http://articles.webcomputerrepair.com/rss.xml A blog about webcomputerrepair.com daily 365 1901-01-01T00:00+00:00 http://articles.webcomputerrepair.com/?a=36498 <p>by Gregg Hall</p><p>Everyone does maintenance on their computer in one form or another. You have the surge protector, you have the antivirus installed and you may even have a registry cleaner or ad protecting program. You may even be as bold as defragmenting your hard drive on occasion. But do you have a data backup system or plan? Do you have any of your important data on backup? <br /><br />Everyone with a computer has lost data at one time or another. A sudden system crash or mistakenly deleting something can wreak havoc on your nerves or business. A thunderstorm and power surge to you power supply can fry your data. Sometimes it can be saved by taking the entire hard drive into a technician for recovery and it can be a long, tedious, and expensive process. <br /><br />If you have information on your computer that you want to make sure you keep, then you need to back it up in some way. Depending on how important the data is to you, you may want to consider two types of backup. Depending on the data you want to protect you may need to create a backup on a daily or even hourly basis.<br /><br />There are many types of backups and many ways to do it. You can use DVDs or CDs, external hard drives, online servers, or a &quot;thumb drive&quot;. Burning data to a CD or DVD is very simple. Select the files you want to save and save them. Online servers can be set to just a simple click of the mouse and it will synchronize with your computer and do all the work automatically. Thumb drives have replaced the CD and DVD with ease of use. Plug the thumb drive into the USB port and save your work and take it out when you're done. Put the thumb drive into your pocket or purse and you can retrieve your data from any other computer you use no matter where you are. The thumb drives can have as little or as much memory as you need and can be password protected or even use thumbprint scans to protect your data if anyone else ever gets their hands on it.<br /><br />A full backup may be a bit of overkill if you are backing up your personal computer. A full backup creates a mirror of your entire hard drive, including every file and folder that is on your computer. But this option can be used in conjunction with a differential backup. This type of backup creates the backup of only files that have been changed or upgraded. You could create a full backup and then weekly or monthly depending on the importance of your data, complete a differential backup which will keep your backup up to date.<br /><br />You computer probably already has a snapshot backup in it's programming. It creates a mirror of your hard drive and backs up the images of your files. You can also choose disk imaging. This will allow you to back up your entire hard drive or just certain files of your choosing. However the programs that are already installed on your computer for this job may not be the most user friendly.<br /><br />Most people find that the unattended backup is the easiest to use. There are multitudes of software on the market that will automatically backup your system to your specifications without you doing much of anything else. Always choose the program you want to use carefully. While consumer friendly use is a major point, you'll want to make sure that you can set it up and make changes to it when needed. <br /><br />These programs are usually very easy to use and all you have to do is follow the prompts on the screen and it will complete all the work for you. And you don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a program meant to backup data for NASA when you just want to protect the data on your home computer. There are plenty of reasonably price software packages that will do the work you specifically need done without breaking the bank.<br /><br />You can research different companies and programs on the internet. There are forums that people that have tried the products will tell if it was good or bad or easy or hard to use. Be an educated consumer. Go ahead and pick the brains of your computer savvy friends. Many times your friends will be eager to show off their knowledge of computers. <br /><br />Software backup is the best way to save your work, your correspondence, even your family pictures. Anything can happen to a computer at any given time. Just a simple power surge can destroy years of memories. So data backup is an important part of any computer maintenance. And it may just save your sanity later.</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Beach Florida. Find more about this as well as computer backup at <a href="http://www.webcomputerrepair.com/">http://www.webcomputerrepair.com</a></p> 2006-11-24T17:03-05:00 http://articles.webcomputerrepair.com/?a=36497 <p>by Gregg Hall</p><p>Why should we consider a backup solar power system? Not only have we seen how sudden power failures have crippled entire cities, but regions and even entire states. Everyone at one time or another has experienced how an unexpected power failure has interrupted the simplest of daily tasks. Suddenly the power goes out and we realize how much we depend on electricity and don't ever think about it until it's not available. Our society uses electricity to power nearly every aspect of our lives, from heating and cooling to basic communication with our family, friends, and associates. It is becoming ever more imperative that we have backup or reserve power for when the inevitable happens and a backup solar power system can supply this need with continuous and free source of power for as long as we need it.<br /><br />When there is a sustained period of power loss, expected or unexpected, the most common backup power is supplied by generators or invertors. Commonly, these supply enough power to make things more convenient and a bit more comfortable, but they do not supply enough power to operate all the appliances and devices, or if they do, not for long. Normally these items are sufficient for up to eight hours. You may have to limit the times of operating your backup power to be able to last for the duration of the power failure.<br /><br />For instance, after a hurricane you know to be prepared for extended power outages. We can expect the power to be out for up to a week, even in minimally damaged areas. If your household is running off a gasoline generator, you will have to have a supply of gasoline on hand to operate the generator. And quite possibly your generator is only powerful enough to operate the bare essentials of your household, such as refrigerator and lights, but not climate control.<br /><br />There are times when there are deaths that occur due to power failures. Older people accustomed to air conditioning are unable to regulate their body to endure extreme heat. Or those that depend on electricity to operate in home life support systems. These people generally are unable to do the maintenance required to keep a gasoline generator operating during prolonged power outages. Not only that, but people have died from incorrect installation of a generator or carbon monoxide poisoning from improper ventilation or fire. <br /><br />A backup solar power system could be your answer for a safe, efficient, and unending power supply as long as necessary. As long as the system is installed correctly, it can supply all of your power needs without interruption. Think of the security and convenience of reliable and safe power supply whenever you need it. Backup solar power is the obvious choice for the safest and reliable supply of power when the expected or unexpected power failure occurs. Much safer and little to no maintenance makes a backup solar power system the most reliable and obvious choice for your electricity backup plan.</p><h3 class="popup">About the Author </h3><p>Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Beach Florida. Find more about this as well as computer repair at <a href="http://www.webcomputerrepair.com/">http://www.webcomputerrepair.com</a></p> 2006-11-24T17:00-05:00