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Archive for April, 2011

10 Sites for Backing Up Your Hard Drive

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

Offsite backup for your hard drive has become very convenient and affordable due to the growth of online backup services. There are both free and paid services available, each with their own data size packages. Each service also has it strengths and weaknesses.

  1. Mozy 2.0 Online Backup This service gets high points for its ease of use, for both PC and  Mac users. Mozy recently dropped its free plans and its unlimited storage, but still has very affordable plans for either one or multiple computers. Mozy is also capable of backing up your external hard drives, as well as your computer. Its backups are scheduled rather than continuous real time backups, but it does provide  archiving support through the last 30 days. For backup recover it also provides paid options for DVD or usb recovery files in addition to its online restore.
  2. Carbonite Online Backup This service has a restore assistant feature that is especially helpful for Mac users, though its online viewer of packages does not work as well for Macs, as the file viewer does for Windows users. The service provides unlimited realtime continuous backup, though it does have some limits on individual file sizes.  Pricing is quite affordable with discounts for purchasing longer plans.
  3. CrashPlan Automatic Online Backup Service This service provides you with many options, including the capability of backing up to your own local hard drive. Like Mozy this backup service is NOT a continuous realtime solution. The pricing plans for this service are a bit complex, but very affordable and the storage is unlimited.
  4. IDrive Online Backup Another realtime, continuous backup solution, IDrive is priced comparatively with Crashplan, Mozy and SugarSync. However, it provides archiving support for up to 30 versions of your files, not just the 30 days offered by Mozy, and does cap a single users storage at 150GB rather than the 50 provided by Mozy.
  5. SOS Online Backup This solution provides similar realtime continuous backup and archiving capabilities as IDrive.  It is more expensive than the first four on this list at almost double the price for only 50GB of storage. In calculating your storage, the service does only count one version of each file towards your data limit, however, even though it is storing up to 30 versions.
  6. SugarSync This service is priced per amount of data storage used, starting at 30GB and going up to 150GB. This service  has its strength in its mobile apps that are available for the iphone, Blackberry and Android phones, allowing you mobile access and sharing of your files that are backed up online.
  7. Backblaze This service runs quietly in the background and then uploads your backup files while you are not using your computer. It has a powerful recovery and restore system, which can even be from a Mac to a Windows computer. In addition to the normal online restore it does provide paid options for DVD or USB recovery files. Its pricing structure is simple, one set fee regardless of the amount of data stored, and very inexpensive.
  8. RemoteDataBackups This backup service provides some of the smallest amount of storage for the highest prices. The storage plans run from 1 to 100GB of storage. It has the same 30 day archive feature as Mozy but 1 GB of storage will cost you double what you’d pay for Mozy’s unlimited storage service.
  9. Egnyte This service provides real time continuous or scheduled backups and focuses its marketing towards small and large businesses. It does provide mobile sharing of your backed up files on iphone, ipad, Blackberry and Android mobile devices. Because of its focus on businesses, its packages for larger businesses tend to be a better value than what it would provide for a singe user or household.
  10. Dropbox If you’re looking for something free to keep your home documents backed up, Dropbox does have a 2GB free version as well as it paid versions with increased storage sizes. It does have mobile apps developed for the iphone, ipad, Blackberry and Android devices to allow you to share and access your files from them as well. Besides backup with a 30 version history, this is a syncing service as well. Anytime you change a document remotely, the new version will be synced back to all places that file is being accessed from.

Options, options, options! These are only ten of the many different online backup services currently available. Their features and pricing are continually changing in this highly competitive environment.

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10 Tips to Make Your Website Family Friendly

Monday, April 11th, 2011

If you’re building a website that you are hoping will attract families, and/or children in particular, you will want to make sure that your site is family friendly. The site should be attractive to children as well as adults. Also, if there are any elements that parents might find offensive or dangerous for their children, they won’t let their kids access your site.

