On that first note: for only $200 you can purchase an Iomega zip drive on which you can save your most important data files. These drives and their 100MB disks are also useful for storing large files like sound and video clips for easy transfer.

More importantly, there exists a scaled-down version of this option that costs you nothing you haven't already spent.

Everyone with an FAS account has just over six megabytes of storage reserved for his or her personal use (except for commercial use, of course). Assuming the computers you use are all connected to the Harvard network, you can upload files to the home directory of your FAS account and download them whenever you need.

There is no chance of picking up a virus along the way, and you don't need to worry about losing the file as long as your account is active. Floppy disks, on the other hand, are notoriously unreliable and are likely to fail.

Even if you must spend money, whether to optimize, repair or purchase a new computer altogether, take a serious look at such on-line marketplaces like the newsgroups I mentioned or the Harvard Computer Society Marketplace at www.hcs.harvard.edu/market. You'll definitely save.

Baratunde R. Thurston '99 is the Claverly Hall user assistant for Harvard Arts and Sciences Computer Services (HASCS), a Harvard Computer Society project leader and a Crimson executive.