Chris Pirillo » backup

Keep Your Computer in Tip-Top Shape

Chris — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:34:12 +0000

Keep Your Computer in Tip-Top Shape is a post from Chris Pirillo

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The folks at PC PitStop have been a tremendous help to our community during the time we’ve been doing live streaming. We contribute videos to their newsletters as often as possible, and they contribute to all of you via excellent and exclusive deals on their software!

Optimize 3.0 is a program that I would recommend even if these folks weren’t a part of our team. It’s honestly that good. Optimize 3.0 is a powerful tool that does a lot to boost the speed, stability and security of your computer.

You can schedule Optimize remotely to run on any computer in the World that you have access to. Use it to kill unneeded processes that eat up memory and CPU cycles, which in turn speeds up your boot times! Optimize automatically gets rid of junk files for you, to reduce excessive hard drive clutter.

PC Pitstop has now introduced a new (and still free!) product that is going to blow away previous offerings they’ve had. PC Matic is a single piece of software that combines FIVE of their other programs into one nice scanning bundle!

PC Matic includes Optimize 3.0, Disk MD, Driver Alert, Exterminate and OverDrive!! By running a simple scan using PC Matic, you’ll receive easy-to-understand reports about your computer, including:

High and Low Threat Security
Fragmentation Analysis
Drivers
Junk Files
System Specs
Internet Tweaks
World Rank
Registry Tests

One other awesome feature to point out is that all of the scan and clean results are stored on the PC PitStop servers. They can be viewed from any computer, not just the computer on which the functions were performed. The results can also be sent to you via email, in order to easily manage all of your computers from one place.

The bottom line is that we couldn’t continue doing what we do without the help of our partners, such as PC PitStop. We appreciate each and every one of you, and the support you give to our community as a whole.

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Backup Security and Synchronizing (even for Macs!)

Chris — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:14:38 +0000

Backup Security and Synchronizing (even for Macs!) is a post from Chris Pirillo

You’ve seen us repeatedly say to back up your files. When someone has computer problems, one of the first questions that we ask is whether there is a backup of the important files. You would be surprised at how many people do not have a backup. And there is no reason for that lapse in security.

Computers will fail. Hard drives will stop working. Disasters will happen, so we are going to make this backup routine very easy. We have an offer for our readers from GoodSync. This program has had good reviews and we agree. It is easy to use and it is effective:

GoodSync will automatically back up and synchronize all your important files so you never need to worry about losing your emails, precious family photos, contacts, MP3s, and financial documents. GoodSync works locally – between desktops, laptops, servers, and external drives, but it is also capable of backing up and syncing files to and from remote servers using FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, and more.

This program will work with Windows XP/2003 Server/Vista and yes, Windows 7. As a special offer to our readers, there is a twenty percent (20%) discount when you use coupon code LCKGS. This offer expires on November 11, 2009.

And for the Mac users, GoodSync has an alpha version, which is free. It’s still being tested, so use it at your own risk.

For the sake of full disclosure, we tested the pay-for version extensively. The Mac version was not tested by our reviewers.

Are You a Pack Rat?

Chris — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:16:46 +0000

Are You a Pack Rat? is a post from Chris Pirillo

I’ve noticed lately that I seem to save things that most people would simply throw out. I have software that dates back so far, it wouldn’t even install on any computers I currently own. Seriously – some of it is that old! I have cables and cords that won’t fit any plugs. I have clothing that went out of style more than a decade ago. It’s time to face it… I am a pack rat.

However, I just can’t pitch this stuff. There are people who don’t have clothing that I could donate mine to. There are people who have and use older computers, who may be able to use this software. Heck, there might even be someone – some where – who can use some of these damn cords that are lying around!!

My point is, if you’re a pack rat it’s time to clean out. But don’t just throw it all away, guys. Take time to figure out who may really need what it is you no longer want/wear/need. You may just make a big difference in someone’s life, by taking a few moments to donate what you need to get rid of, anyway.

