For those who know me, there is one computer related subject on which I don't hold back my views. That subject is related to personal computer security: your passwords. In this day and age, people have usernames and passwords to somewhere between 10 and 25 web sites. Some of us, have many many more. What I'm about to write should make you think twice about how you come up with passwords for any future accounts you might create.
Let me ask you a question.. Is there a web site that, if someone were to know your username and password to it, would be detrimental to your financial well-being if that person were to get in and "do damage". I think everyone who reads blog would answer yes. So far, you're thinking, "What does this have to do with computers?" Be patient. I'll get to it.
So, we all agree that there are some sites that we really need to secure with a good password. So you've probably thought of a good password for the site I just asked you about, right? A good password is one longer than 6 characters (the longer the better), and doesn't include any real words. And for goodness sake, don't use any part of your name or your kids names, or your pets names. Another criteria for a good password is to have numbers and letters as well. Oh, and a combination of upper-case and lower-case letters would be even better. Some sites allow what they call "special characters" which are characters like exclamation points, question marks, etc. If you can, throw those in the mix too.
Getting on with my point... In contrast, there are a lot of sites which you might think aren't as important, or don't have anything really worth the password. So you might have made a so-so password for this kind of site, am I right? Oh.. Wait. Don't tell me. Please don't tell me you have the SAME password for both of those sites.
Why does it matter? Well, here's why it would matter. A "lesser" site might lead you to a cavalier way of thinking about the password for that "lesser" site. Even though the password is the same as the highly secure site, you think of it as a different password categorically, even to the point of where you might write that password down on a piece of paper and stick it to your monitor, or where you might type that password in an email to someone, or maybe in a conversation with someone you might actually TELL someone your password. See where I am going with this?
You might be thinking, "So what?" They have the password to that ONE site. So what? Human behavior tells us that people are generally lazy and there is a very high possibility that if you have someone's password for one site, you just might have the password for every other site that person visits. Now there's a problem!
Let me tell you what I do. I use software that helps me keep passwords for all of my web site accounts. The reason for this is because I can't possibly remember all of those strange passwords I have created for those accounts. I have this software on my smartphone and on my computer. This software is also backed up so it won't get lost. You have quite a few choices in the software you can use on the market. I happen to use eWallet by Illiumsoft. I find it very useful and have been happy with using it on all of my smartphones from the Palm days to my present Android Droid X.
An important feature you must have in the software you use is that it must be password secured itself. Basically, I only have to remember one password. And what if someone gets my phone, can't they get into all of my passwords? That's a valid question. Another important feature of this software is that the data must be secured on your hard drive with encryption. Meaning that if I'm not logged in to the software, and someone got my phone, it would be "very difficult" to get at the passwords. Notice I say, "very difficult" and not "impossible".
I must apologize for not blogging about a computer-ish subject today, but I think it's a foundational subject on which I can build on my future blabberings.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Backup, Backup and BACKUP
If there is one compelling reason for me to create this blog, it's to try to convince people to back up their computers. I've discovered that most people regard backing up as an unnecessary endeavor. Those same people usually end up telling me, "There's nothing on my computer that I really need." And I don't want to push the issue, but if you are one of those people, please allow me to at least give you something to think about.
Obvious Items for Backup
Everyone always thinks about the "big" items which we all agree would be a great loss if they were to be lost. Things like:
Not-So-Obvious Items for Backup
Your computer has been programmed to try to remember your favorite things. Examples of these are:
What is Backing Up?
Sadly, there are a good deal of people who think backing up is something hard or impossible for them to do. But, what is backing up really? It's the same thing you do with your real files. I was in the military and one of the most important documents from my military service is what is known as the DD214. This document records what you did, what awards you earned and under what circumstances you were discharged from the military. So, it's very important, and basically, I have about 10 paper copies of this document. In comparison, a computer backup is just a copy of your files. How you get that copy and when you do it is obviously just as important. If you lost your financial data, and the most recent copy you had was from 6 months ago, then, in my opinion, it would be just as bad as if you hadn't made a copy at all. So, backing up could be something as simple as copying your files to a thumb drive or CD or DVD.
What to Back Up?
Well, above I mentioned some of the items you'd want to back up. But another situation I have found is that there is another group of people who don't know where to find the files on their computer in order to back them up.
Backup Software To The Rescue
This is where backup software comes in. Most backup software already knows where you keep your files - like in My Documents, and other locations. And most backup software is easy to use. A click of a button and its off and running. Or it'll ask you what time it can run at night when you're not using your computer. I'm not going to go on and on with all the different software available for backing up. I don't have the time, nor am I interested in doing a side-by-side comparison.
