Online Backup Services

I received the e-mail below yesterday from my service provider, Comcast. It has motivated me to write this blog post. I have been putting it off for some time now. You can click on this "photo" to enlarge it.

Backing up your data is critical. No one of us wants to ever lose those family pictures or videos. None of us wants to lose our music libraries or our personal documents. If you are a small business, you cannot afford to lose all of those important business documents. I'm afraid the IRS just wouldn't understand!


So how do YOU back up your data (and I sincerely hope you do)?

There are several ways you could. Among these are:

1) Copying to your own hard drive, which is hardly effective should your hard drive fail.

2) Copying to your own external hard drive. This is what I have chosen to do. I am a control freak and want to be fully responsible for my own data and be fully aware of exactly what I have backed up and where it is. I also don't want to spend money for this service. Finally, there is a downside to this method, and it's a big one. If the external drive is kept within your home, the same home that houses your PC and all of its data, then both could be lost in the same physical event (flood, fire, theft, etc.). So I have chosen to keep my external drive in a location apart from my main computer, the one I am sure contains all of my data. I make a copy of "My Documents" once a quarter, so my method is not perfect. I could lose data from the current quarter before it's backed up.

3) You could subscribe to a service that automatically backs up all of your data once to their own remote hard drives, and thereafter will make backup copies of all added files and new versions of existing files. This is probably the safest option. All of your data is backed up and easily retrievable, your data is encrypted and stored at the service provider's site, and since it's a constant, you do not risk losing data from the recent quarter as explained in number 2 above. However, these services cost money, so you have to weigh the cost vs. the benefit before deciding. The 2GB of free storage Comcast is offering me (see above) is not very much considering "My Documents" now amount to over 80GB. So I'd have to read their fine print to see how much their service would cost.

Finlly, PC World has provided an evaluation of some of the services that will back up your data for you on their own hard drives. You can see what they have to say at The Best Online Backup Services
I caution you, however, that this report is nearly 2 years old, so you might want to do some more research on your own should you wish to evaluate this backup option.

Here is a second review, dated October, 2009, of three backup service offerings. It's from consumersearch.com. Online Backup Services: Reviews

Tips on using free software

From time to time I like to remind my readers that this blog is just one man's opinion. Many of you who know me value my opinion, and I appreciate that. However, in this blog from now on, and only once in a while, I will post something I'll refer to as a "Guest Post". This is the first of such posts. The blog post below comes from the blog of Lisa Hendrickson, and her blog can be found at http://www.callthatgirl.biz/

I like to view Lisa's blog, named "Call That Girl" several times a week. I can always learn something new. Anyway, it's not a coincidence that for Lisa's first post I am choosing something we pretty much agree on, but it's nice for me, and I hope you too, that others feel the same way I do.

Lisa and i don't agree on everything. After all, each of us expresses our own opinions.

Posted by callthatgirl on March 15, 2010

"Many of us today are using Gmail, Google applications, AVG free, etc. Free software is usually great, but the support you get if you need help is usually not up to par. About a month ago, I decided to start using Google documents to store a few files because I needed to have them on 3 computers. I worked on a massive “to do list” and after I was done, I hit the “cut” button to move something and it all disappeared. I could not get it back, even though it had saved just a minute before! I was LIVID to say the least. I had been saving it too for a whole day or so and I’m not sure how easy it is to put in a support ticket to Google and have it checked out for a restore, but decided then and there…to only rely on myself for such needs from now on.
Support is very important when it comes to things you need to use.
Here are my opinions:

• AVG free is a good product, but not a great product. The download for AVG 9.0 takes a very long time to install (up to 45 minutes) and we see that program on virus infected computers. It works, but I quit recommending it to folks who want free software because it doesn’t work either. Toss up on AVG free!  AVG free offers online FAQ/Knowledge Base and Forum help. No email or phone support that I could find online. If you upgrade to the paid version, then you get the premium support.
• Microsoft Security Essentials Antivirus so far is doing well with the clients who I have recommended using it. Only one client so far has had a problem with “real time protection” and Microsoft will support that issue via chat or email.
• Google calendar can have glitches that can’t be fixed easily (from what my clients have told me, I am having success using it for now, but am looking at paid alternatives). Again they have the forum/FAQ help, but put in a ticket and wait a few days for help, if they help….Google decides if they support you due to the millions of users.
• Gmail is not something I am fond of, but many of my networking friends use it frequently and are happy with the product. My problem with Gmail is, what if you woke up one morning and your emails were all gone. Do you have time to wait for Google to figure it out? Who do you call? With Gmail, you have to search their support and help forums first, then put in a ticket and wait a few days. If you’re using Gmail for business (or hotmail, yahoo, etc..) do you have a few days to wait? Business is on the line!"

