External hard drives offer outstanding speed as backup devices and avoid the disc-swapping that plagues users who back up to CD or DVD. However, if you leave your backup drive turned on and plugged into your PC all the time, you place your backups at risk of being contaminated by viruses, worms, or other malware. Turn off your external hard drive when not in use. Click the green arrow icon in the System Tray first to tell Windows to safely shut down its connection to the drive so no unwritten data will be lost in transit.
David Ferrin www.jaws-users.com Life is what happens after you have already made other plans. For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/