This page applies to:
Virtual Animals |
|
This page applies to: Virtual Animals |
Home Page and Table of Contents - List of Web Games
Disaster Planning
It's always important to include your pets in emergency planning! If there is a flood, fire, or any other disaster, a plan needs to be in place for your pets or livestock. Since this is a virtual pet website, I'll mainly leave those issues to other resources...
Cool Tip Do you know that the Emergency Management Institute offers FREE independent study courses on disaster planning for animals? US citizens can get a certificate for passing the final exams, and you can even apply for course credit if you are enrolled in college. |
If there's a flood or a fire, you'll probably be more concerned with your real pets than your virtual ones. But once you get attached to your virtual pets, you should plan for computer disasters!
If your pets are part of a website game, you should make sure that no one else has access to your account. If a hacker or scam artist gets your password, they can steal all of your pets. There are tips for avoiding hacks and scams under General Tips.
Write down the website addresses, user names, and passwords that you rely on and keep them somewhere safe. Your computer can fail and you will be very frustrated if you cannot remember all of the websites that you were playing on when the machine is replaced or fixed. Do not keep this information in a file on your computer --- then it would be accessible to hackers and other computer users!
Hackers and viruses can be threats to your virtual pets and all of your other files, too. You should have antivirus software installed and periodically check your computer. If you do not recognize the terms firewall, virus, or update, please go to your local bookstore and find a book about basic computer care.
Backups are very important! You should periodically make copies of your most important files and put them somewhere other than your main hard drive. You will probably come to consider your favorite virtual pets some of your most important computer files, so be sure that they are included in whatever backup system you have in place. I usually burn CD-Rs.
Home Page and Table of Contents - List of Web Games
All content is © Catherine Covington 2004 except for where the rights of coauthors, website owners, or trademark owners supersedes. Content may be reproduced freely for personal or educational use but may not be redistributed in electronic format or for profit without permission.
Visit our sponsor, Barron's Dictionary of Computer and Internet Terms, to learn more about computers and the Internet.