The concern for lost data is a common fear for computer users. Being knowledgeable about backup strategies can help protect against losing valuable information.

The 3-2-1 Backup Strategy

The most thorough strategy to have in place to protect your data is to keep three copies:

1. The first copy is your original (your computer or whatever you use as your main disk).
2. The second copy is your local backup.
3. The third is the remote or cloud backup.

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Having a local backup ensures you have an exact copy to use in case your original or main disk fails. An example of a local backup for a Mac is SuperDuper!, a recovery program that allows for rebootable backup.

The third back up—the remote or cloud backup—is just as essential. For example, what happens is your computer is stolen? You may have your local copy, but can still lose a significant amount of data. Remote or cloud backup allows you have access to your current data at any time from anywhere.

Link:

• SuperDuper! by Shirt Pocket – Mac OS X Backup Software

Cloud Backup

Carbonite is a popular remote backup system that has many good reviews by users. One remote backup system Positive Projections is familiar with is CrashPlan. This systems offers users different types of backup plans best suited for their specific needs (individuals and families, small businesses, or larger corporations).

Depending on the speed of your internet, backup times using CrashPlan can vary. It’s an efficient system to rely on for recovering previous-version files, deleted files, or even recovering a non-corrupted version of a corrupted file on your main or local copy.

Having in place your 3-2-1 backup strategy can provide you with a valuable lifeline in case your main disk crashes, your local backup fails, or your computer has been stolen.

Links:

• CrashPlan+ by codefortytwo software
• Carbonite Online Backup

If you’ve got any questions regarding the Internet, web design, online marketing, WordPress, blogging, SEO, or anything else technology-related, send us your questions using the online form by clicking > Positive Projections Free Q&A

What is Domain Slamming?

Domain slamming is a scam by which an internet service provider (ISP) or domain name registrar sends out a subscription renewal notice to people who are not current customers with the intention of getting these people to switch from their current ISP or domain name registrar. These notices are created to look like an actual bill, but in reality they are carefully designed advertisements.

Links:

Wikipedia on Intellectual Property Scams & Domain Slamming

eWeek.com: Beware Fake Domain Renewal Notices

Important Terms to Understand

It is very important to know your domain name, your web hosting company, and your domain registrar.

• Your website’s domain name is its address on the internet.
• Your web host is the company that operates the computers that serve up the web pages.
• Your domain registrar is who you buy your domain name from. Sometimes, your web host and your domain registrar are the same company.

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How to Prevent Fake Domain Renewal

There are two very important things you can do to prevent fake domain renewal. First, make sure your records are kept up to date at all times. Domain Tools is a helpful service site that can alert you when your domain name is about to expire. If your domain expires, someone else can purchase the rights to it. Sometimes, you might be able to get your domain name back in a costly domain “auction.” If not, you’ll have to change all your email addresses, business cards, letterhead, etc. to reflect a new domain name for your site.

Secondly, you must know the name of your domain registrar. Being aware of this information can raise a red flag should you receive a renewal subscription from a different domain registrar and prevent you from falling victim to the domain slamming scam.

If you’ve got any questions regarding the Internet, web design, online marketing, WordPress, blogging, SEO, or anything else technology-related, send us your questions using the online form by clicking > Positive Projections Free Q&A

Hosted vs. Self-Hosted

There are quite a few different options out there for you to use when you’re setting up your own blog or website. You can choose between a hosted versus a self-hosted website. Blogger.com is a good web publishing site by Google that many people choose because of its easy-to-use format and because it is a hosted service, meaning you don’t have to get an additional web hosting service.

WordPress.org is good self-hosted publishing service—meaning if you want to run the WordPress.org software, you’ll have to also get your own web hosting. There are advantages to having a self-hosted site. For example, you have more power to create the exact website that you want. WordPress.org offers many different plugins that you can use to fine-tune your site. The downside to this, however, is the time spent searching through all the plugins and keeping them regularly updated.

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Benefits of WordPress.com

Because self-hosting can generally be a bit too much for people to take on, a hosted site with WordPress.com is highly recommended for people who want simplicity and low cost. A basic account with WordPress.com is free, it’s a fast and efficient web publishing service, and offers users lots of features.

Because WordPress.com is a free service, you’ll want to consider at least one premium add-on. For example, one of the best and most important things you can do for your site is to have your own domain name (dot com’s cost: $9.98 and up per year). You can search for the perfect domain name for your site with one of the many name domain registrars out there (for example, namecheap.com). Another good add-on to consider is “Go Ad-Free” (cost: $29.97 per year), as it will keep your site looking neater and cleaner.

If you’ve got any questions regarding the Internet, web design, online marketing, WordPress, blogging, SEO, or anything else technology-related, send us your questions using the online form by clicking > Positive Projections Free Q&A

The Upside: Freedom of Expression

Now more than ever people in so called “First World Countries” with even modest means can create and publish content. Even citizens of some developing countries now have access to the web and publishing technologies. But there’s a downside.

All that publishing, combined with the Internet as a backbone of communication, is contributing to a vast information explosion. The result for many of us is information overload.

The Downside: Too Much Noise

Information Overload Definition: Signal-to-noise ratio (often abbreviated SNR or S/N) is a measure used in science and engineering that compares the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise. –Wikipedia.org

Not everything being published is of high quality. OK, that’s being kind. There’s lots of junk being published that is pure noise. Just too much information. More and more, we have to learn how to tune into the true signal, information that is actionable and useful. (I find email information overload especially challenging.)

Discerning the Signal

My favorite method of discovering helpful information is to identify experts. Not the self-proclaimed “experts” who are just out to make a buck and further inflate their egos, but the true thought leaders who provide profoundly helpful principles and techniques. I often locate these experts by first finding “curators” in a given field. (Akin to an art curator, for example, who works in a museum.)

Got Curation?

My good friend, Roxanne McHenry, has become an expert in Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Publishing (among her many areas of expertise). Since 1986, this was an area I followed closely, including self-publishing books and audio series products. But given the info flood, I can’t sufficiently watch every niche within the Internet, publishing, marketing world, etc.—at least if I want to get any work done. Since I trust Roxanne’s research abilities and she’s curating content in this space, I know I’ll be well informed by reading her blog posts. She’s constantly separating the wheat from the chaff—the signal from the noise—so I don’t have to.

Building Our Own “Unofficial Advisory Council”

In each of the areas in which Positive Projections provides services, we’ve identified and follow trusted experts. We pay for some of the information—sometimes at premium prices—while other content sources are freely available. We listen to topic curators and experts who work hard to deliver as much signal as possible. This strategy saves us considerable time and allows us to provide our clients with great info.

This Positive Projections blog will be our contribution to curating a variety of technical and marketing topics of interest to solopreneurs and organizations, both for profit and nonprofit.

What Are Your Strategies?

We’d love to know how you cope with managing information overload—and perhaps even thrive—in today’s environment. We invite you to scroll down and enter your comments and/or questions.