I went through a lot of things today, and wore myself out. I had to take a sanity break to check out what’s going on in our community. It’s a darn good thing I did, or you might have missed out on some of it yourself!

Our downloads team has been working very hard to keep updating the new and hot apps that are available. I hope you’re taking advantage of the savings they’ve found!

Also – the holidays are right around the corner. Our coupon guru is hard at work as well, making sure he’s getting the best and biggest coupons there are! Keep the coupons page bookmarked.. you’ll definitely want to check there often during the next few months!

Simple Backups Can Save You Time and Money

Chris — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:59:23 +0000

Simple Backups Can Save You Time and Money is a post from Chris Pirillo

It should be a simple rule that every computer user should follow: back up your data. It is not a matter of “if” your computer will give you problems. It is a matter of “when.” This applies to everyone. Students, for example, should back up regularly. Your whole academic year, with notes, papers, presentation, lecture material and other necessary things are on that laptop and/or desktop. And of course, there are the music, games and other personal stuff there too. If a hard drive fails, your academic year can be put in jeopardy. This is only one example. Everyone has important material on the computer.

Disasters happen to all of us who have spent much time on the computer. Hard drives do fail – and will fail. It doesn’t matter what brand it is. And the manufacturer’s guarantee will be meaningless because you just want your data back. If you do not have a backup of your data, everything can be gone. This means all your data files, all your music, all your pictures, all your software… everything.

Imagine, for example, all the time, energy and frustration to find all the registration codes of that software that used to be working just fine. Recovering from a hard drive failure can be expensive. Salvaging data from a failed drive might cost hundreds (and perhaps thousands) of dollars. And even then, there are no guarantees that the hard drive recovery specialists can be successful.

All that aggravation can be prevented. Prepare for a hard drive failure now. No, don’t wait. Really, don’t wait. Do the backups now; do copies regularly. And if the information on your hard drive is really important, do multiple backup copies. Here is a program that will do this for you. It is the well known Acronis True Image Program. The backup can be done easily:

Acronis True Image Home 2010 meets home user needs with a simple, yet comprehensive, backup and disaster recovery solution. This is a unique consumer software, providing a full set of advanced features in an affordable and easy-to-use solution.

This is the latest version of the Acronis program. It was released just recently. We tried to secure a good discount and managed to have them knock off a few dollars. Since this is program is so new, even a few dollars off is a victory. From now until October 7, 2009, you can save a few dollars on this excellent program.

Use this program to protect your data. The backup can save you beyond a hard drive disaster. It can help if you have a bad computer infection. If you have a virus or malware problem, you will have an extra layer of protection. Restoration of a clean system can be simple. Just make sure that you are making a copy when your computer is free from malware, spyware and other infections. Otherwise, you will be replicating the problem. And you can find in our archives the security programs that we recommend. Don’t risk what you have on that hard drive. Acronis is an excellent layer of security and you want to make it a regular habit of using it.

And don’t think that doing backups is a waste of time. When you have a critical failure on your computer, you will pat yourself on the back for being smart and having a recent backup.

Should You Create a Partition?

Chris — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:57:52 +0000

Should You Create a Partition? is a post from Chris Pirillo

It is surprising how strongly some people feel about the issue of partitioning or not. Voices are raised – faces become a bit redder – language becomes a bit more colorful. If you are from the school of thought that partitioning is absolutely not necessary, please leave a comment at the bottom of the page. Your point of view is valuable and should be considered.

This presentation, however, will favor partitioning. There will be some of us who will remember the days when, for example, a 3GB hard drive on your laptop was considered to be “state of the art”, and the cost of that machine was several thousand dollars. Now, that seems archaic, and the hard drives increasingly grow in size – and some are partitioned.

