Ever go to boot up your PC, only to have it shut down? Thinking about reinstalling Windows, but afraid of losing all your data.

Obviously, any good Fort Lauderdale computer repair technician will tell you that the first priority is getting that data back. Recovering the PC comes second.

However, if you backed up your data regularly, like any computer repair expert would also recommend, this might not even be an issue to start with.

As far as recovering the data, trying download the live version of Puppy Linux and burn it to a CD-ROM. It's an .iso file, and double-clicking the file will likely bring up the burner. If it doesn't, download and install ISO Recorder.

Many experts believe Puppy isn't the best Linux flavor by a long shot, however, for these purposes it is small, fast, and is easy for Windows users.

Boot it on another computer first, to make sure the disc is okay.

Having done so, and then trying it on your broken computer, if your PC won't boot to CD more than it will boot to Windows, you've got a hardware problem.

If you're not comfortable diagnosing and fixing computers yourself, bring it to a Fort Lauderdale or Miami computer repair shop.

Just make sure the people in the computer repair organization understand that your first priority is rescuing data off of the hard drive. They may end up charging you extra for that chore, but that's the price of not backing up.

If you are able to boot into Linux, then copy as much as you can to an external hard drive. Then you can try to fix Windows.

If that doesn't work, then try to reboot and press again, but this time select Safe Mode. Once booted, select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore. Follow the instructions and pick an appropriate backup.

But what if you can't even get to the Boot Menu?

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