Eretz Yisrael Time

Powered by WebAds
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
I want to make it clear that I am in no way affiliated with these companies, nor am I getting paid to write this or getting any other kickback.

Every now and then you find a piece of software that just makes your life so much easier that you’ve got to share it, because it really works.

A few years ago I began dealing with a problem that everyone deals with… too many online passwords.

I started using the same password for everything, and it wasn’t a difficult one because I didn’t want to forget it. But then I started to use a banking program online that made me change my password every 30 days! I was a goner. And then with the proliferation of online sites that require a password, I realized I needed a good password management solution.

I eventually found a program called Roboform, which manages (with encryption) all my online passwords. I’ve been using it for over two year now, and it’s great.

JoeSettler recommends RoboForm.

I used to have an old Maxtor One-Touch hard drive for backing up my computer – very important – especially after (or before) you’ve experienced a crash or two. It came with a program called Retrospect (I assume it was the “lite” version). So I used that for years. It worked. It was a little complicated and slow, but it got the job done, but I didn’t back up that often because of the speed and complexity.

I recently upgraded to a network drive, and needed a new backup software solution. What came with the drive wasn’t great. I wanted something better than what I had in the past. Easier, less complicated, more friendly, more features, and so on.

I tried out a lot of backup software packages, such as Norton Ghost, and a few others, but I wasn’t finding what I wanted.

I wanted to simply duplicate files onto the external network drive. I wanted to copy directories. I didn’t want compressed data files with incremental updates. I wanted a one to one file correspondence.

I eventually found a program called GoodSync Pro which I have been using for the past 3 months or so. It does everything I want in terms of file duplication. It doesn’t create a system image, or a system restore – which I wasn’t looking for. It simply backs up your data, and that’s exactly what I needed.

The interface is easy to use (though certain parts were confusing at first in terms of inclusions and exclusions and jobs). It seems to be very efficient. I can even back up Microsoft Outlook while it is still open (though I usually close it anyway when I’m backing it up).

I am not using it to backup installed applications, and for those I would reinstall everything manually, which would admittedly be a big hassle (and probably less so if I was saving an image with a different image backup package). And I am thinking of using it to backup my downloaded application installers. But backing up apps when I have the install disks, is less my goal, than backing up my personal data.

It can also handle two-way synchronization (but I only backup one way), and onsite services like Amazon S3 (which I may try at some point).

And that’s it.

JoeSettler recommends GoodSync Pro.

I hope these packages help you if you've been looking for solutions to the same problems I was.

1 comments:

Neshama said...

I am skeptical of software that collects personal data, as in 'save all info on your hard drive' use our product; or 'have all your vital info in one place' so use our product. When hackers break into them to get hold of YOUR data it is awful to innocent people.

What I do is keep a tiny rolodex for each of the online places (to a limit) that require passwords, then write the password and any other pertinent info pertaining to them on their card. And I don't save the passwords into the computers program for remembering such data.

It takes a minute to write it down, and It has saved me much aggravation. The less 'strangers' get into your personal life the better. Just thought to share that with you.

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Powered by WebAds
    Follow the Muqata on Twitter
      Follow JoeSettler on Twitter
      Add to favorites Set as Homepage

      Blog Archive


      Powered by WebAds