This morning I read a magazine in which an article was written about home burglary. One of the remarks made by people who had experienced a home burglary was that it was terrible to happen because they lost so many private belongings. So far I completely agree! Then the remark was made: “my notebook was stolen which contained all photos and documents of my child”. That last remark made me write this article about backup. People assure their houses and belonings, paying several euro’s a month, to get some money from the insurance company in case of home burglary. Why didn’t they invest a little time and money in a decent backup?

You should invest some time and/or money to protect your data from getting lost.

Nowadays there is no valid excuse to not have a decent backup. I wrote an article about online backup using a NAS (network attached storage) a while ago and there are several other solutions available for all kinds of dataprotection.

There are several technologies available for creating a backup. I devide them in 3 categories:

• Non electronic (DVD-R, BluRay, CD Rom, Tape)
• Electronic storage (i.e.: Harddisk, USB Stick)
• Online storage

I believe everybody should have a backup on ‘non-electronic’ storage like a DVD-R or BlueRay disk. Create two backups, one to store at your home and one to store offsite at your work, a friends house or banksafe. Always keep i.e. the last 3 backups. This in case the last backup becomes unreadable. The reason I say you should have a non-electronic backup is because the risk of i.e. lightning strikes or voltage peaks ruining your equipment. When lightning strikes and hits your home power grid, it might blow up your computer and all attached electronic components like USB sticks, external harddrives, and so on. It will also destroy your DVD Drive, but you can still read your backup disks (DVD/BlueRay) at any other computer or buy a new DVD Drive for 15 euro’s.

Next you can use an external harddisk to create a second backup. Creating a backup and restoring goes much faster from an external harddisk. You might choose a backup policy where you create a DVD/BlueRay backup weekly or monthly (depending on your needs) and create a daily or weekly copy on an external harddisk. I always advice to disconnect the harddisk from the computer and powergrid after creating the backup. This reduces the risk of damage due to software problems, hardware problems and at some degree of lightning strikes. Be as creative as you like. Use multiple drives, store them at home, at your office or at a friends place. Harddrives offer a large amount of storage but as I said before, they are not the safest storage. (I.e.: You have the warranty that the drive will fail between now and someday. Someday might be within 2 weeks already.)

Online storage is fairly new for consumers and very reasonable priced. In my previous article I have online storage combined with my NAS but there are good solutions for users who don’t have a NAS. The benefit of online storage is that you have your data stored in a datacenter offsite. So nobody can physically steal your data. Secondly you can access your data from every computer with an internet connection.
There are many providers for online storage, use google! I will describe one provider because I installed it for a customer lately and I believe this is a great example for many people.

Visit www.acronis.com and search for the online backup solution (i.e.: UK page here)

Acronis offers 250 GB of online storage for less than €50,- a year. Probably less then you pay for your insurance policy .
There is a 2 Gb trial version available. Acronis Online backup software is included after registering your trial or subscribing. You can select the folders on your computer of which you want to create a backup and the software will do the rest. The initial backup will take some hours or even days to create, depending on the amount of data and your internet connection speed. After that it will only backup the modified data so a backup will be made much quicker. You can connect up to 5 computers to the acronis account so your desktop and laptop should be safe. You can schedule the creation of the backup so you won’t forget it!
Restoring can be done using the online backup software or downloading the files using your internet browser.

As said, there are many providers offering online backup. Prices differ significantly so check it out carefully. Check storage size, number of computers and functionality.

From now on.. nobody has an excuse to not have a backup !!

 

I have written a post before about a shared calendar for our family appointments here. This approach is working properly for the past 3 weeks now.

I stumbled upon my old HP Ipaq 4700 pocket pc which is not as advanced as the modern tablets like the Apple Ipad but it offers a touch screen, internet browsing and much more. It is also much cheaper today . First I wanted to use the build in browser to open calendar.live.com and maintain our calendar online. Suddenly I remembered that Hotmail offers MS Exchange connectivity and that makes it very easy to connect any Windows Mobile device to it. PDA’s using Windows Mobile are build to connect to a MS Exchange server and synchronize the Calendar, Tasks, Email and Contacts. This works very wel.

So, instead of using a browser and calendar.live.com, I setup Activesync which is preinstalled on Windows Mobile to connect to our family Hotmail/Live account. Now the Calendar, email, contacts and tasks of our family account are synchronized (over WiFi) to my 6 years old HP Ipaq 4700 PocketPC. (The Ipaq 4700 has build in WiFi)

Today we don’t have to start our laptop or PC to check our family calendar, but use the PDA which is ‘instant-on’ when we push the power button.

