You Must Back Up Your Data!

You are dwelling in the world of microchips; living most of your lives thru computers nowadays.

You work, shop, and play using computers that have virtually become your business workplaces, audio/video systems, photo albums, journals, books, personal notebooks, etc. They are your dear data storage devices, which have become widely popular among your governments, police agencies, companies, businesses, organisations, etc.

However, computers are not 100 % foolproof; files might become corrupt, motherboards might start malfunctioning, CPUs might crash resulting in complete loss of data and files. Thus, your data files in your computer systems are not always completely safe. Yet, data backup is the best defense against all such computer glitches. Backing up your data is very important, as data loss can cause major crisis or worse. It may lead to your business failure; you may lose your business or a lot, or you may go through severe headaches of data recovery, which may end up with nothing.

Sometimes, your data loss may not cause you financial ruins, yet it’s always frustrating, isn’t it? So, why don’t you back up your data, when you can ward off most of your headaches and frustration by just doing that? Therefore, back up your data before you lose any of your crucial documents, favorite digital music collections, irreplaceable photos or videos, etc. You can save a lot by just creating the backups or backup files of your data. Backups refer to the copies of data that you can use after any of data loss events.

You can use backups primarily for two purposes –
(1) to restore a computer to an operational state following a disaster (called disaster recovery), and
(2) to restore small numbers of files after they have been accidentally deleted or corrupted.

Your backup types may include full backup, differential backup, incremental backup, mirror backup, daily back up, and copy backup. However, the most important question is “What to back up?”
You should back up your data, such as your personal files like letters, projects, sent e-mail messages, your e-mail address books, and any other information that is essential.

Next, important thing is how to back up your data? You can simply do that getting copies of your data off your hard drive. However, you need to have complete data storage computer support. You don’t require any special software or skills, if you are creating backup in Windows XP. You can copy your files or folders, just right-clicking on them and selecting Copy from the pop-up menu that appears.

Choose the disk or drive where you want to store the duplicate copy, right-click again and then select Paste from the pop-up menu. You can also copy files in other (95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, 2003) Windows operating systems using a drag-and-drop method - hold down the right mouse button while dragging a file or folder, then select Copy Here from the pop-up menu that appears.

Your e-mail messages and address book lists can also be shifted and then backed up along with other personal data. However, the process varies depending on which e-mail software is used on your computer.

You can create onsite backup or offsite back up. Besides, you can protect your data by using a technology called RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) that can be configured to make copies of all files to a second hard drive as they are created. If the first hard drive ever fails, the second drive contains an up-to-the-minute "mirrored" copy of all your data.

Walter

6 Online Safety Tips

Hackers commonly utilise socially engineered methods to manipulate end users into installing malicious programs or supplying confidential information. A growing trend is the offering of free or low cost "helper" software to persuade the PC user to download a program or visit a particular website. Often blurring the line of what is legitimate and illegitimate, more and more Rogueware and Ransomware are tricking their way onto your computer. This engineered scams have become a significant force of the malware attempting to penetrate and infest your desktop. Here are some practical tips to minimise download files and emails from infecting your system: Ensure your have e-mail antivirus and that the scanning feature is "ON", to ensure that all emails received with attachments are scanned for malware as soon as they hit your inbox. If you are downloading a file from a webpage, after saving the file, right click on top of the program and use the "scan with" option to ensure is not infected. Your security software should always be up to date. The auto update feature found in Anti Spyware and AntiVirus should be enabled to keeps your protection up to date at all times. Do not install any unnecesary software and only do so from known, trusted and reputable vendors. If you don't know the difference ask an engineer. Be creative and use different passwords for different purposes, in particularly when doing transactions online. Make sure that your password includes a combination of letters, numbers as well as upper/lower case characters. Whenever possible, have a creditcard with a low credit limit for online transactions use only. While antivirus and antispyware will help reduce the risk of falling prey, it will only work with personal precaution and vigilance. And remember, nothing can guarantee total immunity or instant repair and protecttion (regardless of claims). Walter

Rogue Software

How to keep the rogues at bay

Your PC is a very vulnerable machine that can be easily corrupted if you do not take care of it. The biggest threat to your PC is from rogue softwares. Rogue software is basically software that gets into your PC when you succumb to the basic human tendency of downloading freebies or when ever a dialog box pops up and you try to close it. The rogue software then proceeds to advertise or install itself or force the computer users into shelling out the greenbacks for the removal of nonexistent spyware. Rogue software will often install a Trojan horse to download a trial version, or it will do other unwanted things that will ultimately hinder your work. Sometimes rogue software can enter your computer under the guise of a free anti spyware or antivirus program. Other times as a helper program (like search toolbars, screensavers, clock and weather utilities). To ensure the safety and security of your PC you need to practice safe computing techniques. Safe computing techniques that you can adopt are:- Install a security-related operating system that gets regular updates so that spyware and adware cannot enter your system. Download or buy a virus scanner, and ensure that it is updated. A Virus scanner cannot detect all the types of spyware, but it can detect a number of them and thereby provide a lot of protection instead of leaving you exposed. Purchase and install a hardware or software firewall, and regularly update it. Firewalls will be of great help in protecting your computer from rogue software. Try using a different web browser. Google’s Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are currently much less susceptible to rogue software than Internet Explorer. This is because these browsers do not use certain technologies that are usually exploited by malware writers. By practicing these safe computing techniques you can ensure that your PC remains uninfected and will definitely help to keep those rogues programs away. Walter

Prevention is always better than cure

Computer Maintenance - Prevention is always better than cure; even for your PC!

It is said that prevention is always better than cure. In this day and age spouting lines like the former can result in your being relegated to the nearest has been heap. Unfortunately, even today in the age of digitalization, globalization and any other ‘–action’ that you can think of, the old adage remains true especially where your PC is concerned.

What we need to remember is that our PC is ,after all, a machine and no machine can continue to function on it’s own without proper maintenance.

PCs are complex beings and they need two different types of maintenance, software maintenance as well as hardware maintenance.

Hardware maintenance involves keeping your computer’s hardware in proper working condition. To keep your computer hardware in good working order you need to maintain the external components of the computer, such as the keyboard and monitor.
For example, in order to maintain your processor in tip top shape it is important to keep the processor away from excess heat, moisture and dust.

Nowadays there are also computer hardware preventive maintenance software programs that can help with the upkeep of other internal aspects of a computer.

Software maintenance is basically concerned with keeping your computer virus free and updating both your antispyware and anti virus programs; removing temp files, cleaning the registry as well as removing unwanted files and folders. Also you need to ensure that your operating system is updated regularly and updates are keep up to date.

Maintaining your PC is not a major issue. By following these simple tips you can ensure that your PC is in good shape for years to come:

• Install a good anti-virus and keep it up to date.
• Install a good spyware blocker and remover and update them regularly.
• Scan your system regularly.
• Delete all you temporary files.
• Keep your web browser and operating system updated.
• Always reboot after installing or uninstalling any program

Remember the cost of maintaining is much lower as compared to the cost of repairing; therefore regular maintenance will help you reduce your cost and keep them at a manageable level.

Walter