I usually recommend an online service called Carbonite instant backup. Carbonite monitors and stores data online up to their servers, in a relatively intrusive process. Here are the steps to using Carbonite:

1. Download the software and install it.
2. Tell Carbinite what files or drives to backup
3. Carbonite will make an initial backup of your files
4. Carboite will then monitor your files and watch for any changes
5. If your hard drive dies, reinstall Carbonite on the new hardrive and tell Carbonite which files to recover

Pros

• Cheap ($50 dollars a YEAR)
• Ease of Use
• Encrypts files before uploading them
• Backs up file when you are not using the Internet

Cons

• Initial backup takes around two weeks

DSL offers speeds that are around 5 to 25 times higher than a typical 56Kb dial-up connection. It is an always-on type of connection. This implies that websites would load quickly, downloads would be faster, buffering of videos would be fast and smooth and the domain of Online games would be illimitable.

Based on the types of service, DSL can be can be categorized in three divisions which are ASDL, IDSL and SDSL.

ADSL stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. It offers download speed of 1.5 Mbps and upload speed of 384 K. In order to acquire a ADSL connection, your location has to be within 3 miles of your local telephone office. Also, a DSL router is needed for this type of connection.

IDSL is a ISDN Digital Subscriber Line service which requires an ISDN router. It provides a connection speed of 144 K. in this type of connection distance is not a component to be considered.

SDSL means Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line. The speeds available under this type of DSL connection depends on the distance between your location and your local telephone office. The speed of downloads and uploads can go up to 1.1 Mbps.

Advantages of DSL

No installation of new wires is required. DSL uses the present telephone line to connect to the Internet. It provides extremely fast connection. Depending on the offer, you would not even have to pay for the DSL modem installation charges, since it is provided free by some of the companies on selection of the appropriate plan. The download rate is much higher in DSL connections. Many business organizations have gained the benefits of DSL. A DSL connection is very secure.

Disadvantages of DSL

The quality of your DSL connection depends on the distance between the DSL providers office and your location. Nearer you are, the better quality connection would you get. So, consumers located far from the local DSL office may face some trouble. DSL provide high speeds for downloading stuff but upload speeds are not that good.

DSL vs Cable Modems

The services provided through a cable modem can sometimes slow down or get hanged. It depends on the number of users accessing that particular service. But, in a DSL connection there is no such problem. The speed of DSL is consistent and high. This does not allow any kind of conjunction on the network. It provides more security than the cable modem connections. The popularity of DSL has risen to new heights which has resulted in disconnections and up gradations of the cable modem connections.

About The Author
Toh Poh Leng

If you don’t store very much on your home computer network, you may be able to manage your home network data storage project on DVD’s. With a small amount of information needing backup, you might just use rewritable DVD’s and make a full copy of chosen files as needed. If there is one or more computers on your network that is primarily used for internet use, email, web surfing and games, then the need for data backup is limited. The benefit of this type of home network data storage is that you have control over whether or not to back up a file and you choose how often to do the backups. The downside that many people don’t update their backups often enough and frequently the discs become lost or damaged due to inadequate storage practices.

The next step up is to create a server to store backup files for all of the computers on the network. A server is simply a hard drive, and software is available for small home networks. There are also network-attached storage (NAS) devices which act as a dedicated backup server. The benefit here is that the software can be set to automatically perform backup procedures at regular intervals. The drawback is that the backups are in the same place as the computers, and may fall victim to whatever type of disaster makes it necessary to use the backups.

Finally, there are remote services that will automatically use the Internet for home network data storage. Once signed up, the user is charged according to the amount of storage is needed. The benefit is that data is stored remotely and the updates are automatic. Drawbacks are that large amounts of data can be costly and that it’s only as reliable as the company. The decision on the type of home network data storage to use is based on the needs and resources of the network users.

Written by Roland Jefferson

Everywhere you turn phone companies offer 3 or 5-cent long distance phone calls, or even unlimited long distance for a flat fee monthly. Now you can make reliable calls using the Internet for anywhere from 0 to 2.3-cents per minute.

Welcome to Skype, the Internet telephony company that has set the traditional telephone world on its ear.

Recently purchased by Ebay for 2.6 billion dollars, Skype stands ready to revolutionize worldwide voice communication simply because they enable you to carry on crystal clear voice communication with anyone else in the world with a either a phone or Internet connection.

What’s the catch you ask?
Well, to make phone calls, you need a computer, a microphone, speakers, a modem, an Internet connection and the free Skype software you can download from www.skype.com To make a free phone call, you need someone on the receiving end with a computer, Internet connection, and the Skype software installed. To make a call from your computer to a land-based phone virtually anywhere in the world, you must pre-pay for calling minutes in blocks of 10 Euros (approximately $12 U.S.). One block of calling minutes gets you about 500 minutes of calling time, or a little over 8 hours of talking time. Skype uses a technology called IP telephony.

IP Telephony
IP telephony first appeared commercially back in the lat 1990’s with services like Dialpad.com, which initially offered phone calls from computers to land-based phones in exchange for watching online advertising. This model soon failed, but the thought of making ultra-cheap phone calls through a computer did not. And, as the recent mega sale of Skype reveals, a market now exists that can put Internet telephony to work on a grand scale, or at least large enough to make eBay pony up with a lot of cash and stock to give it a try.

Once you install the software, you log onto the service and can make phone calls to other Skype users through their computers at no charge. You can set up a call list, much like an instant messaging “buddy list” so with a couple clicks of the mouse you can ring your friends up for a chat. Or, if you pre-pay for calling minutes, you can enter in the country code and phone number of your pals, click a button, and their phone or cell phone will ring.

