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What would happen if you switched on your computer and were left staring at a blank screen? I’m guessing it might cause you to panic a little. It would take a minute to sink it then you’d run around the house screaming as if someone’s just stole your new toy. The reason it causes so much anxiety isn’t because you have to go a few days without a computer. It’s the realization everything could be lost forever.
You would have to take it to a repair shop to get fixed. For days you’ll be sweating every time you think about it. What if everything is lost forever? Luckily it doesn’t need to be that way. There’s steps you can put in place to make sure it doesn’t happen. When you are faced with a blank screen you’ll remain calm because you know everything that’s important will already be safely stored somewhere and waiting for you to download it onto the newly fixed machine.
Online backup solution
The first thing you want is a complete copy of your operating system which gets saved in the cloud whenever you are connected to the Internet. This is software that is downloaded onto your machine and it takes everything and pushes it into huge backup servers that live in cyberspace. There’s a lot of different companies you can use, but one that sticks out is Carbonite. When you lose your computer you can have an entire system replaced on your new machine in a few hours.
A secondary backup
It can’t be stressed enough that one backup is definitely not enough. Not when you have very important files at stake. The secondary backup doesn’t need to be as extreme. That means the entire system doesn’t need to be saved. It’s fine if you just want to save your most important files. One company people always seem to love is Dropbox. You even get a free amount of storage before you have to consider spending any money.
Backup Buddy
This one is for anyone who has their own website. We all know how important it is to have dozens of backups when it comes to something as important as your business. I’m sure your hosting company will make a backup every week, but that’s not good enough. If you install a program called Backup Buddy on your server it will automatically save your website at certain times of the day. Then it will automatically send them to Dropbox so you can sleep easy.
Domain name security
Another thing you might not have thought about is the safety of your domain name. There’s been too many stories of people losing their business overnight because someone has hacked into their registrar and stole it. If you keep your password somewhere on your hard drive it should definitely be in a password protected folder. And if you go with certain companies they will allow you to add additional security features. For example, with Moniker you can pay for maxi-lock and you have to answer questions over the phone before you can do anything with the domain name. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
About the Author: Henry William is a tech enthusiast and computer repair expert. He authors guest blog for Tech Seek who provides Onsite computer repair services in Melbourne.
