For about $1.60 per day, most businesses can have reliable backup. It all depends on the size of your backup. File recovery is never guaranteed, it can be expensive, and you’ll have downtime while you wait to see which files can be recovered.

So why should businesses have backup, how they should do it, and what they should backup?

- Backup the files that you use daily for your business: accounting, customers, forms, employee records, images, etc. It’s different for every business.

- Backup the files that would cost you money (and time) to recreate:  how long would it take you to re-enter all of your customer data if that was lost? What about accounting data for the year, how much time would it take to re-build the data? Would you do it or call your bookkeeper?

- Backup email records if you are required to save those for your business.

If you want to protect the valuable computer files of your business, your best options – in fact, the only guaranteed options you have – are HIPAA compliant automatic files backup and secure offsite data files storage.

For ordinary home files, you might have contented yourself in the past with a manual files backup system. A lot of people actually still do this.

- CD backup
- Flash drives
- External hard drive
- Tape backup

They save copies of their files in a with one of these methods and stash it awa. This is in turn kept in a drawer, on a shelf, or in your car. Those who feel extra cautious would print out their files and keep these in folders. A few more people would take the added precaution of copying their files on to another computer, maybe a laptop or notebook to carry with them conveniently.

People then feel that they have protected themselves adequately against viruses or the crashing of their hard drive. As mentioned earlier, however, this process is manual and, therefore, tedious. You have to do your manual files backup for each of your files and you have to remember to repeat the process each time you edit or update a file. If you have a lot of files, this can be very time consuming and tiring. There is also always a possibility that you may forget to do your manual files backup. If misfortune strikes just after you have forgotten your task, all is lost.

Assuming you are very obsessive about doing your manual files backup and you never forget to do it, this still does not guarantee the safety of your files. Your manual backups and folders of printouts are not protected from fire, water damage or damage from natural disasters such as earthquakes. The other computers in which you have stored copies of your file could also be damaged or could be stolen. Laptops and notebooks are particularly attractive to thieves.

In lieu of manual files backup, your business deserves the protection of automatic backup software. This software may be installed in your laptops, your personal computers, your company work stations and even your company servers. Every user identifies which of his files are to be included in the automatic backup. The user also determines the automatic backup schedule and frequency. The recommended frequency is once daily and the recommended schedule is at the end of every work period so that all work done that day is safely backed up. Once set, the process is completely error-free.

Where does the automatic backup software store your backup files? It does so in secure offsite data files storage. The automatic backup software and the secure offsite data files storage often come bundled together. The automatic backup software sends your data online to a secure remote data center through secure 128-bit encryption file transfer. The remote data center has state of the art protection against all kinds of natural and man made disasters, uses uninterrupted heavy duty generator power, is equipped with biometric locks and has twenty four hour defence from professional security personnel. All the security features are HIPAA compliant and are, therefore, of the highest standards.

Your business can always access your stored automatic backup files any time and from any location as long as you have an internet connection and you have your secure password. The storage limits prescribed in each of the packages offered are flexible and your business will always have the option to upgrade for more storage space as your company expands.

The valuable computer files of your business should be protected by no less than HIPAA compliant automatic files backup and secure offsite data files storage. Only then will you really rest easy that you have done your best in protecting your company.

Offsite data files storage comes at a price, though, and that usually depends on file size. This is where selective file backups should come in handy. You should prioritize your most important files for backup in order to conserve offsite data files storage space. In case you really come to need more space, though, you can make arrangements with your service provider for additional costs.

Now you know why you not only need automatic files backup and secure offsite data files storage, but you also need to ensure that they are HIPAA compliant for total privacy and protection.

Rates vary, as well as service and support. Just like having a good web and email host you want to make sure your backup service offers support. Check if there is a phone number, email, live chat, and find out their location.

Computer anti virus software is a software program that prevents, detects, and takes action to remove and disarm malicious harmful software programs, such as worms,  trojans and viruses. You can help guard your PC system from virus attacks by using a good anti-virus product. We like Trend Micro Security.

PC viruses that attack your computer are software programs that are purposely created to mess with computer operation, steal or delete data, record, corrupt, or transmit themselves to other PCs and computers and all through the world wide web. To assist you to avoid the most up to date viruses, you should update regularly your anti-virus program. Automatic updates is one of the features you will find on all anti-virus software programs.

If your computer becomes infected by a virus program or attachment, you may not realize it until you system seems to acting up. Listed below are a 9 major indicators that your computer may be contaminated with a virus:

1. Your PC appears to be running extremely slow.

2. Error messages seem to be popping up all over the place.

3. Your system shuts down often and restarts by itself frequently.

4. Your PC system restarts by itself and then fails to operate routinely.

5. You see unclear dialog boxes and menus.

6. Software programs on your PC will not operate properly.

7. Your computer hard drive system crashes and restarts every few minutes.

8. Disk drives and Disks or are unable to open and operate.

9. Your printer does not print properly.

10. Your browser gets hijacked- when you open a new browser window (internet) you no longer go to the same place…it look different.

In order to keep your computer system from becoming infected, you want to make sure you have good security software installed on your computer.

In addition, to make sure your system is protected properly, install a firewall and keep it up to date. A firewall blocks incoming and outgoing messages from leaving your computer.We also suggest that you keep your PC current by backing up your computer system.

Steps to help prevent viruses attacks on your computer:

1. Use a recommended firewall software.

2. Keep your operating system updated with regular security updates.

3. Install an effective anti virus software program.

4. Make sure you do not open email attachments that you have received from someone you don’t know.

5. Stay away from opening an email attachment even from a person you recognize, unless you know accurately what the attachment is and know that they sent the email. The person that sent the email to you may be uninformed that it contains a virus program and may not have even sent it due to a virus infection.