How to connect: (First make sure you have a Live or Hotmail account as described in my previous post. Then find Activesync on your PDA. Setup server synchonization.
The servername is: m.hotmail.com (even when you have a live account)
The username is your Live or hotmail account like user@hotmail.com
The password is your password
The domain remains empty. Enable SSL Secure connection.

Make sure your current region, time and date are set on the PocketPC, otherwise you get certificate errors. You can modify ‘Schedule’ within Activesync to configure how often you want to sync. It seems that my Ipaq synchronizes even when I have it turned off (standby).

Enjoy!!!

(You might want to search on the internet for updated ROM firmware for your device. Newer versions usually offer more functionality and/or security)

 

I’m happy to see that more users are starting to use NAS devices (Network Attached Storage) to store and share their data, music, photos and videos within a household. Many people choose for a setup with a RAID 1 configuration which means that they have installed 2 harddisks that hold a copy of each others data (mirroring). Within a RAID 1 configuration, one harddisk can fail while the other still holds the data. You replace the faulty drive and your system / NAS is up and running again without any dataloss (usually you can still use it while one drive is faulty).

This RAID 1 protection is one step in safeguarding your data but, depending on your needs, you might want to think about additional protection. Now you are asking, why should I? Because think about what will happen when lightning strikes ruining you electrical devices, your house catches fire or a virus on your computer that starts deleting all data on your NAS. When you delete data, it is also removed from a Raid 1 configuration.

DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE RISKS !

There are some additional measures you can take to avoid data loss:

• Create a backup on external HDD (electrical device that will die when lightning strikes!)
• Create a backup on CD/DVD/BluRay disks (your drive may die, but your disk will probably survive)
• Store the external HDD and/or CD/DVD/BluRay disks on another location (when your building burns down)
• Create an online backup

The first 3 options are probably no rocket science for you but the last one, create an online backup, might be.

I devide online backup in two area’s.

1. Online storage services like dropbox, skydrive, strato Hidrive.
2. Online sharing services like i.e. Flickr, Picasa, etc

I have written an article before about using Flickr as a backup facility for your photos which you can find here. Many other solutions are available like dropbox and Live Skydrive. In this article I want to focus more an a specific solution I use for backing up my data online. I describe a specific solution for the Synology NAS devices in combination with Strato Hidrive. This might inspire you to find a similar solution for you NAS device.

My backup strategy

First I have to make a difference between online sychronization and online backup. A synchronization means that your data is always in sync. When you update a file, that updated version is available, the old version is gone. If you delete a file, the file will also be deleted from the online storage !
A backup means that a version of your data of a specific moment in time is available. This means, if you create a backup every day, you will have the old version of a file in the backup of yesterday and the new version of that file in the backup of tonight.

Fortunately, depending on your synchronizations software, there are options to NOT delete files that are being deleted on the host system.

The above is important to understand.

My backup strategy consists of a RAID 1 setup, an additional external harddisk with a copy of the NAS data being synchronized every 2 days. An online synchronization of specific data folders without removal of deleted files is performed every night and periodically I create a backup of specific data on Bluray disks which I store remotely too. I recently upgraded to bluray because the amount of data became to much to use DVD’s.

How to setup your synology NAS with Rsync and Strato Hidrive

I am using a Synology NAS DS207+ with DSM 3.0 installed. This should work the same on every Synology using DSM 3.0. The online storage I use is hosted at Strato which offers packages of 20-1000 GB of data. You need Rsync functionality that is offered starting at the 100GB package. Rsync is the synchronization tool that is build into the Synology.

First of all you need a Strato Hidrive with the appropriate size. Check out strato.com and find Hidrive. Order the package (or Trial) with the appropriate size. Remember you need Rsync functionality that starts at the 100GB package!

In the Hidrive admin panel, create a new user account and assign it rights to use ‘Rsync over SSH’. The directory that is being created for this user account is in my case /users/username/
I created a subfolder manualy that is named ‘rsync’ like: /users/username/rsync. You can do this using the filemanager of Hidrive. The online backup will be placed in this subfolder (it’s optional because the synology creates a subfolder with the name of your Synology too).

In the Synology go to the admin panel and choose the dropdown list (top left corner) and select ‘Create and restore backup’ (I have the Dutch version so I don’t know the exact English translations). Then choose to create a backup. You will see a wizard guiding you through the proces.

Enter a name of the backup (my online backup) and click next. Then choose ‘Network Backup (rsync compatible server). (you see there is also an option to create an online backup to another synology NAS at i.e. a friends place).

Then enter servername or Ip addres: rsync.hidrive.strato.com
BackupModule (path): /users/username/rsync
Add your username and password of the account you created above.

I also flagged the encryption and compression option. I flagged the backup on block level too.

