My PC is resting

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It’s not dead, just asleep. Photo (cc) Dunechaser.

The computer I’m writing my thesis on has a faulty CPU fan. I found this out when it gave a really long squawk after being turned on and then spontaneously rested. The CPU is rather old, which means getting a replacement fan is not going to be simple. In simple terms years of work – all the writing, all the calculations and all the data – is inaccessible. I’m a bit irritated. What I’m not is despondent. This is because a few weeks ago I signed for for an account with Google Docs.

Google Docs is an online Word Processor and Spreadsheet. You can upload Word files and then use Google to write and edit them, which is accessible from most places. For instance when I work around my Grandparents’ house I can take a laptop and work on the same files there rather than emailing them back to myself and confusing one version with another. I can also access the same files from university. Not only that, but I can also co-author files. If I’ve written a draft I want to share with someone I upload it and authorise them to edit it. It’s not perfect, tabbing doesn’t seem to be there and the styles are weak at the moment. However right now it’s the typing in the text bit that I’m doing. When it’s time to print I’ll download the files and tweak them in another program.

It’s also handy should one or more computers expire. I was backing up files from the Google account to my home desktop machine. So while it has everything on it, I don’t have to worry about not being able to get the files off it. Now I need another machine to back up to. Even if you don’t like Google Docs, if you’re working on anything you really don’t want to lose, uploading back-ups for use as a last resort is a really good idea.