Author: Larry Cotton

Update: 2021-05-31

The Internet and computing is so dynamic, changing, and the post here from 2006 is now outdated. Mozy was scarfed up by Carbonite and the service receiving the most votes for best personal cloud backup is iDrive.com. They have a great starter offer which I used for a year and found to be difficult to use. The current ‘Best Install and Run Software’ and cloud backup service now seems to be Backblaze.com

Original post:————–

Mozy Remote Backup: Free. Automatic. Secure.

Backups, I’m guessing at least 80% of us are not backed up at all and a good part of the rest would find they lost ‘something’ if they had a hard disk crash right now.

I happened across this service and just started using them to see what I thought. So far, I’m impressed, and for the price, (2gigs free, 5gigs for $20/year and 10gigs for $30/year) it’s probably the best secure offer going for small users.

Glitches…
It requires Windows XP using NTFS drive format, it doesn’t work with 32bit FAT systems. I can’t use it on my wife’s Win2000 system or the Ubuntu Linux box.

It won’t look across my LAN system. (Thought I could take care of my wife that way.) It only works with local hard drives.

The install went very easily and it scans your drives and offers common groups of files to backup or you can select on your own. It will sit in the background and encrypt groups of files and upload them during your choice of times of system non-use times.

I’m impressed. Years ago there was a service called XDrive that had a free offering but it has gone to pay only and costs $10/month for 5gigs.

If you are interested in trying it they have a referral offering so use this link to signup and you’ll be helping me. 🙂

https://mozy.com/ref/S2SSCN

Google Calendar

AT LAST!!

Calendaring has long been a sore spot for me. MS Outlook does most of what I want but it’s M$ software, expensive. Yahoo has a decent system but its covered with ads. Mozilla Sunbird is developing slowly and I believe will eventually be what I use as it uses the MAC iCal standard but it doesn’t have all the needed features for me yet.

Along comes Google Calendar and it looks like its going to be very good. It’s still beta but has promising features working for the most part right now, specifically calendar sharing, alerts and most of the repeating event features that make a calendar useful.

It’s new and it’s worth a look. If you have a GMail address now, it’s a must!

Switch. Off.

More people are interested in switching off their PCs & Macs than ever before. See why they made the change and how easy it was. Discover how compatible you are with other people. Learn about all the great ways getting out more will give you a better life. And understand how a simple outdoor activity can make your life easier and your possibilities endless.

OK, it’s a joke and it’s on me.  🙂

Makes a good point though.

Look out kitties! Fluffy’s in town!

TV is so crummy these days. When I stumbled across the Google Video Blog and saw this link to an hour long online video I thought I’d check it out. If I can find more of this quality of shows I’ll give up TV completely. It’s very well done and the experience reminded me of my bicycle journeys from my youth. If you have some time to watch a video, this is a good one!

Official Google Video Blog: Independent Films: Part 3

Kintaro Walks Japan
“I met a Japanese woman, fell in love with her, and decided that a good way to impress her would be to walk the 2000-mile length of Japan. I spent nearly five months walking through the countryside, arm wrestling old ladies, running from trains, and eventually becoming a Japanese media sensation.

How to Buy Nothing – WikiHow

How could I say it better. We Americans have become so obsessed with consuming we don’t care who or what else in the world it will hurt.

STOP IT!

The site linked above list ideas I use and will use to live for the good of GOD and that means for the good of the world.

I’m as far from perfect as they come but I am not making changes in my life strategy just because the calendar number changed. I intend to stay as frugal as I can and remain a Democrat, Union Member, father, and husband and make the world better for children.