Simple Systems

Whether you are trying to protect your personal information, that of your clients, or your corporate designs; data security has a lot of applications.

The basics: Without a server there are a few options.

First, make sure your users have passwords.  For added security make sure that your computers have an administrator password, and that you are the only one that has the password.  Just know that anyone who has access to you computer can erase the passwords without much trouble.

Second, If you really need to protect your data, use encryption software.  Windows professional editions come with a built-in encryption technology.  This encryption is linked to the username and password.  If someone wants to get into the data they would need that password.  With Vista and Win7 you can backup the encryption key in case you lose it.

Third, If you are setup on a domain, the active directory can be configured to limit access of certain files to certain people or groups.  Data can still be encrypted and limited to specific users.

Fourth, If you need some serious security there are third party packages out there to secure your data.  Some can do it on the fly.  I don’t have any recommendations for the blog, but if you have a need we can give you some options specific for your business.

This post is intended as a simple explanation.  It is by no means comprehensive.  This can be a very complicated subject and there are many things to consider.  Be sure to work with a professional for anything beyond number 2 on the list.

There are essentially 2 types of backups and 4 methods of storing those backups.  What you need depends upon the type of system your are running and the type of work you do.

Things you should know:

• Anything you use to store your data will fail.  No, I am not being over dramatic.  Hard drives and tape drives rely on magnetic and mechanical principals.  They are guaranteed to break down or depolarize.  It is just a matter of time.  CD’s and DVD’s purchased from a factory, and stored in ideal conditions will last about 50 years.  The ones you bought from Walmart and store in the desk drawer probably have about a 5-10 years at best.  What about flash drives you ask… well, out of all the choices this may be the best.  A quality drive should last about 10 years.  If treated with at least some respect.
• Off-site or online backup can be severely limited by your internet upload speed.  A DSL line will get between 30 and 60 KB/sec if you’re lucky.  That means it can take days or weeks to upload Gigabytes of data.

Now to some of the nuts and bolts:  You can essentially back up two things, your entire system or just the data you want to protect.

• A system state back up is probably the best way to go.  Usually this is done using what is called an “image”.  Basically it is like making an exact copy of everything on the Hard drive.  This way if your primary drive fails, just plop in a new drive and copy the image over.  Your up and running in a few hours.
• Data backup is nice, because it is smaller, faster and keeps the most important things safe.  What this doesn’t do is save any programs you are running.  So if there is a program you don’t have the disks for and you will be lost without it, this backup style is not for you.

Now that we know what we are backing up, how do we do it?  Simple Pick one, two, or all of these and bask in security you have just found.

• Raid:  Raid arrays come in many different flavors and are pretty complicated so I will just explain how they can act as a backup.  Mostly they are a form of redundancy.  Raid 1, 5, and 6 all allow you to use multiple hard drives as a single disk.  Such that if one fails the others have the data stored.  So all you need to do it install a new hard drive and away you go.  While not a traditional backup there are some good ways to make raid a great choice for onsite backup.  Give us a call if you would like to know more.
• Removable media: This includes Tapes, Cartridges, CD’s, DVD’s, and I will include Flash Drives.  Typically Tapes and Cartridges are quite expensive.  They can hold a lot of data and are pretty fast.  You don’t want to be constantly accessing them however so mostly they are best for daily backup and restore if needed.  CD’s and DVD’s are cheap, but don’t hold much, plus they are one time use only. (Never use R/W discs for backup.  They do not last long enough to be worth it.)  Flash drives are small, light, moderately inexpensive and easy to use.  If you don’t have much to store, these will do the trick.
• External Hard Drives:  These are just like the hard drives inside your computer, but stuffed into little boxes so they look nice and attached by USB or Firewire.  They are reasonably prices for their capacity and are easy to use.  I recommend these to about half my clients as a backup option.
• Finally Online or Off-site Backup:  There are several options and more coming into the market all the time.  These options allow you to send all your data to some far-off location so that your data can be kept in big rooms with thousands of other companies.  By far the safest and least likely to fail option, online backup has some caveats.  As mentioned above it can be limited by your internet provider.  Also you have to pay a monthly fee.  What to be careful of: how fast can you recover the data, do you need encryption, setup fees, can you use multiple computers on one account?

Okay, this was a lot of information in a short period of time.  I have tried to make it simple, but I know there is a lot to cover.  Please give us a call to discuss what would be best for your company or your home.

Viruses are everywhere.  Spyware is everywhere.  It is amazing where they can be found and how easy it is for your computer to become affected.  Best of all there are almost as many opinions about protection as there are options.   So what can you do to protect your computers and your business?

The first thing is make sure you have an affective anti-virus package.  Which one to choose?

We recommend  Avira premium.  We are always looking into the latest programs and companies so check back often.  Why do we recommend Avira?  We like this program because it does a great job at combating both Spyware and Viruses.  We regularly use this program as part of our system cleansing process.  More over it uses a small amount of system resources, letting you use your computer without too much strain.

However, almost all anti-virus programs work, and work well.  Pick one that you feel comfortable with, that will always be good choice.

Spyware happens.  Spyware is different than viruses, usually it is not designed to be destructive rather its purpose is to spy or interfere.  It is not detected by most anti-virus software so this presents a special challenge.  While there are some programs that claim to do both, we have only see one that does a good job.  As we mentioned above, Avira is the best we have seen.   Some people suggest buying an anti-spyware package.  I will put this simply.  There is not an anti-spyware software worth buying that is better than the ones you can get for free.  The only downside is you have to remember to run them yourself.

Check out our Downloads section for some great free options for home users.

The most important ways to protect yourself however do not lie in programs, but rather in your behaviors.  Following these steps will help:

• Avoid websites your are not familiar with.
• Be careful when visiting some others such as facebook, myspace, ksl classifieds.  These are usually safe, but have been known to be the source of some infections.
• The ever faithful, don’t open emails from people you don’t know.
• Finally, do not use torrent programs such as bittorrent, kazaa or bearshare, etc.

We hope this helps.  If you have questions or need professional help with you problem please give us a call.  801-633-5219.