Today on TheBarbStantonShow

March 24th, 2009 IEPCHELP is covering the following topics and more on the Barb Stanton Show, 1050AM in San Bernardino.

Your Data

First and foremost - how are you protecting your data? There are many considerations when discussing data backup, for instance:

• Personal Data - Your pictures, documents you've created or downloaded for your own use, financial data such as quicken, etc...
• Your "System" data - The computers current happy state, with all its hoots, bells and whistles.

The reason these two are seperate, instead of one job to do every week is that personal data changes frequently, such as your bookmarks in FireFox, your family pictures, email, and more. These files change frequently and differently than your systems files.

System files, such as the operating system, change only when there are updates from the OS vendor (such as Windows Updates), when you install new programs or when those programs update themselves from the internet. These changes happen infrequently, so its important to make these seperate jobs- otherwise you would lose hours weekly doing backups if you use your PC for simple scenarios such as web mail.


Personal Data

Pictures, spreadsheets, stories, emails, recipes and more are the occupants of your personal data world. If your PC has multiple user logins, then you have others documents to consider too!

Backing up this information is critical to getting back to business if your computer has a hard drive failure. 99% of the time a computer user is more worried about what they lost than the computer itself, because the computer is replacement - the data is not. Those family pictures you moved from the camera to the PC arent going to come back unless you have saved them somewhere else than your computer.

Methods and Media

You can store your personal data (other than on your PC) using the cheapest and simplest method of all - USB memory sticks. Those lovely little angels are a godsend when it comes to backing up data. Using the built in Windows Backup tool, which has a very simple wizard for doing this, can make this a very simple backup procedure.

First, insert your USB stick into a free USB slot. wait for the stick to mount to your system. Then go to Start, All Programs, Accessories, System tools and select Backup - follow the wizard! If you are using XP or newer the process is very simple.

There is even a scheduler for this job BUILT INTO WINDOWS! So you can do this on a schedule if you want to leave a USB stick plugged in!

There are programs you can pay for to do these data backups, but to be honest- for the average computer user this is perfect. Most pay-for applications are expensive, confusing and leave the user lost. Not worth your time when there is a fully viable solution you already paid for!

SYSTEM BACKUP

Ok - now we are getting into more interesting territory. A failed hard drive is the worst scenario for any PC issue. Losing everything is bad. So - what do you do?

I hear "Use Windows backup"! ...

No....

Sure, it can do the job. kinda. It will back up your PC for sure. But will it be easy to get back going? No. Well, yes and no. It requires that you install Windows FIRST! Why!? You have to do a full system install?!?! Yep. And that's not that great.

There is a simpler way that gets you up and running almost NOW! Download DriveXML - FREE! - Select the private edition for free! DriveXML has a full backup and restore program, which when used properly can give you an exact copy of your PC at any given time. That way if you want to get back up and running on your PC, all you have to do is replace your old hard drive with the new hard drive! This new hard drive should have been purchased and setup on your PC and backed up to before your old hard drive died.

Yes. You have to buy something.

Why?

Hard drives fail. They fail, fail fail. They will not last 6 months, 6 weeks, or 2 years. You do not know when it will fail, but I guarantee it will fail. Its a mechanical component that will fail.

So you say "I have to buy and connect a drive that I cant use until my system fails?"

YES!

But remember! The other drive WILL fail. Chances are you will purchase a drive that is bigger and cheaper than the one you already have! So there really is no loss here! Its worth it! its as cheap as the full-price backup software package that will not come with a new hard drive, which you will need. because your PC died.

When you buy your backup hard drive, purchase a USB external enclosure. This way you can turn the drive off and store it after each system backup. There are more options here but I will save them for a more extensive consultation with you :)

Can I back up that personal data to this backup hard drive instead of to USB sticks?!

YES - BUT! You will need to partition the new backup drive into to hard drives. One for the SYSTEM backup (make it at least 60GB) and the remainder can be for personal backups.

How? Well, now we are talking alittle more information than for this blog entry. Call us for a quick consult and see if this makes sense.

Anti Virus, Malware and You

One of the biggest costs in business and home computing is the damage from virus and malware programs. I have alot of suggestions to help mitigate these costs, but for most Windows users the following rules apply:

• Install AVG - Pay for the full version! If you are on the tight end of the budget spectrum, use the free version at free.avg.com - but consider buying the full version. Free will get you all of the protection you need, but its updates are slower.
  
  
• Install and USE FIREFOX! DO NOT USE Internet Explorer or MSN EXPLORER or your Uncles web browser!
  
  Specifically - Internet Explorer has been the primary culprit for most hacks through the accessibility of a programming interface called ActiveX - and it has made a good web browser the dark back alley of a scary dreaded town.
  
  Firefox is not PERFECT - But it doesn't have the backdoors IE has.
  
