Grundig Consulting

Most of the time, what you have is more important that what you don’t have.   This applies, at least, when we are talking about our computer systems.  Don’t understand?  Well, read on.

All the things on and connected to your computer system (hardware, external devices,  software, data, network(s), Internet connection, etc.)  are really important.  So, in this case, what you HAVE is more important than what you DON’T HAVE.

You may not realize this until your hard drive crashes, your computer is lost or stolen, you save over an earlier version of a really important document, or you or someone else deletes it.  In these instances however, the situation will be reversed.  What you DON’T HAVE is suddenly much more important than what you have.

The solution:  Good, scheduled backup: Backup to a flash drive, backup to a service in the Internet, backup to an external hard drive or backup in the form or redundancy on a RAID 1 or RAID 5 volume (most often only seen on servers, not workstations).

Take advantage of the many free or inexpensive backup solutions that are available today and make sure that WHAT YOU DON’T HAVE (YOUR LOST DATA) is never more important than what you have.

In all these cases, other than the lost or stolen computer, there is an excellent chance that a vendor specializing in data recovery, such as Grundig Consulting, can retrieve some or all of your lost data.  The most important thing is not to panic.  Make the phone call before making things worse by attempting to use your computer once you realize that data has been lost.  Additional activity on your workstation will make it harder to recover the files that you are looking for.

Many of us are considering the most effective technology investments that we can make to keep our systems happy and ensure optimal productivity in 2009. In previous post, I mentioned some free or nearly free items which have tremendous value.

Proper security on a PC or network begins with a firewall. Firewalls are designed to keep unauthorized or harmful network traffic outside a network or computer system. A good online port scanner, ShieldsUP!, which can be used to test for potentially dangerous ports (openings) on a computer system, can be found here. To use the scanner, first click the ‘Proceed’ button, then select to scan for ‘File Sharing’ or ‘Common Ports’. Result for individual ports indicating Stealth or Closed are generally good, while Open ports may warrant further attention. Please reply to this post or contact Grundig Consulting if you have any questions about deciphering the results. If there is a router installed between your cable or DSL modem and your computer, very few open ports should be available, as the router is probably acting as a firewall. Additional firewall locations are within an installed security software suite or in Windows Firewall.

Proper virus scanning software is important. For home users, an excellent, free anti-virus application, AVG Free Edition, can be downloaded and installed from download.com. Installation and configuration is pretty straightforward. Business users should download and install the pay version of AVG anti-virus. Licenses can be purchased and discounts are available for 5-user, 10-user or larger quantities. Again with any questions, please reply to this post or contact Grundig Consulting or your IT specialist.

For combatting adware, spyware and popups, recommended utilities include Adaware and Spybot.

Backup of all important files should be made daily or at least weekly to a using a remote backup service or to an external hard drive, or both. Free backup service from Mozy.com is available. Unlimited backup is available for $4.95 / month. The free backup from Mozy allows up to 2GB free to be backed up from your workstation to a secure offsite location (2 gb is about the same size as a single, large Outlook email file.) Therefore, it’s best for backing up your email (Outlook or other) and financial data (Quickbooks, Quicken or other) in one fell swoop. Additional data files, such as Word Documents, Excel spreadsheets or similar can be added to the backup if there is space, which is often the case. Images and video take up lots of drive space, by comparison, and I recommend to backup these files locally to an external hard drive or similar device or if the $4.95, unlimited backup version of Mozy online backup is used.

Today’s slower economy is leading many people to consider free alternatives to services that they currently pay for.

Consider benefiting from the following applications, all of which I highly recommend. Please bear in mind that some or all of these products have licensing limitations which may restrict their use or prohibit it in a business environment.

• 2 gb of free, secure offsite backup from Mozy
• Free web hosting and email accounts from DotEasy
• Free remote access to your workstation from LogMeIn

The key to benefiting from these free applications is to understand their capabilities while keeping aware of the limitations imposed on the free version of these products. All of these products can be upgraded to obtain the full storage and feature set of their pay-version counterparts.

The free backup from Mozy allows up to 2GB free to be backed up on your workstation (which is about the same size as a single, large Outlook email file.) Therefore, it’s best for backing up your email (Outlook or other) and financial data (Quickbooks, Quicken or other) in one fell swoop.

Web hosting from DotEasy allows you to host simple webpages as well as providing for several email accounts. Email storage on the DotEasy server is limited, so it’s best to download email into an email program on a workstation, such as Microsoft Outlook or the (also free) Mozilla Thunderbird.

The remote access service from LogMeIn relatively easy to install and is a godsend for those who want quick access to their remote workstation, whether it’s at home or at work. Note that the free version of this product does not allow for File Transfer between the host and remote workstation.

For question or concerns about any of the above, please reply to this post, not directly to me. That way, your question and any answers that I provide will be available in the comments for everyone else to see.

Until next time, happy computing!

Tom Grundig