Wheatland Computer Services Tech Tips

Back-up Your Data!

admin — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 04:16:24 +0000

This is an important topic. I have had many people over the years contact me and ask about recovering lost data because of a computer crash. There are different types of computer crashes. One of the worst is when the hard drive crashes. There are several reasons why a hard drive can crash and that is not important right now how or why but IT DOES HAPPEN…A LOT! Sometimes the data can be recovered inexpensively. Other times…the drive has to be sent out to a company that specializes in that type of data recovery and it gets very expensive very quickly. So save you the trouble…I recommend the following back-up plan. This is not my idea but I have implemented it (after losing some pictures of a newborn child due to a hard drive crash) and I sleep better every night.

It is called the 3-2-1 back up plan. It means that you should:

Have 3 copies of whatever you want to have backed up.
2 of those should be on different storage media (i.e. DVD, CD, external drive, internal drive, etc.)
1 copy should be off-site (I use Carbonite (www.carbonite.com) and it works great! It back up your data as soon as you place it on your computer. Caution: If you have a dial-up account, this will not be effective. Also, you have limited bandwidth for the month, the initial back-up can run you over your limits. There are others.) You do not have to use a remote back-up program like that. You could also rotate two external hard drives between your home and your work place.

This works awesome! This plan also protects your data from theft of your computer system, fire, flood, etc. Yes, someone else will have you data if they steal your computer but you will still have your data as well. Fire…no worries…you have a copy off-site.

Internet Browser Toolbars

admin — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:20:22 +0000

Just wanted to re-iterate to stay away from those toolbars. They introduce adware into your system. This means that they use information to route you to websites and so forth so that they can sell you things directly or indirectly. It slows down your Internet traffic (as well as everyone elses) and takes you places that you normally do not choose to go.

Remember that you can get a toolbar by directly installing OR indirectly installing through other applications. This usually occurs when you are installing an update from a popular company and then do not uncheck a check box that says to install the toolbar. Bing, Google, and Yahoo! toolbars are famous for this. See the attached image. In this case, Adobe Reader (a very common application) will automatically install McAfee Security Scan if you do not uncheck the box. Adobe gets paid from McAfee to advertise their software. If you install the McAfee Security Scan, it will scan your system and look for viruses and then try and sell you a McAfee license. Although not a toolbar, Adobe also does Google Toolbars with the same option. This is illustrative of how some toolbars can be installed without you really thinking about it.

Abobe Reader Download Screen

Some toolbars are legitimate and some are rogue…which then infect your computer with viruses/malware/adware. I just cleaned up another computer from viruses. The viruses were likely obtained via an indirect install of a rogue toolbar. Just because it says it is a “security” toolbar does not mean that it is.

Here is article talking about another reason to not use toolbars.

Article Name: Why you should not install toolbars on your computer

WCS has implimented Word Press

admin — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:25:10 +0000

I decided to add a ‘tech tips’ area to the website. I could have created my own ‘blogging’ type of structure but why re-invent the wheel. I will update the format of the ‘tech tips’ area to be more consistent with the regular part of my site as time goes on.

Periodically, I will post a tech tip and distribute the information via twitter or facebook. You can now follow Wheatland Computer Services at twitter: @ritztechguy and/or facebook (search for Wheatland Computer Services) and receive tech tips that will help your computer to run a little smoother or help with any of your tech needs. At times, I may also post interesting information from the technology world.

Thanks!