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Backup Your Computer Files or Start Over

When was the last time you backed up your computer data? How many files and folders do you have on your computer? A rough guess will do. Personally I have over 85GB of data, music, Photoshop files and emails that I desperately would not want to lose.

Backing up your data files on Windows is a simple and straight forward process that you should complete on a regular basis. I should know as a while back I didn't follow my own advice and lost all my files when one of my hard disks became corrupted.

I had to re-install Windows XP and re-download all the programs I could remember having. I also had to buy a couple of software programs again as the drive that failed had all my emails on it, so I couldn't prove I had purchased the software.

Windows has a built in back up facility that is adequate. It's not exactly the best program out there, however it will allow you to back up your data for free. To access it Click Start, highlight All Programs, highlight Accessories, highlight System Tools, and then click Backup to start the wizard.

Within the wizard you will be asked exactly what files you wish to back up and to where. What files you back up will help you make a decision on where you wish to back up.

If you wish to back up only really critical files that are not that huge you may be able to back up onto a flash drive or memory stick. These are getting cheaper and cheaper and 8GB or 16GB versions are very cost effective these days.

If you wish to back up more files, or even all of your files then you may be best using a portable hard drive. Portable hard drives offer offline storage and as long as you store it away from your computer [no point storing it in the same room or building really], offer a good worthwhile solution.

Portable hard drives are very similar to flash drives in that the price is very reasonable and if you are serious about keeping the data on your computer redundant, then it is cost effective, especially if you do have a computer or hard drive failure.

There are quite a few alternative free backup software options available, that for a home user will be more than sufficient. There are paid for back up programs also that are available, they maybe would be better suited to businesses that require more powerful and scalable

Another option is for online storage. There are many free online storage options available as well as paid. If you can afford it, paid for online storage is best as you should be given guarantees by the online storage merchant.

However you back up your data and what medium you keep it backed up on, having a regular back up schedule and keeping to it will give you piece of mind and will safe you hassle further down the line when one of your computer components fail.

John French has over 15 years experience of building and repairing computers. He has extensive knowledge of keeping computers healthy and free from spyware and malware.

Want to discover more tips and secrets that can speed up and protect your computer for free? Then check out his online blog at http://www.john-french.net

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Computer Repair: From Settings and Preferences to Viruses and Crashes

With the extent with which we use computers today ' for both professional and personal use ' it's safe to say we've all encountered the need for computer repair in some form. Whether it's spyware or a network crash, computer repair is what can save us from slowed computer performance, corrupted files, data loss, and time wasted.

Not surprisingly, the birth of computer repair coincided with the rise of computer use. A complicated piece of technology, a computer is nonetheless used by most of us daily. We sit down at our computers and effortlessly check our emails, stock quotes, and the latest news. We research showtimes and restaurants. We work our 9 to 5 jobs, using laptops, virtual communication, and handheld devices. Indeed, much in our lives revolves around the computer. It's no wonder why computer repair is so valuable a solution and for the technician, a coveted skill.

Given the many uses for computers, there are as many potential problems, errors, and failures. Thus for computer repair, there are at least as many possible fixes. As a result, knowing what to do to fix your computer can seem like an impossible task. However, if you think about it, most of us have picked up a few tricks along the way that have proven effective. For smaller problems, computer repair is entirely possible by ourselves. For more serious problems though, consulting a professional is the best route.

The main reason why professionals should be consulted is because a person could do more damage to a computer by trying to fix an unknown problem on their own. To avoid such mishaps, it's best to ask an expert to take a look. Pinpointing the problem is really the biggest part of any computer repair, as it will reveal the exact fix that's needed to get the system working properly again.

For computer repair technicians, this is the main aspect of their service. Diagnostics do not have to be performed in person necessarily, as most computer manufacturers and Internet service providers have call centers for troubleshooting and offer their advice over the phone, via live chat, or email. Business-wise, most companies have a tech-support staff that can help with most problems, from email to lost files.

