Save Your Shit 
============== 

This is a plea to anybody out there who is posting anything to the 
internet that they give a shit about: 

LEARN HOW TO SAVE YOUR SHIT. 

Seriously, it's that simple. More and more I am seeing instances of 
people losing emails, photos, videos and other messages because they put 
this ridiculous blind faith that the internet will save everything and 
that it will all be okay. IT WILL NOT. Web companies do not give a shit 
about you and never did. 

For your email: 

Stop using webmail. Use a client instead like Windows Live Mail or 
Mozilla Thunderbird. Then learn how to BACKUP your shit using a free 
utility like KLS Mail Backup. 

For your contacts: 

Whether it's your email client, cell phone or both, find a way to back 
up your contacts. I don't care if you have to write them all out BY 
HAND. Just DO IT because one day whatever sync service you use will 
BREAK and you will lose ALL your contacts. Back that shit up NOW or 
write it out. 

For your instant messenger: 

Stop using web-based instant messaging. Learn to use a local messenger 
like AIM, Yahoo, MSN or whatever and know how to BACK UP the chat logs. 
You will have conversations where there's some really important 
information you need to keep. LEARN how to get to those logs and BACK 
THAT SHIT UP. 

For your web browser/bookmarks: 

Don't use a web-based service that saves them. That service - for 
whatever it is - will go away because bookmarks make no money, so it is 
GUARANTEED that the service will go away one day and *poof*, there go 
all your bookmarks. Use a LOCAL (as in on your computer) way of doing 
it. 

Concerning web pages, learn have to save MHT files. An MHT when saved is 
a single clickable file that is an archive of a web page. Internet 
Explorer has this built-in to it. For any web page you're on, just do a 
File/Save as. If using Firefox, download and install the UnMHT add-on to 
do the same thing. 

For your photos and videos: 

NEVER rely on a web service as a backup medium for your photos and 
videos. Find a way to download them all NOW and back them up NOW. 

For your social media stuff: 

Learn how to "print" pages to PDF using PDF Creator (Google it). If 
that's too difficult for you to use, learn how to take screen shots. 
Windows Vista and Windows 7 has a thing in it called "Snipping Tool" 
(search for it when you click the start button). Take snapshots of 
whatever is important to you and SAVE it. 

Start using USB sticks 
---------------------- 

Go to Target or Wal-Mart and pick up one or more USB sticks. Learn how 
to use them (they're stupidly easy to use). For everything mentioned 
above, that's where you back your stuff up to. If you fill one up, BUY 
AS MANY AS YOU HAVE TO. They're dirt cheap and will last 8 years as long 
as you don't run them through the laundry by accident or step on them. 
CDs are WORTHLESS because they're notoriously unreliable. USB sticks are 
rock-solid and work exactly as they should. 

If you start backing up NOW, you may not appreciate it at the moment, 
but in a few years you'll be very thankful that you did. 

SAVE YOUR SHIT.