One of the best arguments on the side of partitioning was given by Mitch Tulloch, in an article for Microsoft. The three major points that Mitch basis his argument are:

partitioning organizes work
partitioning safeguards the data
partitioning increases the computer’s performance

One of the points is that Mitch makes is: At the end of each month, I copy last month’s Archive subfolders to CD, label it by date, and put it somewhere safe. That way I have last month’s backup ready if both my hard disks fail from a lightning bolt hitting my office, or my computer is infected with a virus, or a thief steals my computer. Needless to say, the security programs should be run to make certain that the back-up is not infected.

One of the most popular and well-used partitioning programs is Acronis Disk Director Suite. It has won industry recommendations and users’ praise.

The Acronis Disk Management and Partitioning program is easy to use and effective. It supports Windows (NT 4, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista). And, until July 22, 2009, the Acronis people are offering our readers an amazing thirty per cent (30%) discount.

This program is a CNET Editors’ Choice Award winner: A suite of utilities that will keep your hard disk healthy. An excellent set of tools that will allow you to keep your hard disk healthy and organized. The Acronis Disk Management program has had many third party reviews and it has been top rated.

Thanks to the Acronis people for the generous offering for our readers.

Are Registry Cleaners Safe to Use?

Chris — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:50:23 +0000

Are Registry Cleaners Safe to Use? is a post from Chris Pirillo

People ask me all of the time if registry cleaning software is safe to use, and which one I would recommend. The truth of the matter is – I don’t recommend using any of them! I did a video about this last year, with the help of some very knowledgeable people.

As most of you know, my assistant Kat is considered an expert in the field of Malware removal and Windows Security in general. In fact, she has been awarded the prestigious Microsoft MVP award four years in a row now. She’s been removing malware on huge sites like GeeksToGo for more than six years, and is a site administrator there. She also teaches malware removal in its free training program.

Over the years, Kat has helped literally thousands of people online to clean and fix up their computers. It’s something she has a lot of passion for, and is very good at. She answers questions like this every day, and recently posted a blog on Geeks about this very question. The information she posted is gleaned from her own experience with users, as well as many of the other experts she works with. I asked her permission to copy it here, so that more of you might be able to read her advice, and even add to the discussion.

Programs like CCleaner can be very dangerous to your computer. NO registry “cleaner” is completely safe. There is also no hard evidence that “cleaning” out the registry has any effect on the overall speed of a machine. It will speed up searches within the registry itself – but has no effect on overall performance.
There are a few misunderstandings about the registry. People seem to think that “cleaning” the registry will make it smaller and easier to manage. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. What you are doing is creating mini gaps in the registry’s file. These gaps will be reused by new data that inserts itself into your registry. The end result is that the registry becomes fragmented. Searching the data in a fragmented file is way slower than it is within an optimized file. In short – the only way to speed up the handling of the registry is by completely rewriting the file(s)… and even that is marginal at best.
Registry cleaning will not improve your system speed. Even though there are a lot of orphaned keys and/or values present, you won’t notice a difference in your system speed. The only difference you’ll notice is when actually searching your registry. Do you even ever DO that? I know I don’t.
To be quite frank, if you “clean” your registry often enough, it will become fragmented. That WILL result in slower system performance… quite the opposite of what you were trying to accomplish in the first place. I think I’d rather have orphaned keys in my registry, instead of deleting something by a so-called “cleaner” that should have never been touched.
That’s the problem with programs like these. The will miss entries that are “bad,” and mark good entries for removal. I’ve seen it happen hundreds of times over the years. A novice or “normal” computer user hoses their system completely, simply by deleting everything a program such as CCleaner told them to.
If you must do something with your registry, do it manually. If you don’t know how – leave it alone! You honestly never “NEED” to do anything in there. If you have a case of malware that attacks your registry, I urge you to seek help from someone trained to know how to properly remove it. Also, even if you consider yourself to be an expert on the registry… I beg you to take a few extra minutes to make a backup before you begin. I promise you’ll thank me later.
Last, I know there will be people who argue with me. There will be those who swear up and down that CCleaner is a wonderful program. They’ve never had a problem with it! Maybe you’re a tech who uses it in your line of work. Good for you! I’m glad you’ve never had a problem – YET. Even when you know exactly what you’re doing, programs like this still occasionally can and will completely hose a system. I sincerely hope it never happens to you.
credit to Sari and Bobbi_Flekman for some of the wording of this writing.

