Disasters can strike at anytime, and you never know exactly how long they will disrupt your business or organization. In basic terms, there are two types of disasters that could damage your network and data systems: natural disasters and human error. There have been many documented cases of either of these situations causing serious (if not irreparable) harm.

We’re told again and again to backup our important data and make sure it is stored in a safe location. In fact, some concerned users actually got together and declared March 31st World BackUp Day. You may not have known this, and it may have passed you by this year, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take some time out of your day and look into (or establish) your plan for data storage and disaster recovery.

What Would Happen If…

What would you do if there was a fire in your office tomorrow? What about a flood? For that matter, what would you do if one of your more clumsy employees were to spill some coffee on the server? Any one of these situations could cause a lot of problems for a company, and yet according to the AFCOM State of the DATA Center report, 15% of the data centers in the study said they did not have a plan for data backup and recovery.

15% may not seem like a lot at first glance, but these are data centers. Their entire livelihood is based on the ability to provide safe and secure data storage and transfer solutions. If these companies haven’t taken the time to prepare for the unexpected, how many other businesses are going to be caught off guard when disaster strikes? History has shown us that most of those businesses will never bounce back after such a loss.

What Are the Options?

There are two basic options to manage your data onsite or online backups. Onsite options include manually backing up the information on various media like CDs, DVDs, or flash drives, while online options include all the cloud computing solutions for storing important data. The one you finally choose will depend on your individual situation.
Individuals and businesses that have small amounts of data or deal with email archiving on a regular basis often opt for the onsite option, mostly because this is something they have always done. The problem, though, is that if your business is hit by some natural disaster all those CDs and DVDs are going to go down with it. Online backup systems are providing a way for companies to get around this problem. Online backups are fast, easy, and can usually be automated to make sure it is done on a regular basis.

What Are the Benefits?

When you work with a reliable data center (one of the 85% that do have some kind of disaster recovery plan) to backup your information, you will be able to mitigate any of the losses that would otherwise result from a disaster. You will be able to save money as you rebuild and re-establish your company, and all that sensitive personal or company data will be safe and secure. You never know when a disaster will strike, so don’t wait for the next World BackUp Day before you start making preparations.

=== About the Author ===

This author writes about a range of technologies for large and medium business units which include cloud computing, servers and other infrastructure solutions. These products and services along with email archiving can reduce management costs and create a flexible infrastructure.

Almost every field is changing at a rapid pace. If you are into medicine, new cures and treatments are constantly in development. If you are into sports, new equipment is introduced all the time. While these fields are experiencing wonderful enhancements, no area is changing as quickly as the technology field.

As a result, it can be hard to get a solid grasp of all that is happening in the world of technology. As soon as you learn everything there is to know about one thing, something entirely new is invented to replace it. You need to know what to look for in order to keep up with ever changing technology.

In order to do this, you need to have a strong tech background. Outside of working for a technology company for many years, it might seem impossible to gain enough understanding of the industry to become an expert. Thankfully, there are several opportunities available online to build up your tech background.

Join a Tech Forum

It is proven that one of the best ways to truly learn something is to discuss and teach others about it. Forums have long been extremely popular on the Internet. They give those with a common interest a place to convene and discuss different topics. There are a number of popular forums on the Internet, covering topics ranging from bicycling to cooking.

There is a very active niche of forums that fervently discuss the world of technology. People pose questions, lend their expertise and discuss new advancements on technology forums. You will be surprised how well you can build your tech background by reading other people’s questions and the answers provided by others.

If you really want to get involved, try your hand at answering a few questions. You will be surprised how much you already know about technology.

Read Tech Blogs

While most major news outlets cover technology news, it is blogs that provide the most in depth information and breaking news. Technology blogs are concerned with only one thing, bringing you the best technology information possible. They are created by people like you. People who love technology and have an insatiable thirst for information about the field.

Technology blogs have been known to break some of the biggest stories of the year. For example, it was a blog that first released screenshots of the iPhone 4 earlier this year.

As a bonus, most technology blogs allow users to discuss the various posts on the site. Much like a forum, you will be able to enhance your tech background by reading what other like-minded people think about a particular story or topic.

Enroll in Online Technology Schools

If you want to take a more serious approach to building your tech background, you will want to look into enrolling in an online technology school. These online schools offer a curriculum focused on teaching students the ins and out of the technology field. Rather than just learning about news and innovative gadgets, students get treated to information about how things actually work. Courses offered by online technology schools include Java programming, introduction to XML, introduction to PHP and VBScript, just to name a few.

