This document discusses common mistakes people make with online data backups and provides tips to avoid them. The three main mistakes discussed are: 1) Not choosing a service that offers file versioning, 2) Backing up unnecessary files which increases costs, and 3) Only having online backups and not a local backup for quicker restoration. The document recommends choosing a service with file versioning, only backing up necessary data files, and maintaining both online and local backups for fast restoration. It also offers the company's backup service as a solution to ensure rock-solid backups and painless data recovery.
1. Network Design • Network Maintenance • Data Backup/Recovery • Assets Inventories • Upgrades/Repairs • Website Design/Hosting
Are You Making These 3 Common And Costly
Mistakes With Your Online Data Backups?
Offsite backups have been touted in the past few years as the answer to everyone’s bad habit
of not doing backups. Once signed up for an online service it’s easy to ‘set it and forget it;’ but
too many business owners don’t know what they are buying and end up paying a lot more than
they should. They also end up shocked when they discover they weren’t backing up the right files
“As a business owner, I know you or that they can’t restore the files as quickly as they had hoped.
don’t have time to waste on technical If you want to make sure you don’t get burned by your online backup, avoid these 3 common
and operational issues. That’s where mistakes:
we shine! Call us and put an end to
your IT problems finally and forever!”
Mistake #1: Not choosing an online backup service that offers a file versioning feature. In
- Christine Roux, I.T. By The Sea the old days of tape backups when a proper tape rotation was used, it would be possible to go
back to a specific version of a file from different time periods. In other words it was possible to
Volume II, Issue 11 restore a spreadsheet you worked on last night and three weeks ago.
November, 2009 Most online backup services only back up the last version of a file; so make sure you choose
Fort Myers, Florida one that features file versioning and configure it for 60-90 days of versioning on files that are
frequently used.
Mistake #2: Backing up everything. In most cases, only data files need to be backed up.
Inside This Issue... Some business owners accidently select their whole server and/or computer when beginning the
Are You Making These 3 Common process and end up paying to back up files and programs that do not need to be copied. This can
And Costly Mistakes With Your lead to exponentially higher monthly charges with no added benefit. It’s often best to have a
Online Data Backups?...Page 1 (continued on page 2)
Non-Compliance To Regulation
Can Mean Hefty Fines….Page 1
A Warning To Business Owners: Non-Compliance
Vita's Tips And Tricks….Page 2
To New Regulations Can Mean Hefty Fines
Backup Alert To All iPod Users...
Page 2 In the past 10 years, over 10,000 new regulations have been placed on the books by local,
state, and federal agencies pertaining to the handling, storage, and disposal of confidential cli-
Meet Our Client Of The Month: ent, patient, and employee documents and information. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
Patricia Klees, Owner of Orange for example, recently enacted one of these privacy laws and is requiring anyone who has busi-
Clover Farms….Page 3
ness in that state to comply by March 2010.
Fun Facts About Thanksgiving…. Basically, ANY company that holds social security numbers (your employees’ SS#’s, for exam-
Page 3 ple), credit cards, or financial statements needs to comply with these regulations or the fines for
Go Green Corner... Page 3 not doing so can be hefty.
Want to make sure you stay on the right side of these laws? Here are a few tips that will go a
long way in making sure you don’t end up fined, sued, or with a bad reputation for not securing
client or employee information:
Get The Facts - If you think you are holding confidential information that should be
secured, ask a qualified attorney who specializes in data confidentiality in your indutry about
what you must do to meet new government regulations. (continued on page 4)
239-344-7574 I.T. By The Sea // Page 1
2. Vita's
Tips Backup Alert To All iPod Users
And
Tricks
If you’ve been an iTunes and • Back up entire iTunes library and
iPod customer for any length of time, playlists (to back up everything)
Hi, I am Vita, a 4 month old Italian you’ll quickly rack up the number of • Back up only iTunes Store pur-
Greyhound, and the newest addition songs, videos, and audio books in your chases (to back up only your pur-
to I.T. By The Sea. Each month, I'll be library. And, in no time flat, you can chases)
sharing new Tips and Tricks with you! end up spending a small fortune. If you have previously backed up
How To Send And Receive But be warned! Most iTunes cus- your library and only want to back up
tomers don’t realize that Apple will the changes, then check only backup
Large Files When E-mail NOT allow you to re-download the items added or changed since last
Won't Work music you’ve paid for, even if you lose backup.
