Please share – 3 steps to make your computing in 2012 safer
Keep it safe in 2012!
Oh, the joy of New Year’s Resolutions. How many do you make? How many last more than a few days?
So, here are 3 resolutions you can make and easily keep, that could save you money and heartache over the years to come…
1) Passwords
We are constantly reminded (lectured) on having unique and secure passwords for everything online. But I know people struggle to have a different password for everything.
So, if I can at least encourage you to keep two passwords different from all the others, they are…
Your email password
If you use the same password for everything, whenever you register at any website you are giving away the access details to your entire online life. Even if you register at a safe website, if it gets hacked then your details are out in the open.
Keep your email password different to everything else, then it’s much harder for people to guess. Plus, if you need to reset passwords anywhere else, you need to know your email is secure to receive the updates.
Your online banking password
This one’s pretty obvious, after all, it’s where your money is kept!
2) Malware Protection
Whatever antivirus software you’ve got, it probably isn’t enough. To be fair, we hardly ever see PCs with a virus infection nowadays. Now it’s all about Trojans – programs designed to fool you into thinking they are something useful when they aren’t. They fool you so you give them permission to install, which is how they get past your normal security software.
Which is why all the PCs in the Dear Geek household are running Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Pro.
Apart from removing infections, which we rely on the free version for so many of our callouts, the full version provides constant protection, including blocking known ‘dodgy’ websites. The license fee is a one-off, not annual, payment of less than £20. Off you go, go and buy it now.
3) Backup
I go on about backup so often I think I’m turning into a parrot. But it is always worth repeating. Let’s give a real life example…
About a week before Christmas I was called out to a dropped laptop. The hard drive couldn’t be accessed. 9 times out of 10 I can hook the drive up to my kit and recover most or all of the data, but not this time.
So, with much gnashing of teeth, the drive was sent off to the recovery lab. They can recover the data 99 times out of 100, but charge £400+ to do so.
This was that one time out of 100 – the drive was beyond recovery. At least the customer had an external drive for their backups. It was safely tucked away in another room, in its original box. It’s original, unopened box. So, this client was to spend Christmas trying to recreate her entire business on her laptop.
Which is why we use, and recommend, Livedrive Online Backup from fmBackup – especially when it only costs £2 per month.
So, there you go…
3 simple steps to make your 2012 a much happier New Year. One free, two ridiculously cheap, all very easy.
Best wishes for a very prosperous New Year from your friends at Dear Geek, HDG and fairly marvellous.
x
No such thing as a small twitter campaign – big numbers from small intentions
We had a very simple idea to make a little splash for World Backup Day – offer a year’s backup for a very low price. Almost a loss leader, this would benefit us long term if people renewed at the full price plus boost our profile.
A couple of little tweets and a facebook post made sure that lots of people around Whitstable would know more about the service we offer plus hopefully they would benefit from a bargain offer. A nice little twitter campaign.
Incredible offer for @WorldBackupDay
You don't want to feel like this, do you?
Last week we told you about World Backup Day – the idea being, on March 31st you make sure that you are making backups and that you can restore from them. That way, if there is a disaster the next day, you won’t be an April Fool.
We also promised a special offer, so here it is…
For one day only, we are offering our unlimited online Livedrive backup solution at a ridiculous price – £1 for the first year (£24 per year after that).
This offer is only available on World Backup Day, so sign up for our online backup special quick!
World Backup Day – seriously?
Yes, seriously.
Those clever people over at Reddit have come up with World Backup Day for March 31st.
The idea being, on March 31st you make sure that you are making backups and that you can restore from them. That way, if there is a disaster the next day, you won’t be an April Fool.
Clever idea, anything to raise awareness of making backups is a good idea. Seeing people in tears when they’re worried they have lost all their family photos is not fun.
Which is why we’ve tried and tested many backup products before selecting our favourite, and worked hard to price it so that it really is a “no-brainer”.
Pop over and read more about HDG Livedrive Backup, see how you can make money by recommending it to others and take up a free trial.
If you sign up for a trial before the 31st, you will be eligible for a very special offer on World Backup Day…
First Friday: Presentation and Links
On Friday, 1st October, I had the opportunity to talk to the attendees at First Friday at the Canterbury Innovation Centre. Here I will summarise the presentation as well as provide those all important links to the products and services mentioned.
Continue reading →
January 2010 – Simple rules to keep PCs healthy
Dear Geek,
I was given a new laptop for Christmas. I hear so many horror stories about PC problems, how can I avoid trouble?
Concerned of Chestfield
Do as I say…
…not necessarily as I do.
It’s everyone’s worst (PC) nightmare – machine crash. A couple of days ago I suffered a corruption in the networking section of my XP install. My main, cannot live without, most important machine. It started off with a BSOD (blue screen of death) when changing network settings, then a loss of all network connectivity.
My own fault really. I was trying out some configurations for a client, in a hurry. So rather than be sensible and use a development machine, or even a virtual PC, I was using mine.
Fortunately, though, there are a few lessons I have learned in the past that make such events easier to overcome.
1) Backups
My data is stored on a server, so even if my machine is completely dead, I know I have a backup of all my latest files. This is always kept up-to-date.
I also have the luxury of full hard drive images, which I take weekly, so I don’t need to rebuild my machine. This time though, as XP Service Pack 3 came out recently, I thought it would be good to do a complete rebuild, which is why number 2 is so important…
2) Notes and copies
I keep a note of everything I install on my machine, in one safe place. This includes details of every licence key and software location. More and more software is sold as a download only, which is convenient for purchase. Just remember to make a backup copy of the file and keep the licence key in a safe place.
You should also keep notes of things like broadband usernames and passwords. It’s not much use keeping copies of emails if your email system gets corrupted.
Sometimes, taking that hour out to create the recovery CD you’ve always meant to create can make a very big difference.