Kat makes excellent points in the above writing. I hope everyone will take the time to ponder what she’s written, and even add your own thoughts to the mix. If you’re using something like CCleaner to clean out your temporary files – STOP IT NOW. There are some excellent free alternatives that are much safer for your machine – such as ATF Cleaner or even TFC. Both are very safe, and very effective.

Protecting Yourself from a Hard Drive Disaster

Chris — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:31:16 +0000

Protecting Yourself from a Hard Drive Disaster is a post from Chris Pirillo

This can happen to anyone. Unfortunately, it happened to a long time Lockergnome chatroom visitor, Catherine (aka ‘Noggie’). I’m sure many of you have seen her in the room. Without any warning whatsoever, her healthy hard drive stopped working. Upon reboot, the operating system could not be initiated. Everything was gone. Fortunately, Catherine did have a backup copy that was almost current. She lost all of her most recent work covering the three days prior to the crash. The irony is that Catherine has written about doing backups, and published some of those articles on the Lockergnome pages and newsletters.

Disasters like this are just a matter of time. It happens to all of us who have spent much time on the computer. Hard drives can – and do – fail. If you do not have a backup of your data, everything can be gone. This means all of your data files, all of your music, all of your pictures, all of your software… everything.

Imagine all the time, energy and frustration to find all the registration codes of that software that used to be working just fine. Catherine’s hard drive crash could have been much worse. Now, if she wants to try to recover that work for those last three days, it might cost her hundreds (and perhaps thousands) of dollars. And even then, there are no guarantees that the hard drive recovery specialists can be successful.

Save yourself the aggravation. Prepare for a hard drive failure now. No, don’t wait. Really – don’t wait. Do the backups now, and make copies regularly. And if the information on your hard drive is really important, do multiple backup copies. Here is a program that will do this for you. It is the well-known Acronis True Image Program. The backup can be done easily:

Acronis True Image Program is an award-winning backup and recovery solution for a good reason: it protects your PC after just one click and allows you to recover from viruses, unstable software downloads, and failed hard drives. Create an exact copy of your PC and restore it from a major failure in minutes, or back up important files and recover them even faster.”

From now until June 2nd, 2009, you can save fifteen dollars ($15.00!!) on this excellent program. That’s 30% off!

Use this program to protect your data. The backup can save you beyond a hard drive disaster. It can help if you have a bad computer infection. If you have a virus or malware problem, you will have an extra layer of protection. Restoration of a clean system can be simple. Just make sure that you are making a copy when your computer is free from malware and other infections. Otherwise, you will be replicating the problem. And you can find in our archives the security programs that we recommend. Believe me – you don’t want to risk what you have on that hard drive. Acronis is an excellent layer of security and, at this price, this program for protecting your computer data is a true bargain.

How to Save Money with Online Backup Service Discounts

Chris — Sat, 02 May 2009 12:12:50 +0000

How to Save Money with Online Backup Service Discounts is a post from Chris Pirillo

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When is the last time you backed up your important data? I’m talking about things that cannot be reinstalled. I know people who have never done it at all, because they simply don’t know how or where to do so! I’m about to tell you about a way you can do offsite backups easily. These guys wanted me to do a video about their services, but I wasn’t too keen on the idea. Until, that is, they offered up discounts for our community!

Both Spideroak and BackBlaze offer excellent, encrypted backup plans. Both are also offering you guys a nice 10% discount by ordering through my link! Nice, eh?

