How Much is Your Computer or It’s Information Worth To You?

Two years ago a laptop was stolen from a NYS agency that included my personal information. For months I didn’t know it had happened — not until they sent me a letter. And to rectify the problem months after an article hit the newspapers about the theft, the agency paid for 1 years membership for thousands of people to monitor our credit reports, costing them thousands upon hundreds of thousands of dollars.

You’ve probably heard of other situations like this; maybe your information was taken, lost or “whatever”.

With more of us dragging around our laptops AND with so many home businesses AND with acts of God happening more and more, it’s possible you’ll loose all your business information at LEAST once if your lifetime.

What’s a business owner to do?

For many years, I protected my information the hard way.

First I have to say that I have computer files going back to 1981 — true! (Although I don’t think I’ve used any files in the past year that were more than 6 years old)

My old system for safekeeping looked like this: Records transferred from floppy’s to hard floppy’s and then to CDs.

Where do I keep it all?

a) One of my best purchases is an external hard drive. I keep no document files ON my desktop or laptop. Having everything in “one” spot is a good thing when you have more than 2 computer; and EVERY business owner should have TWO computers and TWO printers — at least (one as a back up)

b) I have two sets of CDs with all my old information. One set is with a close friend across the country (for when mother nature hits, I didn’t want all my records to be kept locally). I send her 1 new CD once a year or every six months when I remember. (Which I admit is NOT often enough).

That’s a lot of work and thought to keeping my business files safe.

Today, thank goodness, we have Mozy. For free, you can test out quite a bit of space, 2 gigs. Consider trying it on for size. And learn what it’s like to have peace of mind no matter what happens to your computer.

Click on the link on Mozy link on the right side of this blog.

Then once you’re ready to spend the $5 per month! (yes you read that right – it’s a very small price to pay for security) on your documents safety, put aside two hours and upload all your files. It will take your computer time to upload the first time; but afterwards, if you only upload changes or new files every other day, or daily, it can be done without you realizing it’s being done. Just schedule it!

NOTE: Read the directions well. Ask Mozy questions. Make sure you’re backing up your email program as well as your computer.