Online Digital data Backup – Why You Should Have It

If our data is so valuable, why do a lot of us fail to execute regular backups? It is a fact that EVERY hard drive will eventually fail. Failure could occur 1 week after you take your new PC out of the box, or it may not come about for 2 or 3 years. Thus regular backups are so crucial.

CD-RW disk drive – Floppy disks have become obsolete. What substituted them as basic storage media are the rewritable CDs, which are the most acquirable and most affordable among storage devices available nowadays. A CD can hold data up to 700MB, which is adequate to put in a number of data files. However, because of space restrictions, it’s unrealizable to execute a complete system backup using a CD-RW.

DVD-RW disk drive – Rewritable DVDs are like CDs, except for their bigger storehouse capacity. Most DVDs can store up to more than 4GB of data. Double-layer DVDs even have an 8.5GB memory capacity. USB flash drives – Flash drives are really convenient and spacious to utilise. With sizes as small as a finger, flash drives can fit even the smallest pockets. Flash drives have more store space than CDs and DVDs, holding up to 32GB of digital data. A lot of flash drives nowadays come in luxuriant and themed designs.

Automated backups are the easiest and most hassle free method to utilise. Unitedly with the accurate external storage, automated backups can allow you to storehouse a big amount of digital data on your computer without having to worry about disk drive failure. There are several automatic answers on the market today. Perhaps the easiest of all of them is Apple’s Time Machine backup function that is part of Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard. Time Machine will backup your data files every hour as long as your backup drive is connected to your PC. Apple also makes a very handy wireless router that accepts an internal backup drive all in one. It’s addressed as a Time Capsule, and it grants one or more Macs on the network to backup wirelessly, and automatically. The key to Time Machine is that your PC must either be connected to your backup drive, or be networked to a Time Capsule. If you need to restore a file, a lost email, a deleted contact, or a lost photo from iPhoto, you merely need to launch Time Machine, find your lost data, and restore it. Time Machine will put the restored data back precisely where you had it.

Many people employ magnetic tape backups. Magnetic tape has an astonishingly long shelf life – much longer than CDs and DVDs, and extrinsic hard drives. Similar to using CDs and DVDs, tape backups can be time consuming and can be tedious. There are different devices on the marketplace that hold several mag tape cartridges so that backups can be automatic. Since each tape passes full capability, tapes are automatically switched to accommodate more data as needed. Tape drives usually cost around $1000, and up depending on the capacity of the tapes utilized, and the number of tapes that can be filled into the drive. Backup Exec, and Retrospect are two backup software titles that function well with tape drives. Tape backups work out good with both Mac and Windows systems.

Online digital data backup – Today, a progressively popular choice for computer digital data storage is online digital data backup. The Internet has made it feasible for companies to stock their important data on a remote server. Online digital data backup works by installing in a PC a software program organized to back up certain PC data. Through Net connection, the internet backup service automatically carries data files to safe remote data servers.

An internet backup service is the best data storage option for businesses looking to protect files and documents that are important to their business operations. It is a time-efficient, economical, and safe means to back up valuable files. Instead of purchasing multiple, pricey storage media and back up data frequently, you can count on an online digital data backup company to regularly preserve your data files on its remote digital data center. With this service, secrecy issues, errors, and device faults are eliminated. What’s more, it is simplified and quick to retrieve your needed files from any computer.

Do you call for help selecting the right backup method for your requirements? Have no fear. There are a lot of great computer consultants available to help you. Usually, a simple Google search will facilitate you get the right people in your area to assist you. Apple maintains a listing for Apple Consultants at consultants.apple.com. Craigslist is also a great source. Many smaller firms advertise there. Smaller firms, as well as Apple Consultants can commonly provide you with more personalized function instead of the “cookie cutter” solutions often deployed by larger companies. The key is to take your alternatives carefully, and to demand a lot of questions. Remember that it’s YOUR data.

Internet Privacy and Security- User Misuse.