Spideroak offers a different approach to online backup and sharing. This difference is not only measured in the zero-knowledge privacy policy. It’s also found in the flexible design in handling your data from all platforms and locations into one centralized account. It doesn’t matter if you’re using Windows, OS X or Ubuntu. And it doesn’t matter if you’re uploading data from your computer, a USB drive or an external drive. It will all be stored in one easy-to-get-to location for you!

BackBlaze backs up your data online to their datacenters. Using military-grade security, files are encrypted on your PC, then sent and stored encrypted on their facility. You can restore from the web… or have a DVD or USB drive sent to you via FedEx! Now that is service.

So there you go. You absolutely should be backing up your data. Both of these options are an excellent resource, and now you can save money on them!

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Online Backup Reviews and Coupons

Chris — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 20:39:25 +0000

Online Backup Reviews and Coupons is a post from Chris Pirillo

When was the last time you backed up your computer? If the answer is “never” or “I don’t know what to use,” then you might try either Backblaze or SpiderOak. Online backup services trump traditional backup methods – so long as you have a broadband connection.

10 Reasons to Use Online Backup Services

You know you can access your data from anywhere, at any time.
Once you start using the service, it just runs in the background (virtually silent).
No need to buy any additional hardware.
With my links, you can save 10% off either service: Backblaze or SpiderOak.
All data storage is off-site.
The software is tied into the service directly (versus getting it as a “bonus” package).
These particular solutions are cross-platform – which may not be important to you now, but think about what might happen a few years from now if you decide to get a new operating system.
Redundancy! You don’t want to have a single point of failure.
These are service companies, not hard drive companies – and when you need help, you know you’re going to get it (and if you’re not being helped by Backblaze or SpiderOak, let me know immediately and I’ll kindly thump a few skulls for you).
Software updates come to you on a regular basis – that’s a very GOOD thing.

Why I like SpiderOak:

It’s easy to share your files with friends (with RSS, too).
You can backup multiple computers through one account.
File duplication checks to ensure you’re not wasting space.

Why I like Backblaze:

Request a USB stick or DVD of your data at any time.
You have the option to add your own encryption key.
It gives you a “changelog” to review (at the folder level).

I’ve negotiated an exclusive 10% off either one of these online backup services – Backblaze and SpiderOak. They’re now both Mac and Windows compatible! You can download and try each one of them for yourself (and PLEASE let me know which one you like more). If you don’t start backing up online, you’ll regret it.

And don’t buy ANYTHING without first asking me if I can save you money – because I bet I can.

Back Up Your Data with Special Savings from Acronis

Chris — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 05:53:56 +0000

Back Up Your Data with Special Savings from Acronis is a post from Chris Pirillo

It frightens me how many people do not back up. This is not to scare you (well, maybe you should be scared) but that hard drive will fail. It is just a matter of “when“. At that point, the warranty that you have will mean nothing to you. Why? The first thing that will cause some high blood pressure is that all that data on the hard drive is lost. Files gone. Music gone. Pictures gone. Software gone. Maybe the hard drive files can be recovered if you send the hard drive to specialists, who will charge you an incredible, astronomical amount. And that recovery is not guaranteed.

Please – do yourself a favor. Back everything up! Here is a program that will do this for you. It is the well known Acronis True Image Program. The backup can be done easily:

Acronis True Image Home 2009 is an award-winning backup and recovery solution for a good reason: it protects your PC after just one click and allows you to recover from viruses, unstable software downloads, and failed hard drives. Create an exact copy of your PC and restore it from a major failure in minutes, or back up important files and recover them even faster.

From now until April 6th, you can save fifteen dollars ($15.00!!) on this excellent program. That’s 30% off!

Buy this program and prtect your data. If you have a virus or malware problem, you will have an extra layer of protection. Save yourself from hard drive failures. Restoration is simple. Just make sure that you are making a copy when your computer is free from malware and other infections. Otherwise, you will be replicating the problem. And you can find in our archives the security programs that we recommend. Believe me – you don’t want to risk what you have on that hard drive. Acronis is an excellent layer of security and they are offering our readers a true bargain.

