The Small Business Tech

Online Backup Services for Small Business and Home Use

Good introductory article from The Boston Globe covering a couple of the online backup services targeted towards small business and home PC users.

Backups are a Breeze Online

You've been through this before. A smart-aleck technology columnist tells you to back up your computer files or else. Sure enough, you choose "or else," because making spare copies of your files is too much bother.  You don't want to spend $100 or more on an external hard drive or figure out how to install the automatic backup software. Besides, if your house is robbed or burnt down, there goes your computer and your precious backup, too.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2008/05/01/backups_are_a_breeze_online/

Who Doesn't Like Free Software?

Several excellent programs, utilities and add-ons mentioned in this article.

The Best Free Software -
157 software tools. No fees. No expiration dates. No problems. Sometimes even no downloads. No kidding.

We did the math: If you bought popular apps instead of trying their gratis counter-parts, at the manufacturers' list prices you'd be out $5,183 and change! Why spend money when you can get what you need for nothing? Sometimes, you do get what you don't pay for.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2260070,00.asp

Image Backups and Why You Should Consider Doing Them

The article link below has some good information on what image backups are and why they might be a good way for you to protect your data and improve your recovery time in the event of a major problem.  The article also includes reviews of several products.  The product I actually use is called 'Drive Snapshot'.  You can find it here...  http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/index.htm

Drive-Imaging: Beyond Backup

You may never have had a hard drive fail or become so corrupted that your data was beyond retrieval, but that doesn't mean you never will. And think of this: If your system ever fails in a hardware or software disaster, will you really have time to reinstall Windows and all your applications and tweak all your OS and application settings? I'm guessing the answer is no. I certainly don't. This is why you need a drive-imaging program that backs up your complete system—including all your data and applications—and can restore it all in minutes.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2259168,00.asp

Some Excellent Tips On Managing Your Email Inbox

10 Steps to Become an Email Ninja

I don’t know about you, but I get dozens — if not hundreds — of emails a day. Unlike most people, however, I’m able to process through them, respond quickly, and get my inbox empty in 20 minutes (checking perhaps 2-3 times a day). In fact, I respond so quickly, and empty my inbox so quickly, that friends have called me an “email ninja”. Let’s look at some simple strategies for being able to get your inbox to done in as little time as possible.

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/01/09/10-steps-to-become-an-email-ninja/

Looking For Less Expensive Alternatives To Microsoft Office?

Don’t Want to Shell Out for MS Office? Get a Free Alternative

Among free productivity application suites that can save you from shelling out money for Microsoft’s Office suite, GoogleDocs and OpenOffice tend to get all the attention. Lately, though, I’ve been experimenting with some alternatives, and they’re more than good enough to use in place of Microsoft’s applications.

http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/11/23/dont-want-to-shell-out-for-ms-office-get-a-free-alternative/

USB/Flash Drive Based Computing

I found these two recent articles on the many ways to use USB drives to be very informative.

Carry a flash drive instead of a laptop
http://windowssecrets.com/2007/10/11/02-Carry-a-flash-drive-instead-of-a-laptop

Free software on USB enables portable computing
http://windowssecrets.com/2007/10/18/02-Free-software-on-USB-enables-portable-computing

These articles are written by Scott Dunn and are from the "Windows Secrets" newsletter which is well worth subscribing to...

http://windowssecrets.com

PC Magazine's Annual Readers Survey

Is Tech Support Getting Worse?

It's not enough to just buy a new computer with great specs and good looks. You need to know if the manufacturer will stand behind its product, be it your always-­powered-up desktop, your travel-abused notebook, or the ink jet printer that delivers something to hang on the refrigerator. For almost 20 years PC Magazine has asked our readers to rank the vendors they use, and this year is no exception. We received detailed information from users of 20,690 PCs, both desktop and notebook, as well as over 21,000 printers.

http://www.pcmag.com/print_article2/0,1217,a=215123,00.asp

Some Very Helpful Free Security Programs

15 Great, Free Security Programs

From the moment you switch on your PC, your system faces countless Internet-borne dangers, including spyware attacks, viruses, Trojan horses, home-page hijackers, and hackers trying to weasel their way into your system. And the Internet isn't the only source of trouble. Anyone with access to your PC can invade your privacy by prying into which Web sites you visit--and learning a great deal more as well.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,133631/article.html

Some Great Freebie Software and Services

101 Fantastic Freebies

Want to make your PC more productive, secure, informative, and entertaining? These downloads and services will do the trick--and they don't cost a dime.

http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,130045/printable.html#

Another Good Primer on Basic Security Steps

The 20 Minute Guide to PC Security

We've all seen the geek squad commercials on TV where some woman calls BestBuy, and within 5 minutes this friendly 18 year-old kid pulls up in a VW bug and works "miracles" by cleaning and securing her virus infested computer all within about 10 minutes. For those of you that have tried to hire help to clean the malware out of your PC, however, you've likely found out what the commercial never mentions, that within a month you're right back where you started, with an infested and almost unusable computer.

http://www.itsecurity.com/features/20-minute-guide-pc-security-021307/