Computer repair can be as simple as choosing different settings to full-on data recovery using involved techniques such as zero-knowledge analysis. Given that most computer technicians are specialized, the chances are good that a team can help with all your problems: viruses, spyware, firewall protection, virtual private networks (VPN), emergency data recovery, RAID recovery, system upgrades, etc.

Computer repair pertains to both hardware repair and software repair. At times, installation or uninstallation of software is needed. At others, a small adjustment to preferences will solve the problem. Again, computer repair is wide-ranging. Desktops, mainframes, and supercomputers can all encounter similar problems, but on a different scale. Portable devices will also have related problems, but knowing the system inside a laptop or notebook is a bit different than a PC. This is the reason why most companies have a number of technicians on staff, as one may be more specialized in one area of computer repair than another.

Computer repair can be as basic as rebooting your computer, but it can also be as complex as taking the entire system apart. Overall, the service of computer repair is relatively new, but the demand for it is growing at a rapid pace. Naturally, the aim is to keep up with all of the new advancements in computer technology ' which seemingly change by the day.


Copyright (c) 2007 Thomas Husnik

My name is Tom Husnik. I live in Minnesota. My web site is at http://www.bestfixit.com

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Four Common Myths About Backup Software

by: Alexey Spiridonov

Computers affect the way we live, communicate, work, and entertain today more than ever before. So, the information stored on them becomes very significant. Loosing data from your hard drive is at least unpleasant, but in some cases also very expensive. At the same time, not all of us take measures to protect their data. Moreover, day after day we hear about alarming accidents of data loss. But why reliable backup strategies are not as much widespread as data crash accidents? – Perhaps, because people have some wrong notions about backup software and about the problem of data loss in general.

Precious personal and work data is stored in a computer's hard disk, but no hard disk is perfect. Sometimes they die, and so does the information stored. Furthermore, viruses, human errors and even natural disasters or theft can take away your data without any chance of restoring. One reliable solution for the problem of data loss is backup software that makes reserve copies of your critical data automatically. There is a great variety of such data-safe program to choose from. But why do people still ignore this software?

In this article we'll try to denote some possible reasons of ignoring backup software and to destroy some myths about backup preventing people from using it. We have summarized these notions in four common «myths» and will try to expose them.

Myth 1: The risk of data loss is insignificant

Some people believe that data loss is not their problem.
Why don't they care? Because they just know nothing about possible crucial hardware faults and destructive effect of such faults on the stored information.
Actually, there are high risks of data loss. According to the survey conducted by Verio (Global Premier Provider of Online Services), fifty-three percent of respondents have already experienced an actual loss of information that was stored on a PC. Six percent of PCs will suffer an episode of data loss in any given year. 31% of PC users have ever lost all of their files due to events beyond their control.
The reasons of losing data may vary greatly – power faults, short life of the hardware, viruses or hacker attacks… The fact is: you can irretrievably lose the information stored on your home or work computer (i.e. project data, email correspondence, personal information, irreparable and urgent documents) if the hard disk crashes.
Learn by others' mistakes: thoughtless attitude toward data backup has fatal consequences. Most people and organizations come to understand this only after loosing their crucial data accidentally. With special backup software your data is more likely to be always on hand.

Myth 2: Copying files manually is more effective

Some people are aware of the risk of data loss and try to deal with this problem without special backup software. These people protect the data on their own.
Common practice for such people is copying data to digital media occasionally. In other words, they copy their data without any backup software. Of course, it is better than nothing. But is it enough for guaranteed data protection? You can simply forget to make a backup before a hard disk fault, and your previous backup work will become sheer waste of time. Moreover, you can forget to copy some files which you may need most of all after data loss.
With special backup software you can use automated procedures for regular backup and synchronization under your own schedule. Backup software will do all the routine work on copying files for you, you only need to set what, when and where you wish to backup.
In other words, manual copying of files is not as reliable and comfortable as using special data backup software.

