Professional Panic

By Vanessa Barber

Project Manager, Advent Media Group

It was a busy day. Phones were ringing off the hook, stacks of paper were waiting to be edited, and I was trying my best to keep on track…and hydrated. I was in the middle of working on editing a pretty tough piece and I was really in the zone when my phone buzzed. I reached over to pick it up and chaos ensued.

If you have ever spilled a cup of coffee, or in my case a glass of water, all over your work, you know the feeling of panic that comes over you. Everything gets louder, quicker, scarier. Try pouring that water all over your computer. It’s a similar feeling to jumping full body, head first into the ocean. In October. In New England.

For three days now, my laptop has been turned upside down with a fan blasting on it in the hopes of drying it out. And for the past three days, life has been that much harder. I am working without my documents, my materials, and my entire email history. So, in an effort to save you from this experience, I’ll share with you the few things I have learned about laptop rescue.

You know the first thing I’m going to say, I bet. Back up! Save everything to a public server at work. Get a flash drive (a portable USB storage device) and save everything on it. Do something, do anything, but remember to back up.

But that comes before the torrential downpour flooding your keys, seeping into your hardware, sizzling the motherboard. So what to do if this happens to you?

• First, turn your computer off.
• Second, and this is REALLY important, don’t turn it on again for days. Several days.
• Take out the battery and shake out the water as much as possible. Don’t shake too hard.
• Don’t touch anything with a paper towel or even your hands…avoid static electricity at all costs.
• Flip it up so moisture is pulled away (like a tent).
• Use a hairdryer on cool to dry it out. I’m using a fan, but some sites I have read said this is a bad idea because it may retain moisture. (I’m thinking, how much damage can I incur with a fan at this point? I guess we’ll find out.)
• Lastly, you wait. You hope. You might even try praying.

All of these recommendations came from various forms of online research and advice from computer gurus. The only advice I can give you is this: if you MUST drink beverages while working on your computer, then you MUST drink them from a container that won’t spill. Or keep them far away from your computer. Because if you are at all as dependent on your computer as I am on mine, the devastation is not worth the drink.

On Monday, I’ll hold my breath and power on my laptop. I’ll let you know how everything turned out.