If you need to send large files, such every file because your computer dies, Click “Back Up” and wait for
as music, videos, or business docu- gets fried, infected, or destroyed. the CD drawer to open. Add a disc
ments to others, but can't send them If you don’t want to risk los- each time iTunes asks for one. If
via e-mail because of the large file size, ing the purchases you’ve made, then your library won’t fit on a single disc,
you may want to look into YouSendIt make sure you back them up. Here’s iTunes will ask for as many discs as
(www.yousendit.com), an almost-free how: needed and write your library to them.
web resource for transferring large First make sure you have some Make sure you store your back-
files. blank CDs or DVDs ready to go, and ups in an off-site location. If your
After setting up an account, you then do the following: office catches on fire, gets burglarized,
simply upload the file you want to 1. From the iTunes File menu, or destroyed by a flood, faulty sprin-
share via your web browser. Then you choose Backup to Disc. A dialog box kler system, or violent storm, they’ll
send your friend an e-mail with a spe- will open up giving you an option to go down with your PC.
cial link to retrieve the file. If your file do one of the following:
is under 100 MB, the service is free.
Are You Making These 3 Common And Costly
Get More Free Tips, Tools,
and Services At My Web Site:
Mistakes With Your Online Data Backups?
Continued from Page 1...
www.ITByTheSea.com professional help you set up your backup criteria the first time to make sure
you’re not missing files or data that might be buried a few levels deep—or back-
ing up unnecessary files.
Mistake #3: Not having a local backup. Online backup services are great as
a daily backup and eliminate the headache of changing tapes, disks, etc. However,
if you only have an online backup, it can take a few hours to a few days to fully
download your data back onto your server. That’s why it’s always a good idea to
have a current local backup using inexpensive hard disks or other mediums. Aside
from being able to retrieve data a lot more quickly from your local backup, it can
make the process of rebuilding an entire system a lot faster and less painful.
Want To Get A 100% Rock-Solid Backup Of Your Data To Ensure
A Fast, Painless Recovery Of Your Data?
Call us now and ask about our Data Lifeguards Service: 239-344-7574.
Or visit http://www.datalifeguards.com and download the 30 days FREE trial
You’ll sleep easier at night AND save yourself a TON of cash, guaranteed!
2 // Caloosa Tech Times www.ITByTheSea.com
3. Meet Our Client Of The Month!
Patricia Klees, Owner of Orange Clover Farms
So we are here with Miss Patricia Klees and she is A: It is on the webpage. So you can get it on the
going to tell us about a new business venture that she's webpage that is an email address what is called info@
gotten into. So Miss Patricia, let 'r rip. Tell me what OCFarms.com and you can send whatever you want to
you want to tell me. know. The other possibility of course is to come out
A: We are a very unconventional business for a com- here and see what we have.
puter company but still we are using computer even Q: How is I.T. By The Sea involved with your busi-
for our horse barns that we are running. So our busi- ness?
ness majorly is a horse barn with boarding facility, a A: When I started to use Dartfish TV on the Toshiba
riding lesson facility and we offer basically everything laptop with the Vista on it, we had a terrible perfor-
of what horse and riders need on our property. We are mance you know? All my pictures came scattered on
a beautiful farm out at Buckingham with fifteen acres the screen and it really messed up the whole thing.
and lush landscape surrounding with three rings and a Then I had I.T. By The Sea looking at the options
group of three trainers for each discipline. because I said I don't want the Vista or whatever, just
Q: If someone wanted to get in touch with you to do something so the performance is acceptable. And
use your services, how would they get in touch with that is where I.T. By The Sea comes in you know? If
you? I have a problem with my settings, I just pick up the
A: There's two ways. One way is to go on the inter- phone.
