Time to Back-it-up

If you are not storing your data in the cloud (more on that in my next series of posts), you need to ensure any data you have safely backed up.  This is something we all know but it seems we are too busy to actually do it.  My advice....back up before it’s too late!  I just want to mention 2 backup programs/services that I recommend although there are countless others.  For a few years now I have been recommending Carbonite to my customers.  Carbonite has a good reputation and has done the job for a reasonable price of now $60 a year.  This is for unlimited data for a single computer, but there are some limitations, like backing up an external drive.  You can now do that with Carbonite but you will have to increase your yearly payment to $100.  I have recently been exploring other alternatives and really like CrashPlan.  This has the same features as Carbonite, is less expensive and can backup external drives.  There are other options with CrashPlan that also make it attractive.  One being you can backup in-house to another computer if you like for free, you can also backup to a friends computer over the internet for free as well and all your data is encrypted so there is no danger of your friend snooping through your files.  There is also a plan that allows you to backup 2-10 computers to the cloud.

Both of these backup services get the job done, the question is will you get the job done and finally make sure all your photo’s and files are backed up and save in the event of a hard drive crash.

Until the next post.............Mike

Anti-Virus Protection for FREE!

Too many times I get called to remove virus’s from customers only to find out that their virus protection programs were either not up to date and in many cases were expired.  This post is to let you know there is a simple solution to making sure your computer is protected and the best part is it’s free!  Now there are a few good free AV programs available, but the one I prefer is Microsoft’s Security Essentials.  There are several reasons I prefer MSE, one is there is no paid version of this products, so unlike many of the other “free” AV programs, there are no pop-up or commercials trying to get you to buy their paid version...since there is none.  Another reason I like MSE is their update process just seems to work seamlessly, rarely asking you to restart your computer to have updates take effect.  Still another reason is, the product is from Microsoft and they have a vested interest in making sure your computer is protected, Windows has a reputation of being vulnerable to viruses and they want to change that.  Providing a free and effective AV solution goes a long way to repairing that reputation.  

So if you want to use MSE for your virus protection, I suggest the following:

1.  Go into your Add/Remove Programs and remove any current AV programs you have installed.
2.  Download MSE from Microsoft  Here is a link ⇒ MSE from MS
3.  Install, follow the prompts to perform the first update and scan.

That’s it, you now have free AV protection from Microsoft.

Until the next post.............Mike

Welcome

Welcome to the Home Computing Consultant’s blog. I have moved my blog to be hosted on blogger.com and have copied and will be creating all new posts to keep pace with the technology changes that are rapidly occurring. For those who are not familiar with blogs, the main idea of a blog (weB LOG) is to provide a vehicle to post thoughts, comments, or just about anything to share with other users of the web. In this case, my HCC blog is mainly used to convey information to our customers and to the community on Home Computing issues and will be updated regularly. In future posts I will be commenting and hopefully providing some educational information on computing topics of interest to help make your computing experiences more rewarding and enjoyable. Some of the topics on the agenda (in no particular order) are:

* Cloud Computing

* Computing Security
- Wireless Networking
- Firewall
- Anti-Virus
- Spyware
- Malware

* Email systems – Webmail vs Email Clients
- AOL
- Gmail
- Yahoo
- Optonline / Verizon
- Outlook / Outlook Express

* Web Browsers
- Internet Explorer
- Safari
- FireFox
- Chrome

* Free Software Downloads
- The Good ones!

* Backup your system(s)!

* PC vs MAC

These topics and more are planned. Don’t worry, they will be straight forward and in easy to understand terms, this is not meant for geeks, but more geared toward the novice home computer user, information you can use. I get a kick out of people when they describe themselves as computer illiterate. This simply is not true, if you can send and receive an email, your already are computer literate. Just because you don’t understand the inner workings of a computer doesn’t mean you are computer illiterate. Do you understand the inner workings of your cars engine and drive train? Does this mean you can’t drive? Do you understand how your TV and phone’s transmit images and voice to your homes? Does this mean you don’t know how to watch TV or call someone on a phone? You just need to understand how to use the devices to achieve a desired result, such as sending an email, or looking up a web page, or paying a bill online. Don’t let the technology scare you, if everyone did then we would all be huddled around the radio in the evenings....which may be better than some of the reality shows I have heard of lately.

Don’t forget to check back often and read my newest blog entry, I hope you enjoy them!

Until the next post.......Mike