OK OK... it has been a LOOONG time. I've been doing some reading to keep up with some of the tech stuff out there. I have found some really good articles that layout some things you can do to protect your information. (Honestly I just wanted to make sure I had some of these links somewhere to reference so I thought I would share at the same time!)
There are several areas that I could go into but a couple of key ones are backups & password management. If you aren't doing either you may want to consider it.
There are several ways you can backup your information on your computer. You can use an application that backs up your information to the web like mozy.com or syncs your files to the web like dropbox.com. Mozy seems to be better from a pure backup standpoint (I deleted my file & need to get it back) where as dropbox can share files between multiple computers. If you don't want your data on the web you can get an external hard drive (ideally bigger then the drive in your computer) and setup your own backups. Here is a good link that will help get you started.
BACKUP PROCEDURES SO EASY, EVEN YOUR MOM COULD (AND SHOULD) DO IT
Lastpass will help you with your online passwords. Some of you may not have a problem remembering your password because you use the same one everywhere. Lets say you create an account at coupon website where you can login to see the specials. You use your every day password to login & you give the website your email address. So you pretty much gave them your email address and password to your email (so you must trust them). What if that website gets hacked & all of the account information is stolen? How much financial info do you have in your email? Do they use the same password???
Here is an article on How to Update Your Insecure Passwords and Make Them Easy to Use
An alternative password tool is KeePass which is similar to LastPass but your passwords are kept in an encrypted file on your computer (just make sure you back it up).
Stay safe & warm :-)
There are several areas that I could go into but a couple of key ones are backups & password management. If you aren't doing either you may want to consider it.
There are several ways you can backup your information on your computer. You can use an application that backs up your information to the web like mozy.com or syncs your files to the web like dropbox.com. Mozy seems to be better from a pure backup standpoint (I deleted my file & need to get it back) where as dropbox can share files between multiple computers. If you don't want your data on the web you can get an external hard drive (ideally bigger then the drive in your computer) and setup your own backups. Here is a good link that will help get you started.
BACKUP PROCEDURES SO EASY, EVEN YOUR MOM COULD (AND SHOULD) DO IT
Lastpass will help you with your online passwords. Some of you may not have a problem remembering your password because you use the same one everywhere. Lets say you create an account at coupon website where you can login to see the specials. You use your every day password to login & you give the website your email address. So you pretty much gave them your email address and password to your email (so you must trust them). What if that website gets hacked & all of the account information is stolen? How much financial info do you have in your email? Do they use the same password???
Here is an article on How to Update Your Insecure Passwords and Make Them Easy to Use
An alternative password tool is KeePass which is similar to LastPass but your passwords are kept in an encrypted file on your computer (just make sure you back it up).
There is a good overview of these tools here: Give the Gift of No-Fuss Backup and Synchronicity to Your Less Tech-Savvy Loved Ones
Another good article on overall computing is: How to Keep Your Computer Safe, Clean, and Backed Up in 2011
Finally, I ran across this a week ago and found it to be a good read. So in case someone is interested HOW TO BUY A LAPTOP IN 2011 (FOR THE NORMAL PERSON)Stay safe & warm :-)
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