Skype also allows you to hold conference calls with up to 4 other people at the same time, making it easy to hold group meetings. Skype includes a group chat feature which allows you to hold a group chat session with up to 48 other people at the same time… excellent for “webinars” or even planning that next family reunion. Skype also allows you to transfer files to and from other users, perfect for sharing photos, music and short video clips with your pals.

Tip: Get a good headset microphone.

It makes using the service more enjoyable and also eliminates the echo created by your own speakers feeding back into your PC’s microphone.

By: Jim Edwards

I am not sure if about the touch screen. If anyone can change a market like the lucrative cell phone market, Apple could.

Feeds are published by millions of publishers, from small individuals to large organizations like Newsweek. The value of a feed is that it brings the most current site content to you in a format that is easily scanned; further, you are spared the task of visiting each source site each day. This is typically done through the use of what is called an ‘aggregator’ or ‘feed reader’.

Feed readers or RSS readers, are software programs that run on your computer (or PDA or phone); let you easily subscribe to feeds, and allow you to read through them efficiently. Some are relatively simple, showing the headline and summary. The fancier ones often work with (or in) your browser to make viewing the material look much like the source page. Once you have a reader on your computer, subscribing to a feed with is an easy click or drag from your browser. Sites that provide RSS feeds will usually have a button for that purpose.

There are several RSS feed formats as well as one with an entirely different methodology called Atom. Atom has become popular with some bloggers and blogging tools. Some aggregators can read both. The other acronyms you will see in “feedspeak” are XML, which stands for ‘extensible markup language’ and is the code standard for these simple text feeds. An ‘OPML” file is a format for indexing hierarchical feed lists. If you dive into this web habit in a big way, your aggregator or reader may keep your subscription list in an OPML file.

An RSS feed is a great method for staying abreast of issues and topics that interest you. There are a number of feed “libraries,” so to speak, from which you can learn what’s out there in your areas of interest. Google has a built-in reader that makes the subscription process easy, as does Yahoo. Firefox has a downloadable extension for the purpose of aggregating RSS feeds, as well as a default ability to save RSS feeds as “live bookmarks” that update via the RSS feed. You can download a number of stand alone readers and aggregators; you can find them through a simple web search.

The whole RSS “movement” is a step towards utilizing the Internet more efficiently. The trick is to avoid overloading your email inbox with daily reports that you end up ignoring most of the time. For that purpose, there are sites like Feedster that will search millions of RSS feeds for articles that are relevant to your interests. Like any search tool, however, these services are hit and miss. They are still working off keywords and sometimes what they find is relevant, sometimes not. But if you want daily news broken into categories, it’s great technology once you learn how to make it work for you.

By Madison Lockwood

With Identity theft and viruses on the rise, Windows users are vulnerable to many attacks via your home computer. If you have Windows 95, 98, 98 SE, and ME users should upgrade to Windows XP. It has been 11 years since Windows 95 and 8 years since Windows 98 has debuted. A lot has changed since since 95. Windows XP is far superior in terms of security and performance. Modern Windows uses a journaling file system which makes crashes far safer and far between. The second point is that Microsoft stopped supporting old legacy operating systems, such as 95, 98, 98 SE and ME. If you are using your old windows computer on the net, you are vulnerable to many unfixed holes in the operating system. Many known Viruses and Spy-ware are free to infect your system though your browser. Microsoft has even offered large upgrades to Windows XP. The upgrades are, XP Service Pack 1 and XP Service Pack 2. Make sure you upgrade your version to at least SP2. SP2 is a big upgrade in features and security. Upgrading is free with any legal version of XP trough Windows Update.

If you don’t have the money to move to XP, consider using the free Linux operating system Ubuntu. Ubuntu Linux makes switching easy and offers much more features and security then pre 2000 operating systems. Installing Linux has become very simple. Download or have a disk Mailed to you, Back up to CD all your important files on your current version of Windows. Place the new Linux disk into the CD drive and reboot. If your computer is set up to boot from CD, Linux will automatically start and guides you though the installation process.

Windows Update
Ubuntu Linux

You have just purchased a new computer and realized that it came with no software. Good news, their is lots of free software that can be downloaded. With a open source boom in the last year and a half, many companies are now releasing open source software. Open source software is a matter of the users freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. One success story has been, Mozilla FireFox, is an open source browser that has given us a better alternative to Microsoft’s IE. Here are some of my recommendations.

Operating systems (Wanting to get rid of Microsoft’s XP or Vista)

• Ubuntu Linux
• Suse Linux

Browsers (Replacement for IE 6)

• Firefox:


Office Tools ( Replacement for Microsoft’s Office Suite Program)

• Open Office - Compatible with Microsoft’s Office. Perfect for the home user. I recommend it highly.

Photo Editing Software ( Replacement for Photoshop)

• Gimp

Spyware Remover

• Spy-bot Search and Destroy

Instant Messenger ( Replacement for Yahoo Messenger and AOL Chat)

• Gaim Messenger - Lets you talk to people on different IM Networks.

Some Free Anti Virus Software:

• Avast Home - my current preference ,catches almost everything, it has a very bad User Interface and is complicated.
• Command Antivirus- free online version, paid downloaded version
• AVG - WAS a favorite of mine, it just doesn’t catch much.

Some Paid Anti Virus Software:

• Norton Antivirus - best all around, bloated and almost impossible to completely remove.
• Mcafee Virus Scangood virus scanner, annoying program
• Panda Antivirus Platinum
• F-Secure Anti-Virus