THANK YOU LISA!!

March MVPS HOSTS File Available now

I can't really tell you that the MVPS HOSTS file is updated monthly, but I think that is the author's objective. In any case, for those of you who have the February file or older, here is your chance to make sure you can update this file on your own. I have plenty of posts in this blog, as you followers know, on this subject and how to install the HOSTS file, so have a go at it!

You can download the March 2010 file at http://msmvps.com/blogs/hostsnews/default.aspx

If you have any difficulty in doing this, send me a quick e-mail, pcdoc at brpcdoc dot com and I'll try to help, and Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Correct your file associations

This comes from the Kim Komando web site, http://www.komando.com/. Among many other interesting and useful tidbits, Kim posts a Tip of the Day. This web site is among those I visit every day. You never know what you may find. I am sure most of you know that Kim is also on the radio, and has a great show.



Q. My computer is acting funny. My photos are opening in Microsoft Word. My videos are opening in the wrong video program. What is going on? How can I get everything straight again?
—Josie in Phoenix, listening on KFYI 550 AM

A. This problem is actually pretty common. It's also fairly easy to fix. File associations tie file types to specific programs. When you double-click a file, it opens in that program. Your file associations apparently are mixed up.

There are a couple of ways this happens. You can do it by accident. That's probably what happened to your photos. There's no other reason they should be opening in Word.

Installing new programs can also change file associations. Music and video programs are notorious for doing this. They want to take over the role of default player. And they'll do it if you're not careful.

Thankfully, resetting these associations is fairly easy. You didn't say if you were using a Mac or PC. So, I'll cover both. Either way the process is simple. First, find one of the files you're having trouble with.
In Windows Vista, right-click the file. Select Open With>>Choose Default Program. You'll see a list of programs. Select the program you want to use. Or hit Browse to add a program to the list. Check the box labeled "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file." Click OK.

In Windows XP, right-click the file. Select Open With. Find the program you want to use. Or click Browse to find another program. Again, check "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file." Click OK.

In Mac OS X, right-click the file. Select Get Info. Click the heading labeled "Open with." Use the dropdown menu to select a suggested program. Or click Other to browse for something else. Click Change All. Close the window.

Now those files will open with the correct programs.

Sometimes, a program isn't available to open a particular file.  These free programs will handle common file types:

• Video files come in a ridiculous number of formats. This media player can open them all.
• You need a suite to open office documents. Microsoft Office is the standard, but it's expensive. For a free alternative, try OpenOffice.org.
• PDF files are easily opened with Adobe Reader. But it isn't the best program. Instead, try Foxit Reader or Sumatra.

Prepaid wireless market hot in U.S. during recession

This is an interesting article, or at least it is of interest to me. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I am on a month-to-month with Verizon Wireless and not happy with what I have to pay for their service. If anyone out there has an opinion, in favor or opposed, please add a comment below. This can be done anonymously if you like. No fancy necessary registrations with userid and password required here. Anyway this article is from the computerworld.com web site and appeared there today.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prepaid usage rises as recession-worn users seeks cheaper deals for wireless service, IDC says

Matt Hamblen

March 15, 2010 (Computerworld) The hottest market in wireless communications in the U.S. is for customers who pre-pay for their service, with that group accounting for 65% of all net new subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2009, research firm IDC said.

Pre-paid customers grew during the recession and its aftermath as wireless users sought ways to avoid long-term contracts and related costs paid by post-paid customers, said IDC analyst Richard Murphy.
Pre-paid plans can also result in tremendous savings over monthly costs for postpaid plans, Murphy noted. For example, a savvy consumer can get unlimited voice, text and Web access for $45 a month with the pre-paid TracFone Wireless Straight Talk plan, he noted.

By contrast, a postpaid subscriber can easily spend more than $100 a month for service for an iPhone or other smartphone, he noted. "Some customers are more driven by the phone they want, so if you go for an iPhone you are probably not going to really care about the monthly cost at 100 bucks or more a month," he said.

