Ekaru - Newsletter

The Ekaru Technology Advisor Vol 7-4 September 2007

Welcome to this month's issue! The Technology Advisor provides technology advice, strategy, tips and trends to help you manage and grow your business!

Big Backup Mistakes to Avoid.
On a regular basis, we get calls from people who have a crashed system or some other major problem on their system. Hard drives spin at very high velocities with very tight tolerances, and they do fail. The first question we ask a new client is "Do you have a backup". If the answer is yes, getting the system back up and running again is a relatively simple task. Perhaps all that's needed is just a simple installation of a new hard drive and re-installation of programs. However, if there isn't an adequate backup, then the situation gets quite complicated and may involve complex and expensive data recovery techniques.

The backup mistakes to avoid:

Not running a backup - No excuses! If you're not running a backup, this is a disaster waiting to happen! An on-line backup service or an external hard drive are low cost investments that will protect your key data.
Not running a backup often enough - Can you afford to lose a week's worth of work, one day's worth of work, one hour of work? Time your backup to give you the protection you need.
Not thinking about file versions - If you have a file in your system that you inadvertently delete, or somehow gets corrupted, depending how your backup is configured, you may wipe it away on your next backup if your backup doesn't maintain old versions of files. You need to understand how old versions of files are maintained in the backup set.
Not backing up your email - So much vital information is stored in email. Many people know to backup "My Documents" but miss backing up email because the email files are stored elsewhere. If you are using Microsoft Outlook, Search for the .pst file on your system and make sure you're backing it up. The other common mission-critical data to backup is your QuickBooks file.
Not knowing how to do a restore. Don't wait until you're under a lot of stress to retrieve a file - run a test restore to make sure you know how to do it, and create some documentation.

Knowing you have a secure backup will provide peace of mind, and will also save you a lot of money in the event of a system crash, or loss of a system. Take a few moments to think about your backup and you'll be glad you did.

Daylight Savings Time (DST) - Changes in 2007 - Again!
Earlier this year, there was a bit of commotion in the computer world as new laws taking effect in 2007 changed the dates for Daylight Savings Time. This year, DST started three weeks earlier and is ending one week later than usual, on November 4, 2007. If you're running Windows Vista, or if your updates are up to date on other Microsoft operating systems, you should be all set. If you went through updates in preparation for the earlier start of DST (March 11), you should also be all set for the change in the Fall schedule (first Sunday in November, going forward).

Just in case though, we are repeating some of the references you may need. Keep in mind that computer programs handle time in different ways, such as an absolute time, a time reference to Greenwich Time, or a calculated relative value. This is why this problem is much trickier than changing the clock on your microwave.

Some of the effects you may see:

You use Outlook to "invite" a person to a meeting at 10:00am and it shows up in their calendar as 11:00am.
An "All Day Event" could show up as two days.
A calendar item within 1 hour of midnight could show up on the wrong day
Your handheld device such as a Treo or BlackBerry will also be affected.

Resources to help with the Daylight Savings Time Change:

Microsoft Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst
Blackberry Support: http://www.blackberry.com/select/dst2007/
Palm Support: http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/dst.html

As an additional precaution, we are advising people to print out calendars for the first two weeks of November before October 28, 2007 (the previous DST change date -Last Sunday in October). If your system incorrectly changes on the old DST time, you'll have at least a hard copy of your correct calendar. We are also recommending that appointments be confirmed for that week.

Was this newsletter helpful to you? If so, forward it to a friend or colleague! Do you have suggestions for future newsletter topics or a particular question you'd like to see answered? Send us an email!. We want to write about what's important to you! Click here to read past issues.

Enjoy Fall! Enjoy Fall

Sincerely,
Team Ekaru

Introductory Technology Assessment Over 250 local small businesses have chosen Ekaru to manage their computers and networks. We offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation to get started. We'll visit your office, review your network, and make recommendations. Call us at 978-692-4200 or email us to schedule a no-obligation assessment. If you know someone who could benefit from this offer, simply forward this email to them. Thank You!

Back to Technology Advisor e-Newsletter