As you can see, you will be getting a hands on education that actually instructs you how to perform the things you read about in blogs or forums. Online schools give you the opportunity to work side by side with some of the greatest minds in the technology world. Your instructors are usually people who have actually worked for technology companies. They have the knowhow and skills to help you make it in the real world. You will be treated to this knowledge by enrolling in online technology schools.

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The author: When Paul Schwayze writes for Onlineschools.org about anything technology related, he speaks from experience. While he has a Masters in Mechanical Engineering, he also puts value on the time he’s spent teaching himself online. The in-depth courses offered on the web for anyone interested in technology offer a simpler, easier way to gain the knowledge one needs to compete in today’s markets.

Are you looking for free and affordable applications that will make your web life easier? Look no further! Here are a handful of add-ons that streamline the graphic design process.

1. Skitch.com

Skitch.com enables users to more quickly capture screen shots and drag them into email for sharing. The software automatically saves and names files to speed up the process. You can even annotate images with text and sketches and share them with colleagues. Use Skitch to show an image to a colleague or client and get their quick feedback on it.

Requirements: Max OSX 10.4.6 and higher
Cost: Free

2. Adobe Kuler
Kuler is an online application that’s also accessible through CS5 software. Use Kuler to generate color schemes for print and digital projects.

It’s got a community feature for sharing ideas and is a great source for color inspiration. Since it’s built into CS5 software, folks with the Adobe Creative Suite don’t even have to open a browser window.

Requirements: n/a
Cost: Free

3. Firefox Colorzilla & Google Chrome Eyedropper
Depending on your preference of browsers, these two add-ons will help you pick up any color you see on the web, analyze it and recreate it. It’s great for when you’re browsing sites such as logopond.com and want to repurpose an interesting color combination for your own work.

Requirements: Current versions of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox web browsers
Cost: Free

4. Lorem Ipsum Generator

It’s an industry-wide practice to flow dummy Latin text into a mock-up layout. The Latin helps designer’s see what the piece would look like with content. Instead of digging through old files to copy and paste dummy-text, use the Google Chrome Lorem Ipsum Generator add-on to create fresh text for each project.

Requirements: Current version of Google Chrome web browser
Cost: Free

5. Adobe Air Shrink O’Matic

An add-on application for Adobe AIR that lets you resize images in large batches. Perfect for getting files ready for the web. The app handles JPGs, GIFs and PNGs, and lets users set the output sizes, file names and end-formats.

Requirements: Adobe AIR 1.5
Cost: Free

6. Adobe Ideas Application for iPad & iPhone

A great tool for iPad and iPhone users who want the ability to sketch ideas on the go. The application integrates with Adobe Creative Suite software, so it’s easy to import ideas when you get back to work.

Requirements: Compatible with iPad and iPhone OS 3.2 or later
Cost: Free

7. Mac Rabbit CSS Editor

A CSS editor perfect for graphic designers who want to create beautiful websites using style sheets. This editor is easy to use whether you are a web expert or a beginner. The visual editing tools, don’t   dumb down the code, but instead help novices to learn to use CSS as they go along.

Requirements: Mac OS X 10.5 or higher
Cost: Free trial or $39.95 to purchase

If you are planning to get a business card for yourself, and you have no idea how to design it, here is a quick and easy way. Free PDF Card is an online service that can create a free business card for you.

Go to the Free PDF Card website and you will see a form. Each of the form fields represents a line in the preview business card (to the left) in a vertical order. Beside every text field of the form there are basic formatting options like bold, italics and font size. If you wish to show your company logo, upload it using the “Upload Logo” button. You can also show your image if it’s for a personal purpose.

Start filling the form with the info you wish to show on your business card. Do the necessary formatting until you are satisfied with its look. Every time you wish to preview the changes you have made, press the Preview button below. Following is a demo PDF card that I created for myself using Free PDF Card.

Once you have completed editing your free business card, press the Download button just below the card preview section. The card will be downloaded as a PDF file which you can print.

I love TweetDeck and I wish they had a web-based version with as many features as the desktop one, but unfortunately they don’t. However, after months of looking for a feature-rich web-based Twitter client, I came across Multwiple.

Multwiple has every thing a Twitter user could ever need. Let’s start with multiple accounts support where you can add as many Twitter accounts as you want and that too without any hassle. Unlike some other clients, Mutwiple doesn’t require you to switch from one account to another as each account get its own tab.

When it comes to user interface, Multwiple is very similar to TweetDeck, having a separate column for every thing. By default, it displays 3 main columns but you can constantly view the list of available columns on the left hand side and add any of them to your view with a single click. Similarly, you can also click the little x on any column to remove it from your view. Moreover, Multwiple has some columns that many other clients including TweetDeck doesn’t offer such as ReTweeted By Me, ReTweeted To me and Your Followers.

