In computer news this week, 01/12/2000

In computer news this week, 01/16/2003

Computer goals for the new year:

Some of the ideas in the rigid old computer mainframe world were pretty good, including the concept of having an annual computer plan and goals .

Unfortunately, today's PC world lacks organization, and usually there is no computing plan at all. Here are some goals I think every company and individual should set for the year 2003.

Do a complete system backup on a regular basis. Usually this is now usually done using one of the new inexpensive zip drives. I bought a 750Mb zip drive for as low as $ 145 just before yearend. You should have 2 complete current system backups of your data at all times, and one of these should be stored offsite. If you can't do a complete backup, then do a backup of your most critical data. The most common mistake businesses make in buying a new computer is not buying a backup unit with it, either a tape drive or a zip drive. If you think you're going to back up a ten to 40 gig hard disk onto floppy disks, forget it.

Iomega recently made some major changes in their software, due to ongoing problems they have had over the years. They used to offer you the option of using their software to do a backup of selected files, and when you used their actual backup program the data would be compressed and then stored on the zip drive. However most people used the quicky way of copying files - which meant you could just drag and drop files from your computer and copy them to the zip drive. This way the files came across on a same size basis, without any compression. And you could hook your zip drive to another computer and quickly copy the files on your zip disk back to this computer.

I was just on the Iomega site and saw their statement that they do not use data compression in their backup software anymore. I downloaded their new complete backup demo but was very unimpressed with it. I can copy folders my own way much faster.

Migrate into the modern world and replace any early windows programs you may still be using. Chances are your vendor no longer provides support for these programs, or is out of business. Your operating system should be at least windows 98, or you can consider updating to the current version, Windows XP.

Every business and person should have an email address and a web page. An email address and a web page are expected of all businesses today. Some businesses can expect to have a profitable web page for ecommerce, but most others should just realistically view a web page as a required current technology for telling current and potential clients who you are and what services you provide.

The 2 go hand in hand, most ISP companies that provide access to the internet which you have your email address through also provide you with the space for a web page, in differing forms. The current monthly cost for a commercial web page can run from $ 10 a month and up.

Probably the biggest misconception related to web pages is that a lot of people really think that if they get a web page the entire world will be contacting them and wanting to buy their services.

When you first got a phone, did that happen? No, and it won't happen on the web either.

And related to the internet, you need to own, use, and update an antivirus program, or someday soon you're going to be in for a rude awakening.

Every business should attempt to replace traditional faxing with computer email and computer faxing. It makes no sense at all to have documents in the computer, then print them out, walk over to a fax machine, spend time faxing them, and then having people on the other end receive these faxes and then have to retype them back into their computers.

Digital cameras and webcams are now very affordable - under $100 - and allow you to send pictures of yourself or anything with your email. Complete powerful computer systems are available for around $ 500.

Anything that uses computer chips is now extremely affordable. I just bought a Uniden phone at Costco that is probably the most value rich electronics product I've ever purchased - for $ 45.

Happy and safe computing for the new year!

For Raw Bytes, this is Frank Delaney

POB 222 Spangle, Wa 99031 (509)245-3736 Email: fdspokane@earthlink.net