net and get us under www.orangecloverfarms.com or Orange Clover Farms is located at 12654
you just Google us looking for boarding facilities or Orange River Blvd, Fort Myers, FL, 33905
barns. Phone: (239)694-6935
Q: What is the email address? Listen toPatricia's Interview at:
http://itbythesea.com/testimonials/hear.html
Fun Facts About Thanksgiving
The male turkey is called a Tom or gobbler. The female turnkey is
Go Green Corner
called a hen. Baby turkeys are called poults. Recycling can help reduce the impact
There was no milk, cheese, bread, butter or pumpkin pie at the that computers have on energy usage.
original Thanksgiving Day feast. Recycle your old computer: properly
Contrary to popular belief, the Pilgrims did not have big buckles disposing of your computer helps prevent
on their clothing, shoes, or hats, since buckles did not come into mercury, cadmium, lead, and hazardous
fashion until the late 1600's. chemicals from leaching into our envi-
The average person consumes 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving ronment. Many sources will do this for a
Day. (Now that's a lot of turkey!) nominal fee, or even for free.
The cranberry got its name because the pale pink blossoms on Recycle paper: whenever possible, use
the plant resembled a crane's head and neck. The name craneberry post-consumer recycled-content paper. And
stuck, eventually becoming cranberry. remember to re-use blank sides of used paper
Congress did not declare Thanksgiving a national holiday until for inkjet printing and scratch paper.
1941! Got any green tips you’d like
Turkeys are known to spend the night in trees! (Maybe to escape the to share with our readers?
Thanksgiving table?) Email them to
Turkeys can drown if they look up when it's raining! TechTimes@itbythesea.com
239-344-7574 I.T. By The Sea // Page 3
4. 13102 Palm Beach Blvd, Suite A
Fort Myers, FL 33905
Services We Offer
• Network Design
Phone: 239-344-7574 • Network Support
Fax: 239-236-0389 • Network Maintenance
Email: info@itbythesea.com • Local and Remote Data Backup
Office Hours: M-F 9am-6pm, Sat 10 am—6pm • Data Recovery
Be Sure To Visit Us At: • Upgrades and Repairs
ITByTheSea.com • Website Design and Hosting
FloridaInventoryServices.com • Assets Inventories
A Warning To Business How To Get Your Piece
Owners: Non-Compliance To Of The Thanksgiving Pie
New Regulations Can Mean Jolene was only 8 and lived in the country with
Hefty Fines her parents and brother. Consequently they did
not have visitors from the city very often. One day
Continued from Page 1...
Jolene’s mother said that her father was bringing
Encrypt Your Backups - Make sure your backups are
two guests home for Thanksgiving supper.
at least 32-bit encryption. Encryption takes every keystroke After they had enjoyed the turkey, Jolene proudly
you type and transforms it into 32 different characters, brought in the first piece of pumpkin pie and gave it
making it nearly impossible for hackers to use the infor- to her father. To Jolene’s surprise, her father passed
mation, even if they were able to steal it. Some backup the plate to a guest. When Jolene came in with the
solutions will even provide tighter security with 256-bit second piece and gave it to her father, he again gave
encryption. it to a guest.
Have A Powerful Firewall - Firewalls keep hackers This was too much for Little Jolene, who blurted
and other intruders from getting into your network and out, “It’s no use, Daddy. The pieces are all the same
accessing important, confidential and private information. size.”
If you have the right firewall in place, it should act like a
shield over your data and give you the protection you need
to be in compliance with these laws.
Lockdown Your Passwords - One surefire way to pre-
vent any unauthorized access to privacy information and
take a step toward regulatory compliance is to make sure
only those who need the passwords to your computers have
them. We Want Your Input!
Want To Be Sure Your Technology
Is In Compliance With These Laws? Do you have an idea to make this newsletter better? Would
Call by December 15th and get our Privacy Compliance you like to submit a story, article, or green tip? We’d love to
Network Audit (A $497 value) absolutely FREE. hear from you!
Call 239-344-7574 or Call us at: (239) 344-7574
fill the form at: www.itbythesea.com Or
Email us: TechTimes@itbythesea.com
4 // Caloosa Tech Times www.ITByTheSea.com