What I Do (For What it's Worth)
I'd like to tell you what I do to back up my computer, and you can form your own opinions on the matter. I use software called Carbonite. I really like this software because it runs on auto-pilot and runs in the background, or in other words, it operates without me knowing about it. Whenever it hits a file that it hasn't backed up, it encrypts the file and sends it to a secure location on the Internet. I don't have to worry about copying to CD or a thumb drive. As good as it is, however, Carbonite cannot really restore my computer to it's former glory if my hard drive were to fail for whatever reason. I would still have to make the appropriate hardware repairs, install Windows again and then restore my files from Carbonite. And that process would be rather slow. But at least nothing would be lost!
A further method I use is to do a frequent backup of my hard drive using Windows Backup, which is a part of Windows 7. This backup method asks me to copy it to some sort of external hard drive. My preferred drive is a Firewire-connected external hard drive. I always choose to make a full copy of my computer with this method. And, conveniently, if I had to restore from that method, it's a matter of booting my computer with my Windows 7 DVD and then choosing the restore option. After Windows writes the files back on my repaired hardware from the backup on that external backup drive - "Voila!" I reboot and it's like nothing ever happened. I know this from experience, because it has happened to me more than once.
Get Into the Habit
Backing up isn't such a mysterious thing. It's just a habit that needs to be developed. Trust me, you may think there isn't anything you need on your computer, but there is always that "Oh NO!" moment when you remember that you kept all of your passwords on some notepad text file that is now gone because you thought you didn't need to do a backup. Speaking of passwords - that's the subject of my next blog entry. Stay tuned.
Anyone want to share a backup horror story? Or rather a lack-of-backup story?
Obvious Items for Backup
Everyone always thinks about the "big" items which we all agree would be a great loss if they were to be lost. Things like:
- Finance records
- Important documents
- Family photos
- Work files
Not-So-Obvious Items for Backup
Your computer has been programmed to try to remember your favorite things. Examples of these are:
- Your desktop
- Your Internet favorites
- Settings of all the programs on your computer. Most people can get by if these were lost
What is Backing Up?
Sadly, there are a good deal of people who think backing up is something hard or impossible for them to do. But, what is backing up really? It's the same thing you do with your real files. I was in the military and one of the most important documents from my military service is what is known as the DD214. This document records what you did, what awards you earned and under what circumstances you were discharged from the military. So, it's very important, and basically, I have about 10 paper copies of this document. In comparison, a computer backup is just a copy of your files. How you get that copy and when you do it is obviously just as important. If you lost your financial data, and the most recent copy you had was from 6 months ago, then, in my opinion, it would be just as bad as if you hadn't made a copy at all. So, backing up could be something as simple as copying your files to a thumb drive or CD or DVD.
What to Back Up?
Well, above I mentioned some of the items you'd want to back up. But another situation I have found is that there is another group of people who don't know where to find the files on their computer in order to back them up.
Backup Software To The Rescue
This is where backup software comes in. Most backup software already knows where you keep your files - like in My Documents, and other locations. And most backup software is easy to use. A click of a button and its off and running. Or it'll ask you what time it can run at night when you're not using your computer. I'm not going to go on and on with all the different software available for backing up. I don't have the time, nor am I interested in doing a side-by-side comparison.
What I Do (For What it's Worth)
I'd like to tell you what I do to back up my computer, and you can form your own opinions on the matter. I use software called Carbonite. I really like this software because it runs on auto-pilot and runs in the background, or in other words, it operates without me knowing about it. Whenever it hits a file that it hasn't backed up, it encrypts the file and sends it to a secure location on the Internet. I don't have to worry about copying to CD or a thumb drive. As good as it is, however, Carbonite cannot really restore my computer to it's former glory if my hard drive were to fail for whatever reason. I would still have to make the appropriate hardware repairs, install Windows again and then restore my files from Carbonite. And that process would be rather slow. But at least nothing would be lost!
A further method I use is to do a frequent backup of my hard drive using Windows Backup, which is a part of Windows 7. This backup method asks me to copy it to some sort of external hard drive. My preferred drive is a Firewire-connected external hard drive. I always choose to make a full copy of my computer with this method. And, conveniently, if I had to restore from that method, it's a matter of booting my computer with my Windows 7 DVD and then choosing the restore option. After Windows writes the files back on my repaired hardware from the backup on that external backup drive - "Voila!" I reboot and it's like nothing ever happened. I know this from experience, because it has happened to me more than once.
Get Into the Habit
Backing up isn't such a mysterious thing. It's just a habit that needs to be developed. Trust me, you may think there isn't anything you need on your computer, but there is always that "Oh NO!" moment when you remember that you kept all of your passwords on some notepad text file that is now gone because you thought you didn't need to do a backup. Speaking of passwords - that's the subject of my next blog entry. Stay tuned.
Anyone want to share a backup horror story? Or rather a lack-of-backup story?
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