Last Monday, April 11^th, my computer was making a funny noise, so I turned it off to let it “rest”. A few hours later I turned it back on to find the black screen of death! You’ve all heard of it. You’ve all feared it. I lived it! After several attempts to “revive” it, I texted my husband who spoke to the computer guy at his office who confirmed it was dead. Dead. Hard drive was dead. Don’t you love my Emojis??

Jeff took the computer to work Tuesday and I had it back by Thursday with a new hard drive AND Windows 10. With a lot of patience and a little help, and the saving grace of Carbonite, a little over a week later and I am back in business. The only casualty that I know of right now is my Photoshop Elements 10 photo editing software which I can’t seem to recover. I don’t believe it would be compatible with Windows 10 anyway, so I will most likely upgrade to PE14. One of the reasons I can’t recover it is because I can’t seem to find any record of when or where I got it! That is my fault.

Reinstalled Monogram Wizard Plus with a simple upgrade from the MWP website… Check!

Reinstalled all of my MWP fonts I’ve purchased over the years (both from CD’s and from online in the Needleheads store)… Check!

Reinstalled Sew What-Pro. I did have to get my registration info from Sands Computing because it had been on my computer since September 25, 2008 and I had failed to write it down… Check!

Reinstalled my Photoscape photo editing software… Check!

Reinstalled my Canon camera software… Check!

Now on to Carbonite. The day my computer “expired”, I called Carbonite to let them know what was going on. They sent me an email with great instructions on how to restore all of my files. On Sunday afternoon I began the process, which took a little over 24 hours to complete. 12 years worth of embroidery and applique designs… RESTORED! 12 years worth of kid photos, design photos, website photos, etc… RESTORED! There were some files that were unable to be restored, but so far it’s not anything I miss. There are also some email files I had saved in my Live Mail that we have not restored yet, but they CAN be restored. If our computer guy can’t figure out how to restore them, then you can pay a support service of Carbonite 50 bucks to restore them for you. Worth it. Did I mention we pay less than $100 PER YEAR for Carbonite service? That “insurance” is well worth every dime, nickel and penny should your computer crash like mine did! I have customers email me all the time saying their computer crashed, and they’ve lost every design they’ve ever purchased (which is usually $2-4 a pop). I didn’t lose a single design, or a single photo of my precious children!

What I have learned… KNOW what softwares are on your computer and keep a hard copy somewhere of registration numbers, serial numbers, a list of where you purchased them etc. Also, keep all software CD’s in a safe place. I was able to re-install all of my MWP fonts I purchased (before the creation of the Needleheads Online Store) because I had all of my CDs and their serial numbers. I had to do some searching to find all of the above, so I will be more organized from now on.

I’m still getting used to Windows 10, but thankfully everything has been compatible and I got back to business with ease.

What else I have learned… go get Carbonite NOW, or SOME TYPE of backup system. You are CRAZY not to!

Let me know if you have any questions!

I’m leaving you with a couple of personal pictures. Jeff and I celebrated (early) our 15 year anniversary this past weekend down at The Grand Hotel in Fairhope, AL. It was FABULOUS and I’d move there Saturday if I could. Great shopping, TOP NOTCH eating (every restaurant downtown is a “local” place), and everyone and everything was so laid back. The people who waited on us in every restaurant and store we went in were super nice. Loved it! The Grand is a remarkable place in and of itself! And the TREES….

Lastly, (2 of) the kids and I met Steve Harvey a few weeks ago. We are huge fans of his show Little Big Shots, and everything else he does (Family Feud, his talk show, Miss Universe (oops), etc). Mr. Harvey is friends and business partners with my neighbor, so when my neighbor saw the kids and I loitering on our front porch stalking them like crazy, he called us over for a picture. He was in town all weekend, so it was quite an exciting few days on our street. Lots of texting with neighbors and tracking his every move! That night Mallory asked if she had to take a bath, because Steve Harvey had touched her shoulder!! L…O…L Anyway we are big fans and can’t wait for him to come back to town!

Have a great weekend!