Hello, Today I’m going to teach you how to make a useful password. A password should be seen less like a word and more like a puzzle. Why? Because only you should be able to solve the puzzle that unlocks some of your most private information (ie Facebook, Email, Bank Accounts). It is in your best interest to have a secure, yet effective, password.
Key to the Puzzle
How to make a secure password
There are a few basic rules on how to secure your online information when using passwords.
You’ve heard this buzz word being used like it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Well, it is – at least in the computer world. However, cloud computing has its advantages and disadvantages, which makes this a great discussion.
Cloud computing is the sharing of software, storage, and information without requiring a physical location. Basically, everything is stored and available online, or commonly referenced as “in the cloud.”
A few years ago, it was commonplace to find only 1 computer owned by a person or even families. Because of this condition, we would store our documents, e-mail, and other information on this one computer. As the number of computers we owned or operated increased, we would store the information across two by copying things on both. This was starting to become additional work, but it was manageable. At the same time of this shift, higher speed internet started to become more widely available and it was even faster, and the amount of storage increased significantly while actually reducing in cost. This was the major reason why cloud computing, web applications, and almost anything with online infrastructure started gaining momentum. Today, we have to add higher speed wireless internet, smart phones, and tablet computers to the computing ecosystem. As a direct result, you have more devices than ever to put your information on, faster ways to access it, and more storage per device, but no unification or connection between them all. These have been key ingredients leading to the creation of cloud computing.
Freedom
The greatest advantage for cloud computing is that you can finally free yourself from being dependent on one device. We’ll call this freedom. Freedom is when
Note: this is an extension of key points discussed in a previous posting titled “Your backup sucks!“
If you want more background information on different types of backups and suggested methods, then please read that posting.
Now that you have an external hard drive, it is important to avoid a big mistake that we see often: manually copying the information on it yourself. This is important because next week you’ll have that dinner party, and the week after you have to actually get some work done. Oh, and 2 days later you might have some free time to dedicate 30 minutes to your backups. Face it, we’re not always available to make sure backups occur on their own, and we shouldn’t have to be. So we need some good software that can take care of that for us. Most of today’s backup drives will already come with some form of backup software to facilitate proper backups on a schedule, however a good portion of these backup software don’t work well. So here are a few, based on your operating system, that we know have worked:
A free version of this software is available from here. Just download and install it, start it in trial mode, and get the free license key from their website and paste it into the program. This will allow you to use it for simple backups to your hard drive. If you need additional help setting this up, then please request it through our help desk. We offer free and fee based support, depending on your needs.
From that mysterious “@” symbol to ignoring the dots when reading a web address, this had it all. Happy Monday everyone.
The computer world is full of uncertainty. Especially when it comes to the stability and security of your data. Data is usually stored on a hard drive. Most hard drives will fail at some point – so it’s not a question of if, but when. This is one of the biggest reasons to backup your data. If that doesn’t convince you, then the next common problems will:
Your backup method sucks
Now that you know you should backup, it’s important to address that your existing backup may actually be ineffective. We have talked to a lot of customers that assume they have a viable backup. They are wrong. Flash drives and CD backups are not good choices! A good backup plan accounts for ample storage, automation, and an occasional confirmation from you.
I remember walking through the aisles of computer stores like Egghead Software and CompUSA looking at the latest and coolest software boxes. This was of course around the time when the internet involved the use of a phone line, which meant downloading took forever and the possibility of downloading software was only seen on a Sci-Fi show. Today marks a huge change in the way we obtain software. The Mac App Store was unveiled for Mac users. It allows you to buy or download for free new software without leaving your home or going to a website.
The concept isn’t new, since Apple created the first App store for the iPhone and iPod, however, it is new to the desktop. Which I believe will bring the following interesting changes over the years:
Feel free to leave your comments by clicking the link below. Like the article? Then click on the “Like” button.
The best way to understand this is to think of a bunch of files spread out on your desk, not alphabetized or organized in any way. Defragging will sort and place those files in a filing cabinet so you can find them much faster next time. It also saves space. No word on what happens to the stapler.
Should I defrag?
We get this question a lot. Defragging is not necessary for most of us. This is because most drives aren’t fragmented like they used to be. Today’s operating systems don’t allow each file to become fragmented. They keep most files in line. Although heavy use or high storage consumption can spark the need for defragging, today’s hard drives feature higher cache, rotation speeds, and command queuing which makes up for the loss in performance due to fragmentation. So go ahead and get back to work instead of spending the time defragging a drive.
I think I’m an exception to the rule
There are cases where you could be using a large amount of storage space or frequently changing files, programs, and data. If this is the case, then we advise a program that can properly do defragmentation. See recommendations below.
Windows
Diskeeper
Mac
iDefrag
We created a new category in our blog called guides. These guides are a series of articles to help you make the right decision about a computer product or service. These guides will be frequently edited to keep you informed about the latest suggestions.
Specifications
The first thing, which is also the most important are specifications. We suggest any Intel i3, i5, or i7 processor computer. Choose the i3 if you’re on a budget, i5 or i7 if your willing to spend a little more to enjoy a good and speedy experience along with a longer usable lifespan of your computer. Stay away from Intel’s Celeron processor unless you’re interested in torturing yourself. If you’re on a major budget crunch, AMDs Athlon II is a great processor system. For performance on a budget, you can consider an AMD Phenom based processor.
Get a system with 4GB or more of memory. Nothing less would be suggested for a new computer today. Windows 7 is the only operating system we recommend, and is typically found on all new computers.
Brands
There is almost no difference in usable life span, quality, or speed between computers. With desktops, there is virtually no difference outside of looks.
Short answer: Every 4-5 years
Long answer: Choosing when to replace your computer is based on 6 reasons.
Most users compare depreciation of computers to their cars, and that’s just plain wrong. Cars generally go from A to B and depreciate by mileage and years. That’s it! Computers are very different from cars. This is because computers are part of an ecosystem that is constantly changing around us. For example, if you bought a new printer and attempted to install it on a computer that was brand new but unused for 8 years (true story), then there is a high chance your printer won’t even install. This is because the printer software wants you to update the computer to support the printer properly. These updates would have occurred regularly over the past 8 years, which would have allowed a smooth installation. So unlike a car, where it could be sitting for years and not actually become useless, a computer can start to lose its capabilities. If you were to bring computer depreciation to car depreciation, it’s like driving a car under constant changing roads, construction sites, bumps, and other things that never stay the same over time. Imagine your commute home from work always being different. Sometimes you’re driving downhill, and other times you’re driving uphill over bumps and gravel for several miles. Your computer will always require some form of update or upgrade, which makes it ever-changing. This makes the depreciation of a computer closer to the expiration date of batteries than the long term mechanical stability of a car. Most computers, will depreciate significantly after 4-5 years constant change due to their ecosystem.
Today’s computers, just like tomorrow’s will always be faster than yesterday’s. However, computers that are more than 5 years old are much slower than today’s computers. This is due to the frequent change in processor, motherboard, and memory technology. Instead of having a processor with a single core (think brain of computer), today’s computers can have at least 2 or more. This is a 100% or more increase, paired with faster memory and higher speed transfers which allows us to watch HD videos, enjoy more rich content from websites and programs, and play newer type of games.