Spam is sent to promote practically any product or service ranging from “Adult” products to logo design for websites. It is also used by hackers to spread viruses or links to dangerous websites used to gather your personal information like credit card details or passwords for sites like Ebay or PayPal. To the average user these messages appear genuine. Even the link has a genuine looking domain name. This technique is known as “Phishing.”

Here are some smart strategies and tips you can employ now to start reducing Spam and boost your email security.

Configure your anti virus software to automatically scan your incoming email for viruses. Email is still widely used to distribute malicious software. Make sure you keep your anti virus software definitions up to date. If you are someone that frequently signs up for “freebies” or other stuff on the internet start using a separate e-mail account just for this purpose.

Accounts from providers like Yahoo!, Hotmail, and Google’s Gmail all come with generous storage as standard. If sites don’t accept free e-mail address from the services listed above then use a free disposable email service like “Sneakemail.” If you are posting your email to a blog or your website then submit it in a way that is only recognizable to a human.

For example if your email is johndoe@hotmail.com then post it as “johndoe at hotmail.com”.

Never open a message from an address you do not recognize – always delete it straight away. This is especially so if there is an attachment.

Never reply to a message as this only confirms the email address is “live” to the spammers.

If you get an official looking message from your bank or Ebay or another site you are not sure is genuine here is what you do. Instead of clicking on the link embedded in the mail you should log on to the bank or ebay site normally via your browser. If there are any genuine serious problems you should get a message when you log on. Alternatively contact the site’s customer service via the phone if possible.

Consider using standalone spam filtering software. This software analyzes your email for common characteristics of spam email including words like “click” or “teens.” It also compares senders’ emails against a “Friends List.”

Be smart, be careful.

Here is a short list of leading (bad) passwords. Google the phrase bad passwords, top 100 passwords and if you find your password on the list create a new one.

These are NOT good passwords:

123456
jesus
password
love
12345678
christ
jesus1
princess
blessed
sunshine
faith
1234567
letmein

This is not supposed to happen guys.  Your wireless network should be secure… you should be the only one to access it, not me, not your neighbor, not some dude driving down the street scoping out free internet connections.

Its really weird when several neighbors all unknowingly have unsecured wireless overlapping each other. The people in one house may be using their neighbor’s wireless internet thinking that they were in fact using their own.

I was in a house once where the homeowner was telling me that he was in the process of moving his wireless box to another room so it was temporarily disconnected. He said that he couldn’t figure out why his internet was still working fine and assumed that the wireless box did not have to be plugged in to work.

Of course it doesn’t have to be plugged in if you are stealing your neighbor’s wireless connection!

Stealing may be a strong word in this case, but I’m sure the neighbor may have noticed his internet has been running a little slower lately. The more users you have on a connection, the slower it becomes. But that’s not the worst problem.

You’ve heard about those new wireless video cams. Some people install them all over the house so from many miles away they can keep an eye on the baby’s room, the pets, the garden, the entry doors.  If someone can get access to your wireless network, it becomes all the easier for them to access your cameras and see whats going on in your own home. This could go on for months and you may never know it.

The solution is to secure your wireless system as soon as you install it in your home. The wireless box has 2 little antennas on it and its called a wireless access point or  wireless router. Making it secure is not difficult, but you need to follow the step-by-step instructions that came with the unit.  Most people only do step one which is to plug the unit in.

If you keep reading, you’ll see a section that describes how to set up a secure password. Look for the initials WEP or Data Encryption and that should be checked on. You’ll have to store a password for each wireless computer in your home. Its not hard to do and you’ll have less reasons to worry about strangers having access to your home network.

Here is the link and their advice

Aside from that, enjoy the weather!

If successful, a hacker could execute code remotely and take control of a system. So far the exploit seems to be spreading via drive-by downloads on compromised and malicious sites. Internet Explorer versions 6 and 7 are at risk, but people running IE 8 are not vulnerable, Symantec said.

Microsoft urged vulnerable users to disable the problematic part of its software, which can be done from Microsoft’s Web site, while the company works on a “patch” — or software fix — for the problem.

Thousands of sites have been hacked to serve up malicious software that exploits the vulnerability. People are drawn to these sites by clicking a link in spam e-mail.

The so-called “zero day” vulnerability disclosed by Microsoft affects a part of its software used to play video. The problem arises from the way the software interacts with Internet Explorer, which opens a hole for hackers to tunnel into.

Once the attacker gains access to a PC, the machine most often is used in a network of other compromised PCs, called bots, to spread spam and steal data. Bots are also widely used to spread promotions for fake anti-spyware subscriptions and to hijack cash from online banking accounts.

Link to Microsoft Zero Day fix

Link To news.CNET Video Active X article

From Mike Reavey at the Microsoft Security Response Center: “We were far enough along in our process that we felt comfortable taking this information from our investigation and giving it to customers so they could take immediate action to protect themselves while we finish our security update. To make it even easier for customers to protect themselves, we also implemented the “FixIt” that automatically implements the killbits.

Customers who have already implemented the killbits manually or through the FixIt workaround won’t need to implement next week’s security update, though we recommend that you apply the update to ensure that reporting accurately shows that the systems are fully protected.

We’re on track to release the security update next Tuesday (7/14). But if you haven’t implemented the killbits already, we recommend that you go ahead and do that to protect yourself against the attacks”.