More Acronis Coupons:

Acronis True Image 2009 - 10% off Acronis True Image Home 2010 using coupon code NDJATIH2010 - Posted on 11/19/09 and Expires on 1/15/10
Acronis True Image 2009 - $20 off Acropack 2010: Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 & True Image Home 2010 - Posted on 9/16/09 and Expires on 12/31/15
Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 - $20 off Acropack 2010: Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 & True Image Home 2010 - Posted on 9/16/09 and Expires on 12/31/15
Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 - 15% off Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 using coupon code NDJDD15 - Posted on 9/3/09 and Expires on 1/15/10
Acronis Migrate Easy 7.0 - 15% off Acronis Migrate Easy 7.0 using coupon code NDJME15 - Posted on 9/3/09 and Expires on 1/15/10
Acronis - 5% off Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Server Virtual Edition using coupon code NDJABR10VE5 - Posted on 11/3/09 and Expires on 1/15/10
Acronis - 5% off Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Workstation using coupon code NDJABR10W5 - Posted on 11/3/09 and Expires on 1/15/10
Acronis - 5% off Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Workstation using coupon code NDJABR10AW5 - Posted on 11/3/09 and Expires on 1/15/10
Acronis - 5% off Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Server using coupon code NDJABR10AS5 - Posted on 11/3/09 and Expires on 1/15/10
Acronis - 5% off Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Server Small Business Server Edition using coupon code NDJABR10SBS5 - Posted on 11/3/09 and Expires on 1/15/10
Acronis - 5% off Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Server for Linux using coupon code NDJABR10SL5 - Posted on 11/3/09 and Expires on 1/15/10
Acronis - 5% off Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Server for Windows using coupon code NDJABR10SW5 - Posted on 11/3/09 and Expires on 1/15/10
Acronis - 5% off Acronis Disk Director Server 10.0 using coupon code NDJDDS5 - Posted on 10/3/09 and Expires on 1/15/10
Acronis - $20 off Acropack 2010: Acronis Disk Director Suite 10.0 & True Image Home 2010 - Posted on 9/16/09 and Expires on 12/31/15
Acronis - 5% off Acronis Recovery for Microsoft Exchange SBS using coupon code NDJREXSBS5 - Posted on 9/3/09 and Expires on 1/15/10
Acronis - 5% off Acronis Recovery for Microsoft Exchange Enterprise using coupon code NDJREX5 - Posted on 9/3/09 and Expires on 1/15/10
Acronis - 5% off Acronis Snap Deploy 3.0 for Servers using coupon code NDJSDS5 - Posted on 9/3/09 and Expires on 1/15/10
Acronis - 5% off Acronis Recovery for MS SQL Server using coupon code NDJRSQL5 - Posted on 9/3/09 and Expires on 1/15/10

Find More Coupons

How to Backup a Web Page

Chris — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:24:45 +0000

How to Backup a Web Page is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Web pages change all the time. For you to view an earlier revision of a page, you’ll need to view a cached version. There’s no easy way of taking a snapshot of a web page at a given point in time. At least, there wasn’t until now! A community member who goes by the handle of Nishi has created something that will make this infinitely easier!

With BackupUrl, you can create instant cached copies of web pages. This is helpful if you need the content of a web page to stay the same while you share the link we provide. The cached page can also be used for referencing or even mirroring data. The cached page will always be online even if the original site is down.

People who use this service simply copy and paste a URL and press the “backup” button. A truncated link is then created. People can then visit the cache as many times as they wish. The cached page will be a mirror image of the original, and will stay that way – even if/when the content of the site itself is changed or moved!