As soon as you launch Multwiple, you immediately see your stats including number of friends, number of followers, number of tweets and number of favorites. But the best part is yet to come: when you click on a shared link tweeted by one of your friends, in addition to opening that web page in a separate browser window, Multwiple adds a small box on the top so you can constantly see the original tweet that led you to the web page.  Each tweet displays short icons that allow you to quickly ReTweet, ReTweet with comments, reply, send a DM or simply mark the tweet as a favorite. Among other things, you can drag columns to reposition them, search Twitter right from the dashboard and even see Twitter trends with a single click.

Over all, what I love about Mulwiple is the feature-rich interface without the complexity or clutter that the other apps have.

When you are looking for free credit reports, be careful where you go. There are plenty of very shady (almost evil) websites out there that offer you services that may cost you plenty if you aren’t careful. Have you seen the TV commercials for FreeCreditReports.com? I checked them out at the Better Business Bureau and they were rated with an F. That’s bad, very bad.

Recently, I’ve seen one service that appears to be safe and highly recommended. The service at CreditKarma.com checked out with an Arating at the Better Business Bureau and it’s even registered as an Accredited Businessthere. Here’s what Credit Karma says about their service:

Credit Karma believes consumers have a right to know this information with no charge or without the bait and switch of 30 days free followed by enrollment products with confusing opt outs. We subsidize our cost of pulling the credit scores by selling advertising on the site.

They offer several reports and even some tools for helping you improve your future scores. The only complaints I’ve seen so far, are people reporting that the FICO scores are sometimes inaccurate. Since the only other FICO scores you can get are not free, you may decide you can live with results that aren’t perfect.

Here’s a nice tour of the Credit Karma service that was created for Sears credit cards.

In addition to Credit Karma,  another truly free place to get yearly credit reports is at the Annual Credit Report site.

Not all free credit reports are created equal. You can always check with the Better Business Bureau before you give personal information to a website.

[Windows all] Have you ever heard of a software company named Comodo? I first spotted them a few years ago, when they offered a free Firewall program. Even then, I knew it was a company worth watching. Each year, Comodo seems to be offering bigger and better security apps, and many of them are free for home users.

Here’s a peek at their free protection page:

As you can see, there isn’t much in the PC security field that they don’t cover. I’m sure that I could run a safe PC using only their free offerings.

The freebie I tried most recently is called Comodo Cloud Scanner. The description for this piece of software fooled me. Quote: Scan your PC to identify malware, junk files, registry errors and hidden processes. I assumed that it was simply a scanner that advised you about security risks and offered advice. I’ll show you what I ran into and why I was so surprised.

First I downloaded and installed the 10mb exe file. Here’s what the first screen looked like:

I clicked the Scan Now button and waited while it cranked away. Here are the results I saw when it finished.

Holy Cow! Over 3000 errors?

I was surprised and a bit aggravated. The last time I saw results like this was when I was testing out some suspected scamware at MyCleanPC. Any time I see extreme results like this, I always suspect that someone is trying very hard to sell me a solution I don’t need.

At the bottom of the scan results, was this little button.

I thought about this for a few minutes. I was still angry about the results. I looked through the details of the results and they really weren’t security problems as I’d define them. Most of it was browser cache files, junk registry entries and cookies. That really pissed me off, and I decided that I had to see what kind of help they’d offer.

I clicked on the Help Me button and waited for a live connection to one of the Comodo people. A pretty basic looking chat window finally popped up and I was connected to Chris in New Jersey. Below is the dialog (I’m the subscriber):

Well, that explained it all to me. The scan is simply a ploy to get you into their online help service. I’m kind of wondering what results I’d get if I had used the Comodo System Cleaner before I had scanned. That test will have to wait on another day.

Techie Buzz Verdict:

The scan that Comodo Cloud Scanner performs on your system is very likely quite good. However, I hate the way they label the findings as Errors and Problems. The so called errors and problems they found are the stuff that happens on your PC as a simple result of using it every day.

I will give them credit for this much; the LivePCSupport service that Comodo provided to me was professional and very timely. If you need a good remote help service, I don’t think you will find many others that are priced this low. Since Comodo offers all of those free security applications, I’m sure they know how to use them to help people. I can’t praise the online service because I haven’t really used it, however, I wouldn’t be afraid to recommend it to a newbie who could really benefit from it. Fifty bucks isn’t too much for most people. Especially if it saves them hours of frustration.

Techie Buzz Rating: Scanner: 2/5 (Poor) / Online Service: 3/5 (Good)

YouTube is all set to release a web-based inbuilt video editor. This will be a great news for all the video enthusiasts who are regular up-loaders at the video sharing website. Right now it will be a basic video editor having the most commonly use functions such as trimming and joining with promises of more functionalities in the future.