Without a doubt, internet privacy and internet security are big issues today, and the concern deepens knowing that millions are being added daily to the World Wide Web. In fact, all personal internet sites require a log-in with a classified password, and some even display a little lock to indicate that the user is logged into a secure site. But despite all the precautions, the risk factor remains and the internet privacy goes into a direct conflict with the end users. The question is, are there lapses with all the privacy and security measures placed within the sites, or is the user too casual to allow the bastion to be breached and then holler ‘foul’.

The internet today is not just about the personal keeping in touch, but has a huge bearing on the various portals that conduct B2B or B2C business, and is thereby rightly considered the engine of economic growth. In fact, online business transactions, including personal banking or bill payments, is growing in popularity with the people. Ask these people why use the internet and the prompt answer is convenience. Ask them about the allying fear and it is invariably the threat of privacy intrusion and security lapse.

The problem is to determine who actually creates either. Offhand, we can confidently state that a majority of the people do not even bother to read the ‘privacy policy’ of any site, and blindly click the ‘read’ just to move on to next step. In fact, the persons concerned about the privacy policy or the security threat will gladly pass on personal information on a free offer caption or on a consumer promo site. Some would gladly barter their email id and birth date even to a lottery or a sweepstakes vendor.

No doubts there are some who guard their privacy fiercely but then these are the ones who don’t scream either. The vociferous ones are in reality the apathetics, who do very little to safeguard their interest. Ask if these users would be willing to pay a little extra to safeguard their security and privacy fears, and their incredulous response will be ‘on the free-way’?

Technically, it’s the internet activists, who are concerned about privacy and security, and to get them they demand it from the one they do internet transactions, or just move on. They are the careful ones at all times irrespective of the site. In step contrast are the mainstream majority who may skip the minimal interest to safeguard themselves and demand that the government draft some ‘internet protection policy’.

In all honesty, even companies do care about consumer privacy and spend a lot to safeguard the interest in the hope of furthering their business bond. But when the majority consumer is not concerned, the companies too lose interest as it is a losing investment. If we have to view this whole angle of privacy and security with a positive and fair perspective, then we have to accept that the bigger onus lies with the user in using the safety features or avoiding sites that have no privacy policy. But it will not resolve any matter or make thing easier by merely drafting some regulations. There is every possibility they won’t be read either.

Is ‘Internet Privacy’ A Myth?

This is quite a contradictory question, almost a Catch-22. After all, we place all our personal information on the internet and then want to know whether it is safe. Most of us lead two lives, the reality and the virtual, and we tend to keep them as two distinct identities. But there are sites that require authentic data to process the official requirements, or you may as well be working in the paper, stapler and snail mail era.

So even if we wanted to avoid, we are compelled to place something authentic about ourselves in some official site, and not necessarily the various Social Sites. Now, if you have taken the trouble of demarcating Dr. Jekyll from Mr. Hyde even in the confines of the virtual world, where and how do they converge to take on a singular identity? Good question, but to understand it real deep, you need to be a techie or a geek. From a lay-mans point of view, which would be ours too, let us understand this in the simplified language of the complicated cyber world.

Let us know that the moment we create an email identity, and we log into the internet thorough our safe password within the confines of our home on the very personal computer, we are still not alone. No, we are not talking of the Twilight Zone; we are talking of something worse called Microsoft, Google and Yahoo. Between these three CCS or Cloud Computing Service providers, nothing much is really ‘hidden’, so the internet privacy does become a myth.

Presuming you have a yahoo email account, a gmail, or even a hotmail account. Know that any of these is controlled by one of the CCS, and somewhere down the line, there is an overlap that allows the exchange and filtration of data. For example, you can create any false identity on a social site, but Google knows your real name, when and for what you use the search engine, your mails and chats and from whom including their email id, access to friends and communities on Orkut, pictures stored in Picasa album, who you have been tracing via Geolocation.

Google knows every Blog, your birthday, your appointments through Alerts, your music preference through YouTube. These are just examples of some of the Google features in regular use, and there are many more. Similarly, Microsoft has features like Windows Mail, Messenger, Live Spaces, Live Searches, Windows Zune, Live Skydrive, Live Maps, Soapbox, and the list goes on. It’s too technical, but somewhere down the line, there is an info-share or just a trespass that does occur, and it becomes easy to segregate the chaff from the rice, surfacing the ‘hidden’ you.