So why would you need to use this service? Web sites are updated, changed and even moved quite often… especially data on a research site, or news site. In the past, you had to save a web page as a file on your computer in order to access it exactly how it is at any given time, even once changed. By using BackupUrl, this is no longer the case. Create the cached page, and save the links in your bookmarks. If you have reading to catch up on, or research to finish, you can easily go back to find exactly where you were, without digging through archives. We all know what a pain that can be!

You never know when you’ll need a backup or a cache of any web page, make sure you use BackupUrl. This is a very unique service, and something I’ve never seen. Very cool… kudos to you, Nishi!

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How to Back Up Your Tweets from Twitter

Chris — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 05:34:36 +0000

How to Back Up Your Tweets from Twitter is a post from Chris Pirillo

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f you follow me on Twitter, I’ll follow you back. If you’re not on Twitter, what the heck are you waiting for? Did you know you can even export all of your Tweets to save them for posterity? Twistory is very simple to use, and will back up your Tweets into any one of a variety of sources.

Add your Twitter backlog feed to your favorite calendar application and browse through your personal Twitter diary, making your Twitter history both fun and useful! Subscribe to messages from any Twitter user in any popular desktop or online calendaring application (iCal, Google Calendar, etc.). Those messages are then automatically added to the calendar, at the appropriate day and time.

Just think about this: let’s say you’re like me. I’ve Tweeted 6800 times. If I wanted to get back to those Tweets at some point, there’s no easy way to do that. There’s no way to have an archive of what I’ve said, and when. Wouldn’t you appreciate having a way to get back to those if you wanted or needed to at some point?

Database and website crashes happen. Sites like MySpace, Facebook – even YouTube – may not be around in five years. Heck, even Twitter may be gone by then. I know I’d like to keep a mashup of everything I said onto Twitter. Using Twistory is very simple, and takes virutally no time at all. Now I have a great backup to use, and will keep it updated regularly.

If the President of the United States is using Twitter – why aren’t you?

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Do You Have Network Media Storage?

Chris — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:39:33 +0000

Do You Have Network Media Storage? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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There’s something to be said for having network attached storage. If you haven’t invested in any hardware yet, you might consider HP’s new offering. It’s a bit more than the average NAS device. Not only was HP at Macworld showing off their Media Smart Server, they also received a trophy for “Best in Show”!!

Maximize the power and potential of your home network with the HP EX475 MediaSmart Server, which enables you to conveniently centralize your files and access them from multiple PCs in your home. Based on AMD Live processing power, the MediaSmart Server enables you to back up your home’s PCs as well as share and enjoy digital music, home videos and photos from any computer or entertainment system on a home network. The server also has the expandability to grow with your family’s changing needs.

This is so far beyond a regular old NAS drive. The HP Media Smart Server runs what is called Windows Home Server operating system. HP introduced the first generation about fifteen months ago, and feedback was amazing! Install the client software on your PC. Once it’s installed on the PC, you can connect to your Mac as well.

You’ll get a preferences pane that opens up, and all of your computers will connect to it. Time Machine on the Mac will even back up to the Media Server. Simply specify how much space on the HP you want to use, and schedule your backup. It couldn’t be simpler to keep copies of all of your files for safe-keeping. The fact that you can use the HP Media Smart Server to do backups across all of your network is something that the folks at HP are very excited about.

They Media Server is expandable up to 9TB of storage!! That’s a lot of file storage, folks. Think about it… an average home user will likely never have that much stuff to back up. Imagine putting every file from every computer on your home network all in one place. If there’s ever a home emergency… grab that ONE machine and go! That type of peace of mind is well worth the cost.

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How Would You Like 1TB of Free Storage Space?

Chris — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:40:21 +0000

How Would You Like 1TB of Free Storage Space? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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If I offered you a full TeraByte of storage right now with no strings attached, would you take it? Of course you would! We could all use more storage, right? Heck, you may not even have that much storage in your home, so you could be doubling your capacity. Well then in that case, head over to Oosah, and take advantage of their free storage!