Myth 3: Backup software sufficiently slows down computer performance

Some people think that backup jobs require too much hardware resources (space on a disk and CPU time) and it is tiresome to run them often. They suspect that backup software will impede using computer for work, entertainment or other purposes.
In fact, most backup programs are not resource-consuming. A typical backup program requires only operation system installed and about 5 Mb free disk space for program files. So, if your computer meets these requirements you have nothing to worry about. In other words, if you computer can have an operation system running, it will easily run a backup program.
Moreover, with a scheduler you can set your backup operations execution on the most convenient time. For example, during lunch time or when you sleep. Moreover, some backup programs can run in service mode. In service mode, the backup is independent from the currently logged in user. The benefit is that your backup tasks are processed even if somebody else is using the system at the moment or if nobody is logged in at all.
As you see, with a good backup program you can perform reserve copying operations in any time you wish. It means that you can have backups running when you are idle, and they will not interfere with your work.

Myth 4: Using backup software is difficult, time-consuming and expensive

Imaginary difficulties of data backup procedures make users think about backup as a waste of time and money and as the result refuse it, hoping for the best.
We are busy at work, family and friends fill our days and leave us little time for boring things like computer maintenance. But backing up data is much easier than it seems.
Please forget fairy tales about baffling complexity of backup programs! Most of backup programs have Wizards with intuitive user interface which let you configure your backup task with ease.
A typical backup program can be installed within several minutes. Setting a backup task takes several minutes more. That's all. Then the backup program will take care of your crucial data.
After all, the price of such a program (30-70$ for single license) is far less then the costs of data loss.

We have tried to expose some myths about backup and to mark some positive abilities that backup software gives us. Today's backup software offers comfortable way to make reserve copies of your crucial data. As more people get familiar with automated backup solutions, they tend to become must-have software, along with e-mail clients, word processors and anti-virus programs.

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Online Backups, Are You Being Smart?

By: Lee Smith

Data loss is one of the major problems especially in big business houses where a large number of data has to be dealt with and in all the circumstances the data loss can be minimized by using secure online backups. Although there are many conventional backup systems such as CD, DVD, and floppy that can be used for storing small amount of data, however for storing large amount of data secure online backup seems to be the right option.

Nowadays many commercial secure online backup providers are easily available and after paying a nominal fee, you can store your data at a remote location. These commercial online backup stores ask you to download their backup software and the software manages the backup and does the rest of job. A few commercial backup stores charge anywhere between 20 cents to 3 dollar per month for storing 1 GB of data, however there are some online backup stores who offer the online backup free for a limited period.

Actually you should ensure that the commercial online backup you have chosen is genuine and reliable and the privacy of your document is maintained. Many individuals take the benefits of these low cost commercial secure online backup facilities and store their family albums and other data. The software provided by commercial stores is easy to operate and with the instructions provided to you, you can install and operate the online backup software. You should try with a free online secure backup for a month and if satisfied with the services you should continue for the desired period.

The secure online backup software will generally have many features and the latest and modern software are equipped with highly sophisticated technique to protect the privacy of the data. The system ensures that backups are taken routinely as per your requirement and accordingly you are intimated by email. The software also ensures that the file system and directories structure is maintained during backup.

The software installed at your computer first compresses the data and sometimes the space occupied by the data is reduced to 85 percent. The data afterwards encrypted so that the privacy of these data is maintained and then forwarded to the commercial backup store via local area network or Internet. Due to the encryption of the data, these are even not accessible to the backup store employees and therefore the data are fully private and while retrieving the software installed at your computer decrypt the data.

The data loss is a very big problem for large business houses, commercial ventures and even for an individual and therefore secure online backup of data is one of the right options for each one of us. Sometimes it is also necessary to maintain the privacy of the data and therefore suitable commercial backup organization having an excellent track record should be carefully selected. So instead of taking a risk of loosing your important data, it is better to store and secure online backups available at a marginal price.

Article Source: http://www.superfeature.com

Lee Smith writes about secure online backups secure online backups

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