Corrupted Computer Files - A Writer's Worst Nightmare

            I literally froze in terror when I read the message on my computer screen. The User Profile Service Failed the Logon.  It was accompanied by the sinister red circle with a large white X in the middle. This was worse than getting a letter from my junior high telling me that I had failed the physical fitness test! Much worse. It meant “Verboten! Forbidden! You can’t go any further!”

            I did what I usually do when weird things happen to my computer. I shut it off and tried it again. Did that for five times until I realized that I was following the definition of insanity. So, I took it one step further. I unplugged the thing. Then tried it for three more times. I even checked all the wires and plugs since the cats have a nasty habit of loosening them. Still no luck. 

            By now my fingers were actually trembling. My God! What have I lost? I wasn’t worried about anything on the internet. I could access that anywhere and anytime. As far as my pictures were concerned, no big deal either. They were still in my camera’s internal memory. I haven’t cleared that out since Clinton was in office. But my novels that were still in progress? That was a different story.

            Thankfully, I sent my new sci-fi thriller to three of my editors. Wasting no time, I called one of them to make sure that it would be backed-up on their computer. Whew! My other novel, the fifth in the “Light Riders” series was still in its infancy. Five thousand words worth that represented hours of research. I had gotten pretty cavalier about this stuff and only backed-up the first two thousand words. That’ll teach me. By now, full-fledged panic was beginning to set-in. It was augmented by the fact that I was scheduled to present a workshop for the West Valley Writers and the entire thing was on the computer. The computer with the You can’t go here because something failed. Too darn bad for you. 

            Somewhere in my brain a voice kept saying, “This probably happens all the time. There’s got to be a fix for it.”  Thanks to Google and the smartphone, I found it. Trouble was, I couldn’t understand a word of it!

           

            Step One – Trawl Through the Registry

            Who uses the word “trawl” anymore and where’s the registry?

            Step Two – Two SID Keys with the Same Number

            What the heck is a SID key?

           

            Step Three – Only One SID Key Ending in “.bak”

            Yes. This helps me a lot!

            It was time to take real action – call a profession and try not to let them know you’re scared. (The price could go up!)  Lucky for me, a have just that person in my family and he didn’t freak out when I used words like SID and Registry.

           

            “Help! Help! There’s like a zillion steps to fixing this thing!”

            “Uh-huh. And does it say 'Panic' on any of them?”

           

            “This is really bad. Really bad. Maybe I need a new computer.”

           

            “You don’t need a new computer. If a spark plug goes on your car, you don’t get a new car, do you?”

            For the next thirty minutes I listened to everything he said and just pushed whatever keys he told me to. Voila! It worked! A miracle! I was up and running! No more nasty red X’s to scare the daylights out of me.

            Then, I immediately took action to ensure that my important files weren’t lost. I printed them out!  That’s right. Old School! Now as long as my copier doesn’t give me any heart-stopping messages, I’ll be OK!

            P.S. I have the greatest, smartest cousin in the world!