Peter Vatistas

The other night I was organizing all my files, pictures, and music on my computer and I realized if I were to lose even one folder I would be screwed. Normally I run backups every night using an external drive but I never really checked it. I decided to check my backup drives to make sure everything was working properly and the data was there, it wasn’t.

Now just so you know, at one time or another my backup drives were working properly and when I needed to restore any data it was not that hard. For some reason my main backup drive had failed and then data was lost but fortunately for me I still had everything on my main drives. That got me thinking, what is the best and easiest solution out there for backing up my data without worrying about replacing hard drives or making sure everything is running properly. I am an IT guy by day, I don’t want to be an IT guy at home.

A few hours later I found the solution I was looking for and it was a bit overwhelming. I posted my question for a remote backup solutions in many forums, blogs, as well as emailing my IT friends and colleagues; almost everyone said “Mozy“. So I went to the Mozy website and signed up for their MozyHome Free account, 2GB’s of storage! Here is a few features Mozy offers to all their customers, free and paid:

* Open/locked file support: Mozy will back up your documents whether they’re open or closed.
* 128-bit SSL encryption: The same technology used by banks secures your data during the backup process.
* 448-bit Blowfish encryption: Secures your files while in storage, providing peace of mind that your private data is safe from hackers.
* Automatic: Schedule the times to back up and MozyHome does the rest.
* New and changed file detection: MozyHome finds and saves the smallest changes.
* Backs up Outlook files: Disaster-proof email protection.
* Block-level incremental backup: After the initial backup, MozyHome only backs up files that have been added or changed, making subsequent backups lightning fast.
* MozyHome currently supports Windows 2000, XP, and Vista, and Mac OS X 10.4
* MozyPro supports Windows 2000, 2003, XP, and Vista.

Those are some pretty slick services and support for no up front or monthly charges. Whats really cool is their software that is installed on your computer. The application itself runs in the background and has a very small footprint with regards to your memory (RAM) and CPU utilization. Another cool feature is how you can set the amount of bandwidth you want it to use during backups. Because I have a cable modem I set that puppy as high as it can go but for anyone out there who has DSL or less you can throttle it to whatever you need.

Whether your looking for a backup solution or not, Mozy is the only free, full-featured remote backup service. Get peace of mind - click here to try Mozy today.

I just got turned on to this neat little application and I am hooked!

Music Rescue is an application that allows you to copy your (or anyone else’s) tracks to any computer you choose. If you’re not allowed to install iTunes (like at school or work), simply install Music Rescue onto your iPod at home and it’ll be available wherever you go - Mac or PC.

I installed Music Rescue on my Mac and all I had to do was plug in my iPhone and it transfered everything over, in MP3 format!! I grabbed my buddies video iPod and downloaded his entire library - all 22,000 MP3’s (which I quickly deleted because that is considered illegal… LOL). I now have a little over 44,000 MP3’s and growing! I totally recommend this application for any of you who have been burned by iTunes (I have lost hundreds of songs in the past and I can’t re-download them) or for the guys who just want to build their library like mad!!

KennettNet’s Music Rescue

I love this tool and I am not sure why I haven’t written about it before. Instead of making changes to your site then refreshing to see the results, Firebug for Firefox allows you to make changes on the fly, in real time with the ability to see the results immediately - no more refresh button!!

I use this tool on my sites to edit, debug, and monitor changes to my HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I definitely thing you should give it a try and make sure to check out the sweet tutorials on YouTube.

Click here for the Firebug information & download page.

Here is a great tool I use a lot to find passwords on my computer and passwords across the network on all computers. SpotAuditor can scan your network’s IP Range using any credentials you give it (Admin rights preferably) and it will spit out passwords typed in or stored from every computer it see’s. Spot Auditor can also reveal visited URL’s, installed programs, and passwords under asteriks (i.e. ******).

Download it for free with the link I provide below and see how helpful SpotAuditor really is! If you’re a network Administrator I would make sure these aren’t sitting on employee computers, big problem!

SpotAuditor Password Recovery Software - Compatible with Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista