Online Backups

An increasingly common practice these days is backing up online over the internet. With modern broadband speeds quite a lot of data can be be uploaded during an overnight session.

With most software options, once an initial full backup has been completed, only files that have been changed need to be uploaded.

Advice Sheets

We have a range of useful advice sheets, which we suggest you print off and keep to hand. Some of these you can think of as 'First Aid' for your systems should problems arise. Others are general tips and how to do things.

Topics covered include ways backing up, configuring emails, troubleshooting email issues, and recovering from problems.

Note it is necessary to register first, before you can download the sheet(s)

Go to the registration page

Backing Up

The most important part of your system.

Should disaster strike: your computer system is stolen, damaged by fire, rendered inopperable by a virus infection or whatever, your insurance policy will cover replacement hardware or possibly software. It may even by covered by warranty against mechanical failure.

However the most valuable part of your system is your business data!

Just think of the hours of work spent keeping those accounts up to date - or the effect on your business should you lose details of all your clients or prospective customers.

Whilst it possible to ensure against the costs of inputting all that data again; this could takes days or weeks and assumes that you have the original documents to hand. Also your insurers may not pay out if they feel that you have been negligent in not taking reasonable pre-cautions such as regular backups.

Thankfully it is not often that systems fail, but when they do the effect on your business can be little short of disaster. Just as we readily insure our plant and other items essential to our businesses, we should spend a little time taking the precautions mentioned below.

You need to ensure three things at least:

View of OfficeBackups

The wisest precaution is to make regular backups. A backup is a separate copy of all your data files (or even the whole system) on some media that you can take away and store in a safe place; alternatively you can backup over the internet.

Download our Advice Sheet "The various ways of doing a backup"

Whatever system you use:

Make sure that you test your backup is working from time to time. Do this by creating a few dummy or test items, before you backup. Then after backing-up delete these and make sure that you can restore them from the backup media, or remote online storage.

Rotate your media (or keep one or two older versions as well as the most recent).

To ensure maximum safety keep your backup copies in a secure location off the premises.

System Restore

Should some major system crash occur, the system won't start properly, or something doesn't work as it used to; Windows© XP and Vista provide a number of way's of recovering your system or restoring it to an earlier state. You will need to prepare a special backup and an ASR floppy disk to recover from the worst disasters.

Avoiding Disaster - Rebuilding the system

Very occasionally, after a serious infection, it becomes necessary to rebuild the entire system from scratch, it is sometimes easier and cheaper to do this than to try to 'heal' an infection. To permit this to happen smoothly, use the following insurance* policy. This is also useful in the event of other disasters such as theft, disc crashes and fire.

  • Regularly backup your data, including the contents of your inbox etc. on a weekly or preferably daily basis.*
  • Retain copies of original installation discs for all software, along with any serial numbers, license keys, activation codes or registration numbers.**
  • Keep the copies of your software installation discs, organised in a safe location. Make sure that everything is stored away so that you can find it easily, and clear out the redundant items from time to time so as not to cloud things. Make a member of staff responsible for keeping things in order.
  • Keep notes of all particular settings such as email accounts and password.
  • Store all these in a safe location - off site if possible.

* Whilst it is possible to take out insurance against computer failure and the cost of re-inputting data etc. Insurers may not pay out where they deem the policy holder to have been negligent.

** Frequently cheaper PCs purchased from high street stores, or unbranded clones do not come with re-installation discs. This may prove to be a 'false economy'. If purchasing online; tick the appropriate box.