to whomsoever it may concern

Free advice.
Points to remember about your dissertation (coming from someone in the middle of one, this is as genuine as it gets!):
If there are 'x' number of things that can go wrong, be assured, all of them will. There are no two ways about it. And you will realize how many ways things can go wrong in! A simple thing like data collection is no less than the maze at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. With dragons and spells vying for your attention at every turn. Well, almost!
All those people who tell you that 'well begun is better done' are absolutely right. At least in the context of dissertations. I prefered to emulate those who started late and still managed to get their work done in time. Not the smartest choice.
And then, the computer aspect. This morning, I had an almost heart attack 'coz my usually no-nonsense, docile comp suddenly went off! The screen went blank and the green light kept flickering. Nothing would revive it. Not random key-pressing, not turning it upside down, not even telling it how much I loved it! And the weirdest part is, when I tried opening the CD drive, it opened! Spooky!
After around 10 traumatic minutes, it suddenly came back to life. Miracles do happen! (why just yesterday a plane landed on water!). And the message on the screen said "windows has just recovered from an unlikely shutdown". Gawd, and I recovered from an almost-stopped-heart!
So, make sure that all your data has backup. Specially people who no longer write stuff and type every little thing. Mail it as attachments to various accounts. Various ppl if possible. Burn Cds, do whatcver. But there's no way out if you have just one place of storage and that gets damaged. I can't believe I'm saying that. It's such a tech-savvy sounding thing na? haha That's what dissertations do to you. They turn morons into experts. Non-believers into fanatics. Perfectly sane people into lunatics!
And final point to remember, which I am saying due to sheer optimism and not personal experience (yet), the whole thing is totally worth it. I am hoping that at the end of this dissertation I can look back and feel proud of the effort I put in :)