But let us be realistic and ask ourselves, ‘why do we need to hide from ourselves?’ If we just be our transparent selves, we won’t need to worry much about our identity. Yes, keeping important and very personal data is another thing, but then no one advises you to place that on the internet. The privacy on the internet is a myth, but that myth is safe as long as you are within the limits of the law.

Parental Anxieties Of The Internet

The parental anxiety of the internet, its vast applications and information, are in equal measures a bane and a boon. From the positive angle and especially in today’s context, parents would want their child to be able to manage a computer. While most children may have no interest in the various computer languages or be overly concerned with the vast applications, they would certainly know how to create their email id and access the internet.

This too is good as it gives the child the power of connectivity and a link that can provide a huge data of information to help them with their assignments. In fact, the internet has ’shrunk’ the world to a level that they can even learn about other countries and cultures seated at their desk, something that the earlier generation used to glean from the National Geographic magazine, not even the television. Unfortunately, this free information and net connectivity is not minus the misuse, which are the main cause of parental anxiety of the internet.

Any parent knows that full access of the internet will open the windows platform, but also opens doors of concern. For instance, the pornographic sites leave a lasting impression on the impressionable minds, and this cannot be erased overnight. The urge then is to know more, and a contrary cycle is set into motion. But for this, it just would not be fair to deprive the child of the internet entirely, and parents would be wiser in trying to counseling rather than in exercising a ban. Tell them about the rules they violate unknowingly, and tell them the truth about why they should avoid.

While we understand that parents would like to protect the purity of thought and the innocence of childhood, this is the best recourse left to the parents to defer their anxiety level. This is necessary too as some unscrupulous sites actually lure children towards porno-sites in the guise of URLs titled with the information that they would normally seek. The larger anxiety of parents is of their children falling pray to cyber stalkers, paedophiles, sex maniacs, who can entice and lure children on chat lines.

For restraining part of the parental anxiety of internet, it is well said that arming the children is equivalent to teaching them. Therefore, instead of relying on a gadget that only blocks certain sites, open their mind with a vast array of your talks, aligning and spelling out all your fears for them. Place it on the children as a ’shared parent child responsibility’ instead of relying on cyber laws that are applicable only after the damage is done.

Parents should understand that even counter-technology is just a tool, and not some magic wand. However, their anxiety today of the internet can be at ease knowing that the tech-savvy children no longer consider it a new world, but just an alternate environment that ties them to the real world. So real in fact, that the parents should also be prepared to accept that their children have already read this article.

How to Protect your Computer from Viruses

With computers in almost every home and business, there is now an increased risk of acquiring computer viruses. A computer virus is a program that makes duplicates of itself and infects a users computer files. These viruses can spread from computer to computer infecting files and programs. Computer viruses are such a hazard because they can erase stored information and permanently damage files.

The following is a list of the many methods a user can implement to protect their computer from harmful viruses:

Make back-up copies of important documents and files and store them on a separate disk or external hard drive. By doing this, you will still have a copy of your files if your information is erased or the computer suffers other damage.

Use a quality anti-virus program that will scan files, programs, and software. Make sure you keep the anti-virus software up-to-date and scan your computer often. You can download anti-virus software from the web or purchase it from a store.

Do not share commercial software with anyone. It is an easy way to spread viruses. Make sure the software comes from a well-known and established source.

When you download files from the internet, make sure you scan them for viruses before opening and running them.

Watch out for spyware and hackers. Spyware programs are usually entwined with a download and will install itself onto a computer. The programs will monitor your search patters and relay the information back to the person who sent it. They can even acquire any stored financial information. Make sure you have a trusted firewall. A firewall is a program or hardware device that filters information coming through the Internet connection into your computer system. If incoming information is flagged by the filters, it will not be allowed through to your computer. It is also recommended that you expand your anti-virus protection to include anti-spyware, anti-hacker-tools (prevents hijackers from accessing your computer,) anti-key-loggers (protects your passwords,) and anti-worms. A worm is a small piece of software that uses computer networks and security holes to replicate itself and cause damage.

Block porn and spam using a spam filter program. These programs identify any suspicious emails and delete them before you open it. Some programs will even send an email back to the spammer saying your address is invalid.

