Subscriber JNC wrote to me to say that he’d been using Acronis True Image for a while and wanted to know about keeping old backups:

I have just completed a total backup via Acronis on my external hard drive. Is there any reason to save previous total backups?
My external (500) hard drive is over 2/3 full.
jnc

I wrote back to JNC to say that I wouldn’t get rid of all of them. I suggested that he keep some recent ones and one or two full backups from the past — including the oldest one he had.

I find that, most of the time, I’m reaching for a backup file or backup image file because my brain messed up, not because of a hardware failure. It’s too easy to change a file and not realize that we haven’t done the change correctly. We find it out later when we try to use the file, or that part of the file. It might be days, weeks or even months later.

Continue reading Keeping Old Hard Drive Backup Files

Reader Olle wrote to ask a remote access question:

Hi! I read your article about editing videos remotely with GoToMyPC. I\’ve tried doing that but it doesn\’ work. I cannot even play a vidoe and see the video remotely. But I can do everything else like trabsfereing files and more. Is it a setting issue? I would Like to ask you kindly to guide me on this issue. I appriciate an response.
Thank You Kind regards Olle

Remote access to your own PC, or to other PC’s you manage on your own home network, can be a great way to do many tasks.

On my home network, since I use firewall programs on each PC (all are using Sunbelt Personal Firewall) and the home network is segregated from the Internet by my cable/DSL router (a Linksys BEFSR41), I don’t hesitate to use non-encrypted remote control software within my network. I use the free versionn of RealVNC to do this.

On the other hand, for remote access across the Internet, I think you’d have to be crazy to do that with an unencrypted connection (which possibly could be monitored by someone else!). For remote access across the Internet, I’d choose GoToMyPC because of its speed and encryption. You can try a 30 day free trial of GoToMyPC (for one PC) or GoToMyPC Pro (for multiple PC’s). There are also paid versions of RealVNC that include encryption, so they’re another option.

Continue reading Remote Access Software Question