  1. Bright Colors. Kids are attracted by bright colors and movement. If you want your site to capture the attention of kids when they log onto it, use a rainbow of colors on your home page.
  2. Parental Permission. Requiring an email verification in order to login can help reassure parents that you are on their side. This little step communicates to the parents that you recognize their authority and their desire to protect their children, and that you will not circumvent it.
  3. Family Friendly Web Host. Be selective in choosing your web host. There are many free web hosting sites that are family friendly and even more that are not. A small amount of research will enable you to find out which are which. One easy clue is to find out what other types of sites are being hosted by the service.
  4. Free Games. Offer free children’s games on your site that are appropriate for a variety of age levels. This is another subtle means of communicating to parents that you value children.
  5. Advertisers. If there will be ads on your website, make sure that you are in control of what those ads will be. If your advertisers aren’t family friendly, then your site won’t be considered family friendly. This is a very critical point in setting up your website.
  6. Parenting Tips. Providing helpful tips and information for parents will also communicate the fact that your site is interested in reaching out to families. If parents find value in the information on your site, they will keep coming back.
  7. Fun Facts. Keep your website light-hearted, fun and educational. Lists of fun facts for different ages can be great connecting points on your homepage.
  8. Screen your links. If you provide links to other websites from your website, take the time to carefully screen those other sites yourself before adding the link. Make sure those websites meet the same family friendly criteria that you have set for your own website.
  9. Privacy Protection. Carefully think through what information from your users will be visible on your site. If you are wanting a family friendly site, that means you want a site where children’s identities and contact information is hidden from other users. You will also want your privacy policies stated clearly on the site to reassure parents that their information is safe.
  10. Limited interaction. This fits into the privacy protection arena as well. Parents need to be assured that their children will not be interacting with people they do not know. The safest way to do this is to have no interaction with other users at all.

If you want your website to be family friendly, think about each aspect of your site from a parent’s perspective. What are their concerns? What are their needs and desires for their kids and themselves? Then do your best to fulfill those expectations to the best of your ability.

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5 Top Reasons People Give For Not Being Online

Monday, April 4th, 2011

The internet is such an integral part of so many people’s lives that it is hard at times to imagine there are those who don’t spend time that way.   Yet, there are some who just have not found the motivation or need to use the internet in their daily lives.  So what would their reasons be for avoiding emails or other net functions the rest of us use constantly?  Here are the five top reasons given by people for why they are never online.

  1. Lack of Interest. This might seem impossible for some to believe, given the variety of things offered on the internet.  Between news, special interest web sites, emails, shopping and so many resources that would make the internet like a library and mega-mall rolled into one, there are still some who just don’t feel a need to go online.   They may have been exposed to the horror stories of those whose experience on the internet carried risks, such as disastrous relationships tales or the lack of factual information. Or it may be, that they are simply content with books, movies and television. That might not appeal to everyone, but in this day there are still those who like to keep their lives simple.
  2. Don’t own a computer. The home computer today is another common tool most households would not be without. Still there are those, in many cases of the older generation, who have never learned to use a computer and don’t have the desire to even buy one. Cost can also be a consideration. People on a fixed income might not feel they can afford the expense of a computer, plus monthly internet fees.
  3. Lack of confidence. For those who have limited education or other situations that affect their confidence in learning new skills ,or how to use different technologies, the computer can seem like a foreign world. They can look at all the terms used with computers and feel overwhelmed.  It can also be embarrassing to admit you feel that you feel intimidated by the thought of using a computer or the internet.
  4. Too Old To Use The Internet. If a person grew up before the development of home computers and many other conveniences we now take for granted, they may never be comfortable exploring them for themselves.  Sitting in a retirement home and only doing what is familiar, and that you understand easily, is a definite factor in why some just treat the internet as unnecessary.  They feel they are too old to start learning something new.
  5. No need. While many would not think this doesn’t make sense, some people simple never spend time in ways that require use of the internet.  They are busy with work and other demands. They just never get around to seeing the value of using the internet.

Although the five reasons given might not apply to the majority of people today.  They are still the leading reasons given by those who do not go on the internet.

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