Most viruses are triggered by opening an attachment. Don’t open any attachments in an email unless you know the sender or the attachment has been scanned. If you are not sure about the attachment, delete it. A file with an extension like EXE, COM or VBS, is an executable program file. Once opened, it can run and do all sorts of damage to your computer. The best protection is to never open these executables that arrive in your e-mail.

If your computer is infected with a virus, use an anti-virus program to remove the virus and quickly get rid of all copies of the virus. If you need help, turn your computer off and take it to a professional who knows how to remove viruses.

It is important to remember that most viruses can be removed without permanently damaging your computer system. As well, most virus infections can be prevented. With proper anti virus protocols, you can protect you computer from harmful viruses.

A Review Of The Different Internet Browsers Available

There are many internet browsers and each person has a favorite. However the most popular internet browser is Internet Explorer or IE. This comes pre-installed along with the Windows package on the computer.

Internet Explorer

IE is an excellent browser, but the problem one has always faced with IE is that it was vulnerable to hackers who used this as a platform to release nasty viruses and spyware. These days’ people are simply switching to others. The reason of course is that users want to surf the net, without the fear in their minds that their computer will not be hacked into

Firefox

The main competitor of Internet Explorer is Firefox. It is a much faster browser. It has always been the favorite of many who love tabbed browsing. It has many other features that are user friendly and not given with IE

The design is simple, the browsing is fast and it is safe. This internet browser blocks pop ups, and protects against viruses and other nasties that trawl the internet. Moreover Firefox does not get hijacked. Problems that arise are quickly solved as patches are released. Since it blocks spyware, your computer runs faster and smoother. Firefox, has other neat features like live bookmarks, automatic software updates, and you can even customize your browser.

The only downside is that certain web pages can not be opened since Firefox does not have ActiveX

Opera

Opera is one of the more popular browsers. It offers faster uploads, and so it is preferred by people who are still working on dial up connections. This makes browsing faster and smoother. Internet Explorer’s slow speed makes web surfing test the patience of a saint! Opera is sleek and comes with lots of features like tabbed browsing and a pop up blocker. You can choose whether you want to run Java applets or not. For faster browsing you can turn these off. It does disable certain JavaScript functions but it’s a small sacrifice for that valuable internet speed. If you want fast browsing, you must go with Opera. Now Opera is free and that is a big plus. Another thing is that it has never been breached, so you can feel safe. However opera may not be able to display certain web pages.

Google Chrome

Again this internet browser offers a huge improvement in speed and browsing. It has a huge screen and the tabs are arranged so as to save space. It comes with a pop up blocker, you can surf in an incognito mode. The time saving idea of showing snap shots of pages you visit whenever you open a new tab is great. It also has a integrated search bar. It is a winner in terms of speed and versatile too.

Safari

Safari comes with the Mac. It has tabbed browsing and a Google search box, and an automatic pop up blocker. It is sleek and fast.

These days the demand is for faster browsing experience and these alternative internet browsers offer a more satisfying browsing experience.

Your PC’s Health And Regclean

The high tech revolution has made computer indispensable tools for humans. We basically rely on it for everything that we do.

Students use computers. The secretary and the receptionist at the next door firm use computers. We even use computers to entertain ourselves for when we dont feel like watching the television.

This is why when our computer crashes, its always a big thing for us. What we usually do is to have a computer geek take a look at it and have him charge us with different hardware he thinks should be replaced.

Or the next thing we do is to download the latest antivirus and have it check every last file we have. These may do the trick but sometimes they do not.

During those circumstances when they just dont do it, you need to start thinking about your registry. But what is a registry? Your registry is the part of your computer that stores various information like the hardware connected to your computer, your system option, or your used memory.When youve been using your computer for a long time already, your registry can be corrupted and it may slow down your computer.

What you need then is Reg Clean, a registry fixer program that will help you with getting your registry back into shape. One thing that will make you happy to get the Reg Clean is the ease of use.

The Reg Clean as a very simple user face so that you do not have to get caught up in all the buttons and options. You can get things done with just one click.