The feature will surely be light-weight but should suffice for the nominal video editing requirements while uploading videos to the website. The YouTube editor itself is based on JavaScript. The editor will be looking to use the capabilities of cloud computing to the maximum so as to enable users with average computers to edit videos easily. The main task of processing will be left to Google’s own systems.

More features are sure to be added to this innovative tool with time. The YouTube video editor is slated for release later today. This new concept is sure to increase the existing very large user base of YouTube.

Source : TechCrunch

There are many file sharing services out there. Many offer simple free file hosting, however, I don’t know of any that offer as many ways to share files and share ideas as the Drop.io service. I recently received a letter from them that mentioned a cool feature I wasn’t aware of. Here’s the letter:

Few know this, but it’s easy (not to mention useful) to record a voicemail inside a drop.

Here’s how:
1. Start a ‘drop’ with 1-click
2. Inside the drop, hit the button that says ‘create a free number’
3. Call that number and leave a voice message
… that’s it! The message will automatically become an mp3.

Reporters use this function as an easy way to record interviews on-the-ground and podcasters use it for their shows. We like to leave personal greetings on drops filled with photos for our friends and family.

Check out the voicemail we left for you – and leave us a message in return.
http://drop.io/maynewsletter

I can think of several other ways to use a public (or private) online voice mail. There are many other useful Drop.io features you might want to check out. Here’s short video about them:

Here are a few of our previous posts about the Drop.io site and services:

1. Drop.io Extension For Google Chrome

2. Drop.io | A File Sharing Program, which is more than just RapidShare

3. Send 100MB Attachments With Yahoo Mail

4. Drop.io, A Service To Privately Share Your Files

5. Drop.io Extension For Google Chrome

Be sure to let us know if you have some new ideas how to use this or any other file sharing service.

There are several online services that will allow you to check files for viruses or malware by uploading the files from your computer. One reason you might use one of these services is that you have downloaded a new program and you want to know if it’s safe to install on your computer. One of the services that I use most often is called Virus Total’.

Virus Total is a free, independent service that will analyze uploaded files with around 40 different antivirus engines. Here is the current list:

AhnLab (V3)
Antiy Labs (Antiy-AVL)
Aladdin (eSafe)
ALWIL (Avast! Antivirus)
Authentium (Command Antivirus)
AVG Technologies (AVG)
Avira (AntiVir)
Cat Computer Services (Quick Heal)
ClamAV (ClamAV)
Comodo (Comodo)
CA Inc. (Vet)
Doctor Web, Ltd. (DrWeb)
Emsi Software GmbH (a-squared)
Eset Software (ESET NOD32)
Fortinet (Fortinet)
FRISK Software (F-Prot)
F-Secure (F-Secure)
G DATA Software (GData)
Hacksoft (The Hacker)
Hauri (ViRobot)
Ikarus Software (Ikarus)
INCA Internet (nProtect)
K7 Computing (K7AntiVirus)
Kaspersky Lab (AVP)
McAfee (VirusScan)
Microsoft (Malware Protection)
Norman (Norman Antivirus)
Panda Security (Panda Platinum)
PC Tools (PCTools)
Prevx (Prevx1)
Rising Antivirus (Rising)
Secure Computing (SecureWeb)
BitDefender GmbH (BitDefender)
Sophos (SAV)
Sunbelt Software (Antivirus)
Symantec (Norton Antivirus)
VirusBlokAda (VBA32)
Trend Micro (TrendMicro)
VirusBuster (VirusBuster)

They keep those engines up to date with the latest virus signatures, and they also offer detailed results from each engine in their reports. Virus Total is available in nearly two dozen languages.

To use this service, you simply visit the web page, click on the file upload button, select the file and wait for it to upload. Once the file is uploaded, you will often have to wait a few minutes for the scan results to appear. If you think that sounds pretty easy to do, you are correct. However, Virus Total now offers an even easier method, the Virus Total Uploader.

After you install the Virus Total Uploader [Windows Only] on your PC, you can right click on a file, then Send tothe Virus Total site.

After a few seconds, your web browser will open up to show you the results of the antivirus tests from Virus Total.

That’s not the only trick that the Uploader has for you. When you launch it from your Start menu, you’ll see three other upload options in it’s interface:

• upload a file by choosing it’s process name
• select a file by browsing to it’s location
• type in the URL of a file on the web

Go to the Virus Total Uploader page to get it.

Techie Buzz Verdict:

Having a good antivirus program installed on your PC is a must have. The ability to double check files using 40 different antivirus engines is not required, but it sure is nice to have. If you’d like to try this application, I recommend it.

Techie Buzz Rating: 4/5 (Excellent)