A very important option is the ‘Do not remove backup files’. When you leave this unflagged, a file deleted from the NAS will also be deleted from the online storage. When you flag it, deleted files will remain on the online storage so you have a backup of the file. So now and then I open the settings of the backup and unflag this option, have one backup made and flag it again. This makes that deleted files are indeed being removed. I only do this when I’m 100% sure that I don’t need it anymore (when are you 100% sure??)

You also have to select all folders that you want to synchronize to the online storage. I only backup the things I cannot recover like documents and photos.  Decide on this in relation to the costs of the online storage packages.

Then you have to select a backup schedule which should be depending on the frequency that you update your files. I do a daily backup because I expect changes every day and besides, when nothing has changed, nothing is being updated!

The same procedure can be used to create a regular backup on an external harddisk. In this case choose local backup instead of network backup!

With this article I hope to inspire you to think about your backup strategy. To many people have lost their data because of ignorance or slackness.

 

Het DNS (Domain Name System) is het systeem wat de internet adressen zoals www.vdsar.net vertaalt naar het bijbehorende IP adres zodat de website op onze computer getoond kan worden. Elke internet aanbieder heeft zijn eigen DNS server die je automatisch gebruikt als je van je internet aansluiting gebruik maakt. Dit is over het algemeen een vrij eenvoudige dienst zonder extra mogelijkheden voor beveiliging, blokkeringen, bewaking of logging.

OpenDNS is een aanbieder van een DNS systeem met veel meer mogelijkheden.

De DNS servers zijn over het algemeen ook sneller dan die van je internet aanbieder. Je kunt er gratis gebruik van maken maar je kunt uiteraard ook kiezen voor een betaald pakket wat nog meer mogelijkheden biedt.

Het gebruik van het OpenDNS systeem is een eenvoudige wijziging in je apparatuur zoals je PC, Mac, Telefoon, etc. Op je thuis netwerk heb je waarschijnlijk ook een router hangen waarin je de DNS instellingen kunt aanpassen zodat elk apparaat op je netwerk hier automatisch gebruik van gaat maken.

Maar waarom wil je dit nu?
Een van de opties is het blokkeren van bepaalde websites. De blokkering houdt niet het verkeer naar de site tegen, maar zorgt er wel voor dat de site niet gevonden kan worden. Je kunt op deze manier heel eenvoudig sites blokkeren. Tevens zitten er standaard filters in die websites met bijvoorbeeld geweld, drugs, gokken en sex kunnen blokkeren.

Een andere optie is het registreren van alle gebruikte internet adressen. Wil je in de gaten houden waar bijvoorbeeld je kinderen, medewerkers of gasten naartoe surfen, dan is dit een geschikte optie.

Tevens houdt OpenDNS ook een lijst bij van schadelijke sites die worden gebruikt door malware of virussen. Het virus zal dan de site waar het bijvoorbeeld persoonlijke informatie naartoe wil sturen, niet kunnen vinden. Zo biedt OpenDNS ook extra bescherming. Dit is een ideale optie voor mensen of bedrijven die internet aanbieden aan hun visite of bezoekers.

Let op: Een beetje handige wizzkid weet zich wel onder de DNS instellingen van het systeem uit te draaien. Heb je met wizzkids te maken, zorg dan ook voor goede beveiliging van je systeem zodat ze de netwerkinstellingen niet kunnen wijzigen.

Naar mijn idee is OpenDNS voor iedereen een goed idee, al is het alleen maar omdat het een beetje extra bescherming biedt tegen virussen en malware die vanaf jou PC naar schadelijke sites gaan.

 

This article describes how to setup a family calendar which is accessible on the internet and by multiple users (family members) from within MS Outlook on different computers.

My girlfriend and I are using MS Outlook for our work. We work at different companies so we cannot use Exchange functionality to create a shared calendar. We need one calendar in which we maintain our private appointments and daycare schedules of our daughter. This calendar should be at least accessible from MS Outlook so we can easily have our private and corporate calendar next to each other and both see our shared private appointments. (we don’t need/want to see each others corporate appointments)

Unfortunately there is no perfect solution for this purpose. In an ideal situation you would have one calendar in which you can seperate private and corporate appointments and share those easily over the web even when Outlook is connected with Exchange.

What do you need for this solution:

- MS Outlook 2003/2007/2010
- Internet access
- Windows Live (or hotmail) account
- Outlook Connector

How to implement the solution:

First create a free Microsoft Live account (www.live.com / www.live.nl)
Decide for your own if you create a new account or to use your current live/hotmail account if you have one already. Keep in mind that all users (family members) will have access to this account.

Install the MS Outlook Connector which you can download here on all computers where you want to use the family calendar. (it might be wise to check if there is a more recent version of the outlook connector because this link might become outdated).