Some careful customers, however, might realize they only need a phone for voice and text messaging, and will reserve their Web browsing for a desktop or laptop to save on monthly costs, he noted.

"The prepaid market in the U.S. will remain very competitive," said Murphy, noting that several carriers are most active in the space. At the end of 2009, TracFone led with 14.4 million prepaid customers, Boost (with the addition of Virgin Mobile) had 10.6 million, T-Mobile USA had 7 million, MetroPCS had 6.6 million, and Leap Wireless had 4.9 million.

The nation's largest wireless carriers, Verizon Wireless and AT&T, both appear to be moving away from the prepaid model in recent months, even though they each had about 5.4 million prepaid customers at the end of 2009. AT&T actually lost 800,000 prepaid customers in 2009, while Verizon gained 500,000.

IDC recorded that 4.2 million net subscribers were added by all the nine largest carriers in the fourth quarter of 2009, with 65% of them pre-paid customers. Overall, there were 285 million wireless subscribers in the U.S. at the end of 2009.

Some carriers are focused on bringing in customers on post-paid plans, luring them to use smartphones that rely on data plans. "To keep their revenues up they have to focus on selling data plans," Murphy said.

"The first step for a consumer walking into a carrier's store is to pick out a phone and that often means getting the customer toward a smartphone that obligates the user to a data plan. That's just the way the marketing is, since the wireless business is very competitive and the carriers are competing for every dollar."

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld.

Catching up

TGIF!

 I did two remote calls this week supporting 2 different customers. Both calls worked well. If you can connect to the internet from your computer, then I can connect with you, take control of your PC and fix what is ailing it. I do this while simultaneously calling your phone so we can discuss step by step what I am doing in response to what you describe as your problem. In this way you learn AND get a cleaner system!

For one customer I downloaded and installed the MVPS HOSTS file. Because I have done this so often, I can do it in less than one hour, and so have reduced my fee for this service to $40.  Part of getting this done is to teach you how to maintain the file, i.e., how to find the latest version, download it, and install it. As a result you become self sufficient and can always have the latest protection against malware.

For the second customer, it was a matter of a poorly performing system, and so I did a typical cleaning and tuning. This customer did not have any security issues so I did not get into installing and running the malware detection and removal tools. I showed the customer that he had only 512MB of RAM, and we went to the Crucial.com site and I demonstrated how he could upgrade from 512MB to 2GB for $78. I think he is doing that and I will follow up with him. For this work, which took only 1.5 hours, my fee was only $60.

Next time you feel a need to call your PC Doc, think remote!

Finally, if you are a Facebook user, please consider becoming a fan of my PC Doctor page on Facebook. My PC Doc's Blog is automatically download to Facebook, so you can look at it there! Just click on the Become A Fan button over there on the right side of this screen!

Oh, and lest I forget, I do love Windows 7. It is extremely reliable and much faster than Vista, which I replaced on one of my Acer laptops. I still have my Windows XP Acer laptop, my IBM Windows XP desktop, and my Apple MacBook Pro.

My Blog is now on Facebook

For those of you in the know (I am not one of you!), my blog can now be viewed on a page I created, PC Doctor, under my profile. I know I can view my blog there, but not exactly sure if you will be able to do so just by clicking on "Become a fan" over to the right of this post.

I figured I would give his a try to see if it works.

Ridding your system of malware

It never ceases to amaze me at how three totally different tools are needed to eliminate malware on most systems. You might think if you had one good product that should do it. Of course I am talking about free software products, and make no comment about fee-based products. I know some of you use the latter, and I hope they do the job for you.

My recommended security suite includes SuperAntispyware, Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, and Spybot. Quite a long while ago I had thought that Spybot could be discontinued, but I was wrong. As I work on your systems, it has become very clear, as recently as this past Sunday, that all three tools are needed. It's equally important to make sure you apply all updates to these 3 products before running a scan. It took me all three tools on Sunday to clean a customer's system. In this case the system would freeze at the user account choice screen, meaning the customer could not even get into the system. It was only in Safe Mode that I was able to get in and begin to use the tools I needed (as above) to clean the system, and it took all three!

This is not to say that there isn't another PC Doc out there who has found a solution to these issues that involve different products, even different free ones. I am sure there are such differing solutions. I am only presenting to you my successes based on my own personal experience.