Oosah is a Web-based digital media content hosting and management system. Oosah provides individuals and businesses with an all-in-one service for uploading, hosting, managing and sharing their digital media assets. Members can also use Oosah to create new media assets in the form of multimedia presentations that we call “oosahs.”
First, Oosah is very intuitive and easy to use. Oosah features are accessed using the same drag-and-drop, and keyboard commands that you are familiar with from desktop applications.
Second, Oosah gives you a full Web-based File Manager. The Oosah File Manager gives you the ability to organize your content better than any other Web 2.0 content hosting site.
Third we give you more sharing options than any other site. Not only can you share content by emailing, or by linking/embedding in other sites, but you can also podcast your content, or you can download it and burn it to CD/DVD for off-line distribution.
We even let you print your photos at full resolution on your local printer. There are other features unique to Oosah as well, which you will find as you use it, and more are coming.

Store your videos, photos and audio on Oosah. You can even connect your Oosah account to your Flickr and YouTube profiles, to easily share between them. Also, support is coming for MySpace and Photobucket soon.

You can’t beat 1TB of storage for free. There’s even an iPhone interface available now! This is certainly worth a shot. Heck, for free what more could you ever ask for?

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Installing the Time Capsule for Time Machine

Chris — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 04:28:14 +0000

Installing the Time Capsule for Time Machine is a post from Chris Pirillo

As I was stepping through the process of mounting the disc into the Time Capsule as a Network disc, I realized I had two settings that may have caused a conflict. I reset everything to the factory settings. The second time through, it warned me. The first warning asked me if I really wanted to configure it over WAN. More importantly, it warned me that I was assigning DHCP, when something else was already doing so. THAT is the kind of error checking I am talking about. It’s not an “oopsie” at all. It could have been… but this error reporting saved the day. I am overly impressed that this actually worked. It’s just… WOW. The Wow has finally started. *wink*

Setup is easy. All you need to do is plug all of the appropriate cables in for your network and then plug in the Time Capsule’s power cord. There’s no power switch, so it comes right on. A screen pops up when you insert the Time Capsule’s CD, and from there you click on the Time Capsule icon to install the update to your Mac’s AirPort Utility. The AirPort Utility serves as the primary software interface for the Time Capsule. Most of the software setup is easy, but a few screens might puzzle you if you’re not that network savvy.

One feature Time Capsule offers is the ability to add more storage via its USB port. We connected a simple USB flash drive (the “NO NAME” volume in the shot below), and it popped up almost instantly on the Time Capsule’s devices screen. The only stipulation is that you have to enter the Time Capsule’s password, which you establish during setup, before it will allow you to access the new drive.

More than just a wireless hard drive, Time Capsule is also a full-featured AirPort Extreme Base Station with 802.11n technology. Experience a high-speed wireless network and a breakthrough way to back up all the Mac computers on your network. All in one device. Time Capsule uses the 802.11n draft 2.0 specification, so you can rest assured that it works with certified 802.11n draft 2.0 products. And it’s compatible with Macs and PCs that use 802.11a, b, or g technologies, as well as wireless devices such as iPhone, iPod touch, and Apple TV. Time Capsule with Time Machine in Leopard is the ideal backup solution. But that doesn’t mean Tiger, Windows XP, and Windows Vista users can’t enjoy the benefits of Time Capsule, too. Because it mounts as a wireless hard drive, Tiger and Windows users simply access Time Capsule directly from the wireless network for exchanging and storing files quickly and easily.

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How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

Starting at just $3.99/month, web hosting from GoDaddy includes 99.9% uptime, 24/7 support and free access to GoDaddy Hosting Connection, THE place to install over 30 FREE applications sure to help you get the most from your hosting plan and Web site. Enter code CP2 at checkout, and save an additional 10% on any order.

Plus, as a friend of Chris Pirillo, enter code CHRIS7, that's C-H-R-I-S and the number 7, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.