The outlook connector will add a ‘outlook connector’ menu item to Outlook where you can configure the account. Just enter the settings of your (new created) Live/Hotmail account.  Once you’ve completed this, you will find your Live/Hotmail mailbox in Outlook (within the email section) and also the Live/Hotmail Calendar within the Calendar section.

As you can see in the image there are two calendars next to each other. The blue one is my corporate calendar, the green one is the Hotmail/Live calendar. Notice that on the left column you have to mark the agenda’s you want to display.

Starting with Outlook 2007 it is also possible to display the calendar’s in overlay mode. In Overlay mode both calendar’s are displayed on top of each other.

In this image you see the overlay mode in Outlook 2007.

Sync Frequency:
The private Live/Hotmail calendar is synced about every 30 minutes so it might take a while until the appointment is added to all users outlook.
(First your outlook sync’s to internet Live/Hotmail. So within 30 minutes you see the appointment appear when you login to www.live.com. Then within another 30 minutes you should see it appear in the outlook of the other user. Of course outlook should be started before it will sync.)

It should work when you click Send/Receive in outlook to sync directly.

Copy Appointments
You cannot add one appointment to both calendars at once. I usually add an appointment to my corporate calendar. Then I leave the ‘overlay view’ so both calendars are shown next to each other. Then I right click and hold and drag the appointment to the Live / Hotmail calendar. When you release the right mouse button you can choose COPY. It will then copy the appointment to your private calendar.

I am using this setup for 2 days now and for now it is working. You should evaluate this approach because it might be that your company is blocking live/hotmail access preventing the calendar being synced with Hotmail/Live.
Remember you can also access the calendar using www.live.com online.

 

Today I had to create a manual on how to maintain a website. Although there probably are many documents available, it is sometimes very useful to create a tutorial which is specific for a specific website, customer or tool.  I had to make many screenshots, draw arraws to point to the buttons and edit boxes, write a lot of information and actually, it did not became very customer friendly. I needed a better solution and I found it on Camstudio.org.

CamStudio is a freeware application to record (part of) your screen and record audio. It saves the video and audio to an AVI file which can be played on almost any device or save it as a Flash movie for publication on websites. It worked perfectly and I created a 30 minute video on how to maintain a specific website for the customer. At first it’s a little weird to talk to a screen but the result is great. CamStudio has some additional features which you can find out yourself.

 

LastPass is a password manager that makes web browsing easier and more secure. Although I’ve never been enthousiastic about using a password manager, I’m completely convinced now! My main concerns were usability and reliability of the application. One of the main benefits of using a password manager is that you are able to use unique passwords for different websites and you can use much stronger passwords because you don’t have to remember them anymore.

LastPass stores the passwords encrypted on their server so it’s possible to synchronize the information amongst all of your PC’s. Your passwords are also accesible using a webbrowser (SSL) in case you need them on a public PC.

There is a beta version of LastPass Application which enables managing passwords for applications like Skype and so on.

In case you are still using the same password amongst several websites, use weak short passwords, then I advice you to take a look at lastpass.com and invest some time in upgrading your passwords and making your online live more secure !

The application is available for Windows, Linux, Mac OSX, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome. It also works on mobile devices (when you buy the premium version for $1,- / month) like the iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Phone, Symbian and Android.

 

Flickr is a very popular photosharing site. Basically you can use it to store your pictures and share those with your friends and/or family or make them available to the rest of the world. A free account offers you 100 MB of photo uploads a month and you can view the last 200 uploaded photos.

Upgrading to a Pro account offers you unlimited storage of photos and unlimited uploads. Because you can set privacy levels on your photo’s you can also upload photos you don’t want to share but just store (backup). It only costs you $ 24,95 a year!

By upgrading to a Pro account you have an ideal backup system for all your photos. It’s ONLINE and OFFSITE so you have a backup even in case your house burns down (hope it never happens though!).

Flickr offers a standard upload tool making it easy to upload many pictures at once and set privacy levels and categories on them. It’s available on the Flickr website at: http://www.flickr.com/tools/. Creating a backup of your photos is a piece of cake now.

Restoring your photos is a different story. Flickr doesn’t offer the ability to download all your photo’s at once so it will take you a lot of time to restore the photos manually. A solution is created by using: FlickrEdit. (Before it was a utility called FlickrBackup) This utility is free and offers you the ability to download many photo’s at once to your harddrive. The new FlickrEdit utility offers even more possibilities than FlickrBackup did.

My ideal backup stragegy for your photo’s would be:

- Create a backup of your photo’s on Recordable DVD’s

- Upload all your photos to Flickr (Pro Account) (and set your privacy level!)

 

Speed up the way you work with your PC. I use fingertips to quickly enter notes, tasks and calendar items into Outlook but also start other tasks on my PC. It will speedup your daily work. Download it for free at http://www.getfingertips.com/