Priorities

Sometimes we have to make choices, and we don't necessarily like those. I am taking care of a 93 year old Aunt of mine for a couple of days. She had surgery today and, thank God, she did well and will be okay in the near term. In the meantime I will be back there tomorrow spending time with her as she recuperates.

Remote Support

With all the traveling around I have been doing lately, I am going to start utilizing remote support more frequently, instead of making house calls. The only prerequisite to me being able to support you remotely is that you be able to connect to the internet. If you can do that, then I can support you. I have found that the most successful remote calls happen when we are also connected by phone. The usual sequence is that I will call you at your computer and we will stay on the phone for the duration, although I do not need you to stay on the phone if you have something else to do. We do need to talk while I connect to your computer, and this takes about 5 minutes. Once I have control of your PC I can go about doing my business, while you go about yours, if you wish.

"Next Blog"

Have you ever noticed th phrase "Next Blog" at the top of this page, right about dead center? This blog is hosted by blogspot and is a Google offering. You can have your own blog too, if you want. There is no charge from Google/Blogspot for this amazing service! Yes, it's free.

From time to time I click on that "Next blog" phrase up top and see some amazing things. It can be lots of fun, and I encourage you to try it if you have some time. You can flip through a lot of blogs very quickly, and from their look and feel and the contents of the blog post right there in front of you. It's easy to decide if you want to click on "Next blog" or maybe stay a while and look it over. I have found that there are many blogs like mine written by people just like me, and the most interesting thing, I think, is that the authors are from all over the world.

So give it a try and click up there and see what surprise you may find in your box of Cracker Jacks!

Internet Explorer Version 8

A reader writes:

"Tom, Awhile back you asked for suggestions for topics you could write about in your blog. How about Internet Explorer v8? I exclusively use Firefox. I have IE v6 on my computer because I recall you told us to NOT install v7 nor v8. Microsoft Updates uses IE and sometimes I use IE to verify some strange web page appearance in Firefox. Should I install v8, to be up-to-date, even though I rarely use it?"

My reply:

Internet Explorer Version 7 was fraught with problems and vulnerabilities. On many of your machines I personally uninstalled V7. When one uninstalls V7, one is left with V6 in place. On my Windows XP laptop I still also have V6 installed, having decided to stay away from V7 & also V8.

However, things have changed now. V7 never got much better, but V8, although shaky at start, is now the most stable and secure version available.One other factor: Microsoft has announced reduction in support of V6, so now is a good time to upgrade to V8. Keep in mind that V8 is the current version and is the one that attracts most virus writers and system atackers.

But, Microsoft and Windows operating systems still rely on some of the settings in IE for systemwide operations, so the settings in IE are important and, for the moment, one can't run without having IE installed. In the best world, IE would be completely optional and you wouldn't have to have it installed at all.

How can you tell which version you have installed? Start IE, click on Help, and then About Internet Explorer.

Bottom line recommendation: install V8 but don't use it except when you have to do so (there are still some web sites that require IE). I use and recommend Firefox. You can download IE8 at microsoft.com.

Seven Things You Should Do Before & After Your Laptop Is Stolen

This is some good advice for all of us laptop owners. Please check out the article and give some serious thought to following the advice. This comes from a web site known at The Consumerist.

7-things-you-should-do-before-after-your-laptop-is-stolen.

ScreenToaster

This looks like a really useful tool, but I haven't yet found a use for it! Perhaps some of you more creative types can come up with some good uses. If you do, please use the Comments feature of this blog (below this post) to inform us all of your idea.

Free Online Screen Recorder

Phishing Scams - THIS IS HARD TO BELIEVE!

Below is a real e-mail I received yesterday. It was not placed in my Junk e-mail folder because it came from a customer of mine who was listed in my address book. I have blocked out her e-mail address to protect her privacy.

So there it was in my Inbox and coming from a trusted source, so I opened it. You can see what the contents were. Someone had obviously taken over control of my client's e-mail. I am not sure what they expected to happen next. There are no instructions. Maybe they hit SEND too early, or maybe they were all set to collect any e-mails sent in reply. I don't know which, but this is just another good example of how and why you need to be very careful out there.

