Do-It-Yourself Solutions For The Blue Screen Of Death

Like everyone else right now, you probably don't have the money to send your computer off to a repair shop, nor do you have the time or patience. Luckily for you there are a few do-it-yourself options floating around out there that won't break the bank and will the do the job.

Your first thought is getting your data back. I personally don't know what I would do without my photos or especially my music. First priority is recovering everything to another computer or your important stuff to a USB key.  There are a few products out there that can do the job quickly and cost effectively. However, if your Windows OS isn't functioning, it narrows the field substantially.

To bypass Windows and get to your data, you're going to need a product with a boot CD. A couple I'd recommend include: McAfee Easy Recovery (formally Ontrack) and Selkie Rescue Data Recovery (formally Lifeboat Data Rescue). Both will run for about $99 USD. McAfee will recover files to an external hard drive, rather than over a network or a second computer, which if you don't have an external, might be a second choice. Selkie Rescue allows you to transfer over a network or via direct cable connection to another computer. I personally prefer Selkie, because you can just press enter 3 times and let it do its thing.

Alright, so now that you have your data secured you're probably going to want to fix what gave you the Blue Screen of Death in the first place. The first thing that jumps into your head is probably a full re-install of your computer. Yes, this is a viable option and it's not that hard to do. Either that or you can use another product called BART CD from Avast.  It's a bootable antivirus and recovery program that allows you to find and get rid of viruses and fix disk errors that may have caused your system to go down in the first place. Not for the faint of heart, you may need some technical expertise in order to fully appreciate the effectiveness of this program.

If you decide you're going to take it to a repair shop you'll be paying hundreds of dollars for a stranger to try to retrieve your files for you. However, if your computer has physical damage, this may be your only choice. I won't be taking my computer into a repair shop anytime soon and I certainly wouldn't risk showing a stranger my personal information, whether it be pictures or just passwords I have stored in word documents; I can know that all my information is still in my hands by doing it myself.