Another reason why you should get the Reg Clean is that it maintains your system even without you knowing it. You can have the Reg Clean automatically startup when you hit the power on your computer. You do not have to keep reminding yourself to scan because the Reg Clean can do it all for you.

Lastly, the Reg Clean also has your back covered for when your registry has a turn for the worse.

In case you get really serious problems, all you have to do is to restore your old registry and you can keep your system from getting further compromised.

Internet Browser: The New IE8

Internet Explorer 8 has taken on its closest rival Firefox 3 head on with its nifty features. It has better tab handling, a smarter search bar and address bar and many new tools. It has also got a nifty feature for anonymous surfing (often called Porn mode) and security tools. However, I can almost sense cynicism from those who abandoned IE for Firefox, Opera or Chrome.

Yes the older IE was clunkier and it inundated your computer with spyware and popups. I can remember the browser hijacks that happened! But the new IE8 is much better.

Tabbed Browsing The tabs are a huge improvement for people accustomed to the alternate browsers like Firefox and Opera. IE handles the tabs well, the new one opening right next to the one you are working on, and in the same color. The color coding saves a lot of time if you require referencing. You can also move a tab by simply dragging it.

You can re-open tabs by pressing Ctrl-Shift-T and see the recently closed tabs by right clicking any tab and pick the one you want reopened. Moreover if a tab crashes it does not affect the others.

Like Chrome and Firefox, it has an integrated search box that searches the Web, RSS feeds, Favorites and your browsing history.

New Features This internet browser has Accelerators and Web Slices. Accelerators display feeds from other websites as a popup on your page or in another tab. All you need to do is highlight that link.

Security Finally makers of this internet browser have heard the cries of people who were suffering. Microsoft has installed something it calls SmartScreen Filter that has anti phishing capabilities and issues malware warnings. It blocks cross scripting attacks and protects against malicious ActiveX. Microsoft has claimed that it IE8 offers protection against clickjacking. Clickjacking is when hackers put an invisible code under a legitimate one. Once you click it, spyware gets installed.

Of course what has got people talking is the InPrivate browsing or the porn mode. When you browse the net in this mode, no browsing history, cookies or passwords are stored by the browser.

You can select the cookies you want deleted. This is innovative and convenient. You have an option where you can select to preserve the favorite websites data, so that when you delete your browsing history, certain data is preserved.

Search Bar It actually previews the website. When the IE8 gives you the initial results of your search, if the provider has any special graphics added, it shows up as a thumbnail which makes the search easy.

As far as internet browsers go, IE8 is smoother and faster than the IE7. However, it is just at par with Firefox. For simple browsing IE8 is a great option, it has better tab systems and a great search box and niftier features that Firefox doesn’t have, the accelerator, malware protection and of course the porn mode.

However, what it does not have is the add ons that Firefox users are accustomed to. However for basic browsing, this internet browser is far better.

Your Registry’s Health And Reg Clean

The one important thing that you have to do to make sure that your computer works at its optimum is to have it go through maintenance tasks. There are a lot of tests and scans that you have to do routinely to make sure that your registry is in order.

The action is very much like how an antivirus programs quarantines or deletes viruses.But Im sure you may be wondering what a registry is and why its important to make sure that its all fine.

Its somewhat comparable to your antivirus program. You need to have virus scans every now and then because your computer is always at risk of bugs after you using the internet many times throughout the day.

Your registry is a very important part of your computer which affects your system directly because it is where essential information is stored.

These are information like your system settings, your used memory and your hardware information. Your registry may be all straightened out during the first time you use your computer but after multiple use, itll start to show signs of a bad registry with your pc slowing down.

There are plenty of registry fixer programs out there available in the market. But for the purpose of explaining the common features of a program of that kind, well look to the Reg Clean as a model.

The Reg Clean operates very closely to that of an antivirus in that it scans your registry, spots the corrupted files and then removes them.

A kind of feature that might be exclusive to Reg Clean and not to all other programs like it is that it can automatically start scanning your registry once you turn your computer on.

But the most convenient of the Reg Clean features is how it can create a back up file of your registry so that if you have to corrupted files that are important to the proper functioning of your computer, all you need is to restore your old settings.