From: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 2:36 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: I hope you get this


Hope you get this on time,sorry I didn't inform you about my trip in UK for a Program, I'm presently in UK and am having some difficulties here because i misplaced my purse on my way to the hotel where my money and other valuable things were kept. presently i have limited access to internet,I will like you to assist me with a loan of 800 POUNDS to sort-out my hotel bills and to get myself back home.I have spoken to the embassy here but they are not responding to the matter effectively,I will appreciate whatever you can afford to assist me with,I'll refund the money back to you as soon as i return,let me know if you can be of any help.I don't have a phone where i can be reached.


Please let me know immediately.

The Olympics run on Windows (XP)

Isn't this interesting. The following comes from a cnet.com news story I saw today. 6,000 PCs and all running Windows XP! And, they are all Acer PCs. As some of you know, I own 3 Acer laptops, and they have all performed flawlessly.

"VANCOUVER, British Columbia--The good news for Microsoft is that all the PCs powering the Olympics are running Windows. The bad news: it's the older Windows XP operating system.

Windows 7, it seems, was a bit too new to be used, while Windows Vista was, well, Windows Vista. So, instead, all the PCs are running an operating system that was first released before the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.

Representatives for Acer confirmed that the more than 6,000 notebooks and desktops that they delivered to Olympic organizers were all running Windows XP."

Read the whole article here

AVG Free Anti-virus

Just to clarify, I have nothing against the technical quality of AVG Free, and for those of you who have it, there is no reason to rush into something new like MSE.

I now recommend MSE as my anti-virus of choice. Like AVG Free, it is also free. There the similarity ends. I have often felt bad for all of you who followed my advice and went with AVG Free. The reason I felt bad was not the quality of the AVG Free product, we were all protected, but rather their incessant annoying marketing tactics that they used to try to get all of us to upgrade to their fee product. I think some of you even gave in to their undue pressure and signed up for the fee-bases professional version. If you did hat, I feel really bad about it.

MSE comes from Microsoft, and let's face it, they are the ones who know our operating environment better than any other company. They have come up with a product, MSE, that fits in so well with the Windows environment. I have been using it for several months now, and find it to be a very lean, clean, unobtrusive product.

I think MS has a real winner in MSE, and I would encourage all of you to look into it and consider it as your next anti-virus program. I don't think you'll be disappointed. It is a very easy product to install, and I find their optional settings easy to understand and change.

Comments

A reader commented on my 2/17 post re. MSE. Since yesterday I have had several more questions on MSE, so I thought I'd post the questions that were asked and my answers. Here are the questions followed by my answers:

Tom, I started installing MSE and stopped with these questions: 1) Should I really uninstall AVG before I install MSE? I can't find anyway to turn it off temporarily. 2) MSE says to remove antispyware programs, yet you still recommend Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware & SuperAntiSpyware. Is it OK to keep these programs and install MSE? 3) Will MSE change my current settings for Automatic Updates? I use "Notify me, don't automatically.....". 4) Will MSE program versions be automatically installed by Microsoft Updates? Thanks Joan.

 

Tom McGonegal said...

Answers: 1) Yes, uninstall AVG before installing MSE. 2) MSE is talking about realtime anitspyware monitoring programs, like Windows Defender. I doubt you have any other than WD.You don't have to remove WD. MSE will take care of disabling it for you without uninstalling it. Keep your "batch" antispyware programs. Neither is a realtime monitor. They detect and remove after the fact. 3)MSE will not change your Automatic Updates settings. 4) MSE updates, which are quite frequent, will be downloaded by MSE automatically and not Automatic Updates. After installing MSE meander through its settings. See the tabs in the image above? Check them out and select settings for your system.

MVPS HOSTS File Installation Process

There are 5 sequential blog posts that address the MVPS HOSTS file installation process, beginning with the first on January 27, 2009.

Click here to see the first and afterwards look at the other 4.

Please take heed and secure your system now!

 

I never have problems with viruses or malware or rogue programs. I use all FREE programs to secure all of my systems. These are the programs I use, and for faithful followers, please note that I am making some changes. 

1. Microsoft Security Essentials
2. Windows Firewall
3. MVPS HOSTS File
4. CCleaner
5. Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
6. SuperAntiSpyware Free Edition
7. Spybot Search & Destroy

MSE replaces AVG Free Anti-virus. MSE replaces Windows Defender.
The MVPS HOSTS file is not a nicety. It is a MUST, and must be kept up to date - by you checking every couple of weeks or monthly for an updated HOSTS file. CCleaner should be run weekly, alternate running Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware weekly, run Spybot once a month, or when you see items found in either of the two above programs.