  
  
• Don't install TOOLBARS! We all have some sort of free Instant Messaging program like Yahoo or AIM - but for gods sake when you install these programs READ EVERY PAGE! IF it says "install toolbar?" - uncheck!!! In fact, read the line carefully as we have seen where the line will read "dont install the toolbar" and its checked, tricking you into installing the toolbar by making you uncheck it if you scan for toolbar and dont read the entire sentence.
  
  
• IF your free program you are installing has options of a) install the toolbar or b) pay for the program, choose b or c - C being "don't install that program, research it instead".
  
  
• Don't install/run/suggest EVERY FREE PROGRAM COMING YOUR WAY! Chances are that program will NOT help, but will include MALWARE!
  

Outside of AVG - I do not recommend running spyware tools, or installing programs to clean your registry. They all cause harm through running your CPU and Hard Drive in overdrive, making your PC slow and unstable and leaving you more frustrated than ever. If you experience what you perceive as an invasion by virus or malware, turn off the PC and bring it to a professional. Chances are if they know what they are doing, they will remove the bugger, give you advice and leave you with a happy PC and good learnin about what you did wrong.

Oh- one more thing - YES - you did it. If you have a virus, or a slow PC that wasn't slow before, chances are you opened a program from someone in email, used internet explorer to search for something that ended you up on a page that you shouldn't have ever visited using Internet Explorer, Said yes to a popup and proceeded to allow something to install before you fully read what was happening, or you installed something you got from someone else that you had not idea of if it was ok or not. And you are not alone - by a longshot.

We learn through our mistakes. Chances are you might be reading this because you did something above. It's ok. You're learning. Sometimes learning is expensive, unless you read alot before you do something. I hope you are here learning-reading and not reaction-reading.

Repair Companies

Ok- We are going to toot our own horn here. We aren't however going to point fingers. We are going to point out things we think are important. We could go over things like experience, but from the layman you have no idea if the person is experienced or blowing smoke at you. They may have some documents with certificates, but hey you can buy all of those if you want them and still know very little. I knew a Microsoft Certified Trainer who I wouldn't hire due to a lack of critical problem solving skills and almost no understanding of Microsoft.

So what do you look for?

1. Recommendations - Do they have really good recommendations from other clients? Current clients? This isn't the perfect question, as someone who is really good could also be just starting out in the repair business... However, if they say they've been doing repair for a while, ask for references.
   
   
2. Do they try to sell hardware or software? Chances are if the PC repair company has a hand in selling hardware or software there is little interest in fixing your problems cost effectively. It's much more lucractive (and fraudulent) to sell you some more stuff that you didnt need during repair in hopes of buffering the bill.
   
   We do not sell hardware or software. We can consult and in emergency cases acquire AT OUR COST for you anything, but only to get the job done. We have recommended client purchase of over $500k worth of a major brand of PC's - with not a single cent going into our pockets. Cost effective for the client. Honest repair.
   
   
3. Does the repair company offer potential advice over the phone first? I don't mean that a PC repair person should give you an hour, but spending 5 minutes on the phone with someone with a simple question can alleviate someones nightmare for nearly no cost! On our case, we ask that you visit our blog, make a donation or visit our sponsers in leue of that fee for support.
   
   
4. Do they offer remote repair services using Open Source Applications like tightVNC!? - This is an important one - Someone who knows IF they can provide support to you remotely and is in the position to do so and save you AND his company money for travel -vs- someone who wants to collect the travel fee.
   
   There are times when remote support won't work such as your computer doesnt boot, or your internet connection is down, your internet connection is slow or your PC is so infected that it might as well be off. But if you are on broadband, and the problem is setting up backup solutions or problems with e-mail, remote support is perfect time and money saver. Ask for a discount if the person says they will do the support remotely! Why not! They can only say no, but you are saving them wear and tear on their vehicle, time getting gas, the drive back and so on...
   
   
5. Do they even sounds like they know what they are doing? Trust your better judgement, even if you do not know anything about computers. If things "feel" awkward, or you do not trust that company or person, chances are you are right.
   
   Even if your feelings or concerns are wrong, you should feel 100% comfortable with the person you are paying to do your computer services.
   
   
6. Do they charge just TOO MUCH PER HOUR?! Don't take the most expensive hourly rate company! Anything over $200 an hour (Except for emergency hours like after 5pm or weekends) is crazy.
   
   
7. Don't expect much if you pay too little. Usually someone inexperienced in real world repair can come along and charge little per hour, like $15 or something crazy. Also be wary of someone who charges in the sweet spot, like say $60 an hour. Those sweet spots are where people are taking longer to do the job to make up for the hourly rate they should be charging.
   
   

This was a long blog post! I hope that you never need our services, but I also know that some of you will, and I hope you consider us if you are somewhere in Southern California or can use remote support services!

Thanks!

Fred King
Owner, IEPCHELP - Division of Internet Commerce Systems

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