Discount Computers

There are many reasons to use online backup. The simple fact is
that your computer could get invaded or destroyed in minutes and
it can happen completely and suddenly as well. The fact is that
more and more people are falling victim to this type of
occurrence every day. What happens is that it leaves you without
all that you know and need and leaves you without any way of
fixing it. Online backup is the perfect solution though because
it allows you the ability to save whatever it is that you need
to without thought or worry about anything happening to it.

Online backup should be thought of as a file cabinet for all of
your important information. By using online databases to store
this information, you are safeguarding it from anything that may
happen to your computer\’s hard drive or memory. You can store
just about any type of information that you need to and it is
completely and utterly safe. Most information that is saved in
this manner is safeguarded from other people as well. You can
make sure of this by not providing your personal information nor
your username and password to retrieve it.

Why do you need online backup? Well, there are many reasons.
And, there are many things that you can store in there. For
example, you may find that there are business clients as well as
a number of corporations that store their information on their
computers. In these cases, a crash can be awful. In the case of
the personal ecommerce entrepreneur, important contact
information for clients as well the product lists and
availabilities are all necessary and yet they too can fall
victim to a crash if they are stored on the computer. Online
backup systems can help avoid all of this information loss as
well as much more.

About the author:
For more information please see
http://www.online-backup-help.co.uk

With easy access to Broadband and DSL the number of people using
the Internet has skyrocket in recent years. Email, instant
messaging and file sharing with other Internet users has also
provided a platform for faster spreading of viruses, Trojans and
Spyware. Being on the Internet without proper protection is like
walking in the rain with no umbrella – you\’re gonna get wet no
matter how fast you run.

With so many computers installed in home offices it becomes
critical that home users install the latest Microsoft patches
when they become available. Older operating systems like Windows
98, Windows Millennium, Windows 2000, or Windows XP prior to
Service Pack require the user to initiate the process of
checking for security patches. Windows XP Service Pack 2 has
changed this and the default settings are now notifying the user
of available updates automatically. This has increased the level
of security in some areas, but there is a very large number of
users and computers that do not install security patches or hot
fixes provided by Microsoft.

How should home users actually handle the task of patching
their computers? As businesses home users should do some
research about the patches that are being installed. Just
installing them and walking away will work for a while, but
sooner or later home users will run into an issue that a patch
breaks something and eventually renders the system useless. So,
what should home users do when new Microsoft patches become
available? First of all – patches are usually released the
second Tuesday of every month. Often these events are commented
in the news and other media. Users should also signup for email
alerts or MSN Messenger alerts at Microsoft\’s security website
at http://www.microsoft.com/security to be aware about updates.

Once patches are available Microsoft recommends installing them
immediately. Depending on the confidence level of the user this
should be done fairly soon after the patch release. If a user
has several systems available it is recommended to test the
patches on the least critical system first before updating all
machines. Only one machine at a time is recommended to keep
track of things and to be able to fix problems. In Windows XP it
is also recommended to create a restore point first so that the
system can revert back to the existing state before patching.
Home users should closely follow the media about virus outbreaks
and updates. Waiting a few days with patching a machine can make
sense if some critical work is done on the computer an important
deadline needs to be kept. Nothing is more annoying than having
to fight computer problems with limited time at hand. Speaking
of time – never install patches without having enough time at
hand. Users should allocate 60 minutes of time just in case. If
something goes wrong time pressure is the last thing you want to
face when troubleshooting a machine that is down.

About the author:
Mr. Christoph Puetz is a successful entrepreneur and also an
international book author. Websites of Christoph Puetz can be
found at Web
Hosting Tutorials and at Highlands Ranch
Colorado.

Just another day, doing as you always do with your computer.
Making documents, working on your finances, updating your
family\’s website or conducting your home or online business.

Suddenly, strange errors start appearing, your computer makes
loudscratching sounds and then, nothing.

A hard drive crash can mean much more than the loss of a part of
your computer. Often this is the primary place for storage of
your information, family photos, work related files, favorite
mp3s and other things that have often taken months if not years
to make.

The loss of an operating system like Windows is not as serious,
you have the disk already, all your programs are on CD, but your
personal information needs to be protected by you.

What steps need to be taken to make sure that such a loss does
not occur?

The actual idea of data protection is not new, but still many
people only face it\’s reality when it\’s too late.

The most essential basic steps are as follows:

- Virus protection software

- Personal firewall if you use the internet

- Save personal files to CD or DVD

Virus protection and firewall software will protect you from
attacks that can destroy software and your files. Saving files
to another place makes sure there is a permanent record of all
those things you need. The more frequent you save elsewhere the
less you will lose in case of disaster.

All of the above protect you from loss of software due to some
programming, but other things can cause data loss too.

The other things are hardware related, meaning that the actual
place the files are stored is damaged or destroyed.

Some things that could cause hardware failure or loss are

- Lightning strike

- Theft

- Hard drive failure

Lightning is very hard to protect from. The very fact that it is
such a powerful force means that the most basic of lightning
protectors could not protect from a direct strike. True
protection for this costs a lot and is very often not
preventable. If you live in a region with frequent strikes, take
greater care in backing up frequently to a somewhere and perhaps
even moving that informatino to another site.

Theft happens from time to time, once your computer is gone,
there is not too much hope of getting it back.

Hard drive failures are when the drive itself fails due to some
internal problems or any of the preceding physically harmful
events.

All of these are quite horrible but what can be done to prevent
it.

Backups have been and will continue to be the best way. If you
have a copy of something in two places there is always another
one if worst comes to worst.

Another option that is becoming more and more sensible and
cost-effective is a RAID hard drive array. This basically means
that two hard drives work together as a pair, mirroring the
data, each being and exact copy of the other one. So if one
fails, the other one takes over and the defective one can be
replaced.

And finally, if you do face the loss of a hard drive, there are
data recovery experts. For a fairly large fee they will open
your hard drive and try to recover what was on it. Never attempt
to open and fix yourself as the inside of the hard drive is a
contaminent free space, with zero dust, even a few particles can
make the drive unrepairable.

So make sure you\’re not the next one to get an unpleasant
surprise and make sure that you are well protected from the loss
of your all important information.

About the author:
Peter Stewart is a computer enthusiast, his interest in
computers and focus on practical down to earth advice inspired
his two websites. http://www.computer-b
uying-guide.com – Practical buying tips http://www.computer-review
s.net – Fair and honest reviews and opinions