s usually an inert gas, not actually air), and you can often blow dust deeper into the machine.
@sunburntkamel
Thanks for the tip about the canned air. I edited the post to change it to a soft, damp cloth. It’s good to see that you’re still a reader. :)
Get up from the keyboard, shut your computer off &
er… consider takin a bath today!!! LOL
Great suggestions, and I’m happy to say that I usually follow most (even when I’m not experiencing any downtime).
I must be old-fashioned, though…I tend to write the majority of my posts mostly on a legal pad or in a notebook before typing them up in WordPad. So, in the event of downtime, I’d probably go right along with my business, anyway. ;)
Maybe I like point number 11 best! One point that’s not here is ‘Take time to organise security copies and back-ups’. Make sure your back-ups are up-to-date! It’s a real TT lesson and one for which I was grateful when my entire blog disappeared online recently. It’s important to back up files and programs before and after doing the organisation and clean-ups that TT wisely proposes. Remember to back-up and update other devices that use your computer too, like Sat Nav equipment. (That reminds me, I must update my TomTom satnav since it keeps on telling me I’m driving in fields when I’m travelling down new motorways! I pay attention, and ignore those commands to turn sharp left or right! LOL)
Also I like point number 6. I write everything of any length in MS Word. I’ve even written long blog comments in Word before. Webmail, MySpace, Blogger and other online media crash or fail often. Save yourself time and heartache and write in Word or an off-line text editor!
If we are off line here in France it means that one has to start calling the internet provider right away! As it always takes hours to reach them and days to fix the problem you better not waste time! I envy the way you ladies manage your password administration. I have just a little book in which they are entered at random …
Excellent tips, timethief. And for our British readers:
#12. Have a cup of tea.
#13. Have another cup of tea.
Whenever the internet connection and/or the power goes out here – two or three times a week, especially in thunderstorm season – I take it as a sign to go read a book.
@ajeesh
Hi there and thanks for the comment.
@atlas
I’d choose to use windowslivewriter to write my posts offline over handwriting my posts any day. By using WLW you can prepare posts including their images ahead of time. You should try it. Here’s the download link http://get.live.com/writer/overview
@Geoffrey
Hi there,
Thanks for the visit and comment. If you are using wordpress software then using MS Word is not the best choice to make. I’d like to encourage you to use windowslivewriter instead. Why not to use Word http://faq.wordpress.com/2006/11/09/why-not-to-use-word/
http://get.live.com/writer/overview
BTW you just provided number 12. Thanks :)
12. Take time to organise security copies and back-ups, making sure your back-ups are up-to-date.
@ karen van staeyen
I live in a semi-remote location too so I know what you mean about phoning your ISP ASAP. Thanks for commenting.
@Roads
You made me LOL – Have a cuppa indeed! :)
@Dave
Reading a book sounds like a great plan. I make a list of the books I intend to read in winter evenings. During the summer I’d rather be outside gardening or walking. :)
What a beautiful place you have in here! I love your new look! :-D
Wonder what happened to my avatar? I used to have one and I did not change it. :?
@universalgeni
Long time no see, eh. :) Thanks for the blog compliment.
@universalgeni
I haven’t ca clue what happened to your avatar. Yesterday thesacredpath (my co-administrator) and I discovered that our bookmark logins no longer work for this blog. We changed nothing at our end. We did not change passwords or email addresses. Today I had to login to another one of my private blog anduse the dashboard tab in order to get into this one. Therefore, I assume that staff have something happening in the backend and something has been broken, again.
What a beautiful place :)
@sakarya
Thank you. I hope you find lots of helpful information here. :)
Year, I was forced to take a break from blogging because of some evil infection. It’s been bugging me for months but I’m official well again now. So when I’m not so exhausted any more my blogging will start rolling again! :-D
@universalgeni
I’m sorry to hear you haven’t been well. Hopefully, you will make a full recovery soon and blog on. :)
Thanks, tt. Things are looking up now. :-)
Hej – I wrote an error in my email address. Sorry.
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Thanks for the advice. I just had a lavender bubblebath in my jaccuzi bathtub and I feel wonderful.