I came across a great article while surfing the Lifehacker.com site today. I like to browse around there from time to time…it’s always full of interesting topics. The article I found is called How I’d Hack Your Weak Passwords, and it is very informative with regard to your passwords and online security.

Most people do not seem to realize the importance of good, strong passwords. I see it all the time with clients of the web host I work for. I see it with friends and family, and with other people I know online. They don’t realize it usually until it is too late. So that’s why I’m posting the link to that article, because if it helps even one person realize the importance of their passwords in protecting their personal (and often financial) information, then I have done my job.

Please check out the article and let me know your thoughts.

I just added a page with directions on how to back up your messages in Outlook Express. This will come in handy if you regularly save a lot of your business emails. Be sure to check it out!

Backup Outlook Express

This is just a heads up for anyone who might believe otherwise, but YOUR COMPUTER EATS YOUR STUFF! What do I mean? I mean, you should absolutely not rely solely on your computer to store information. I see this time and time again…someone’s computer dies and they don’t know the URL of their website builder, or they lose all their bookmarks, or their passwords are all gone. This is just incomprehensible to me. And, it’s totally preventable.

First, and I can’t believe we still need to say this in 2009, back up your data. This is not complicated, in fact it’s quite easy. Two words: FLASH DRIVE. This is a small USB storage device that you just stick in your computer, drag your files to it, and voila, you’re backed up. You can store an unbelievable amount of data on a flash drive, and you can stick it on a key ring even so it’s always with you. It’s far easier than burning things to CD’s too.

Also, back up your browser’s bookmarks. How you do this varies by browser, but every single browser (that I know of) is capable of letting you backup your bookmarks. So do it, at least once per month, if not more often. And backup them up into a file that will also get put on your flash drive! That way, if you ever lose all your browser’s bookmarks, you can easily import them at a future date.

As for passwords, there are far too many people that store all their website passwords only on their computers. Oy. Not smart. You should have hard copies of all your important passwords stored somewhere outside of that stuff-eating computer. I keep passwords in a rolodex for a quick and handy reference. You have to do something, because heaven knows, we need our passwords! So be smart about it and keep a hard copy of them somewhere.

If you own an online business, I can’t stress enough the importance of backing up and saving all of your important Internet data. And since it’s so easy, there’s really no reason not to do it. So rage against that stuff-eating machine, and BACK UP!

Sorry for the lapse in posting to the blog here lately. I’ve been in high gear trying to finish up my new online marketplace, Primitive Square Marketplace. Now that the site is complete, I can focus on my usual routine, including our blog!

For now though, I wanted to provide you with a link to a site that I find really useful: PC Pitstop. If you’re a website owner, you know the importance of keeping your computer in tip-top shape. PC Pitstop helps you do just that. They have all sorts of tests and scans you can run on your PC, to help find trouble spots and provide fixes when problems are detected. You can test all sorts of things: Internet Speed, Disk Health, PC Performance, etc. It really provides a lot of information!

So be sure to check it out. If your PC doesn’t stay tuned up, it’ll be hard to keep your website in shape either!!!

Most of us know how to back up our Outlook Express address book. But I was equally concerned with finding the best way to back up and locate all my saved messages in OE as well. So I found a site that provides the step-by-step directions for doing just that. Thought this would be a link worth sharing.

1. What “file extension” means
2. What a page rank is
3. What “ISP” means
4. What a browser is
5. What SEO is
6. How to name or name or rename a file on your computer
7. How to view the properties of an image
8. What “backing up your files” means and why it’s important
9. What a Zip file is
10. What your desktop is

Believe it or not, some folks who open an online business do NOT know these very basic things. And I think if they don’t, they’re already at a huge disadvantage as they open their biz. This list will grow, I’m sure. It’s not complete by any means. If you have other items you’d like to add, leave a comment!