Playing it Safe on Facebook
With the hundreds of millions of users, and more and more bad guys using Facebook to carry out their evil plots, we need to look at how protect yourself, your family and privacy. So here's a few steps to playing it safe on Facebook.
Privacy Starts with You: Set your profile to "private," so that only the folks you want to see it - see it. Facebook's ever changing privacy settings can be confusing. You really need to stay up-to-date with their policies. You have a privacy settings dashboard that enables you to determine who has access and to what on your profile. You can adjust who can search for you, what info appears on your wall or news feed and what info is available to any apps you may be using.
What do they NEED TO KNOW: There is no law that says you have to fill in every block on your profile with every tidbit of your life. In fact, it is probably a good idea to avoid filling it all in. You may think that only your closest pals can see your vitals but you never really know for sure. So think before you fill out that info - do you want your boss to read this? What about your spouse or other loved ones, or for that matter even total strangers. And please don't post anything you don't want the universe to view. This includes pictures from your stag party which although may be cute, just should be kept between you and the photographer. Don't post pictures of yourself or your friends in less than beautiful circumstances. If you don't want someone to see it like your mother-in-law, or your grandma, then don't, and I really mean DON'T put it on Facebook.
Standing Guard: Consider yourself to be the hall monitor at Facebook U. Monitor any photos that your pals post of you, some of them just may not be up to your standards. You can do this by going to your profile and click on photos, scroll down and you will see a place that says photos of you. Look through those photos and untag yourself from any you don't like. Simply click "remove tag" next to the name in the list of people in the picture. Also if you think that the particular picture is a tad compromising, talk to your pal that put it up and ask them to remove it immediately.
Things to Avoid Posting: Here are a few more things you should avoid putting up on your Facebook page or profile. No to your phone number, mailing address, children's or pet's names. Believe it or not, some folks use pet's names or phone numbers as passwords so don't give the maggots more info than they deserve. Also if you are heading out of town, don't post the info. You may not have a home to come home to.
Password: As with any secure site, it is a good idea to change your password periodically. Be sure to create a good strong passcode with letters, symbols and numbers.
Claiming Friendship: Ahhh... the delight of making new friends. Unfortunately, making friends out of strangers is not necessarily a good idea. If you really want to friend someone you don't know, especially from far away places, make sure you check them out before you click okay. Look at their profile, etc. And by all means block anyone who threatens or harasses you.
Think Before You Click: Before you click on a Facebook link, check the address bar and make sure it displays "www.facebook.com/" and nothing else like "www.facebook33.tk" or "www.facebook1.php", etc. which is a giveaway of a phisher. It can steal your e-mail and password, as well as post spam links to your friends' Walls.
Spam-a-Lam-a: I don't know about you but I hate those Facebook apps that you inadvertently click on and it goes to your entire friends list explaining how much you love em or hate em or something. Avoid clicking on those funny wall postings. Just click on the x and remove them. And should you fall prey to those maggots of cyber lack of culture thugs and your stuff gets sprinkled on your friend's walls, remove them yourself. It is a pain but your friends will love you for it. Plus they won't fall into the trap.
Your Guide to On-Line Backup Services
No one readily admits to liking insurance, especially paying for it. However, when something goes wrong everyone is thankful they have it. The same can be said about online backup, which is the process of copying files over the Internet and storing it remotely in another location.
When a computer crashes, a fire or theft occurs or equipment is damaged after a disaster, everyone rejoices that important files were safely backed up and available for use in short order. You may be thinking that your backup and storage requirements are being met by periodically copying your important files or folders to CD, DVD or alternate hard drives. That’s an important first step. But where do you keep the CDS, DVDs or hard drives? Many keep them right where their computers are or somewhere in the same vicinity. That’s not helpful when a fire or flood hits home. Others will argue that their IT departments routinely employ tape cartridges or software backups to handle storage requirements. Again, unless copies are sent offsite, that’s not very useful in a disaster recovery scenario. Plus, it takes some serious knowledge and experience to configure, maintain, backup and restore information. Many small businesses do not have this expertise in house.
Consider the main causes for Data Loss:
- 44% Hardware Failure: Most hard drive manufacturers have reduced their warranties from 36 to 12 months
- 30% Human Error: Accidental file overwrites and deletions
- 12% Software Corruption: Programming errors, improper application terminations
- 7% PC Virus: Inferior anti-virus software, updated signature files.
- 7% Theft, fire, flood or other natural disaster
The Online Backup Advantage
A simple solution requiring the least amount of company resources is generally what businesses seek out. By simply downloading software, installing it on your PC or Mac and connecting to the online backup provider’s server, you can administer a secure online backup strategy. What’s more is this can be an automated procedure being conducted at regular intervals while your computer is still on.
What’s simpler than sending your encrypted, password-protected data to another computer over the Internet? If the data is lost or stolen, you contact the online backup provider and retrieve the information.
Even better, for many, is a web-based option in which you can access all your files from anywhere you can use a PC or laptop, providing you have a high speed Internet connection. Granted, this option works best for a few files stored rather than the entire contents of your hard drive.
To reiterate, online backup services allows you to:
- Easily manage your backup strategy without IT personnel
- Eliminate the hassle of copying/storing tapes, CDS, DVDS
- Retrieve files 24/7 from an offsite location regardless of the impending emergency
There are a few minor drawbacks to be sure.
- Security: You’re sending your valuable information to another source and you’re concerned about the security measures especially during transfer. One has to ask the service provider for explicit details here.
- Speed: Dial up Internet connections will obviously take more time in the transfer and retrieval process. This can be overcome somewhat by scheduling overnight backups. Also, the first backup will take longer to complete depending on the amount of data transferred. It gets faster as you continue to use the service as only new or updated files are uploaded.
- The Usual Risks: Internet-based companies are fairly new and sometimes go out of business, but the same is true for all business undertakings. It becomes crucial to choose the right solution provider.
What’s the Next Step? Basically, you must establish what you need to back up. This is impacted by the number of workstations you have and what you establish as crucial information to your business. Backing up your sales and billing information daily may be a considerable amount of data in some organizations. Even various components of your operating system or application files, if so desired, may fall under the realm of vital in terms of storage. Once you establish the needs and the amount of information that you need to survive in the event of an emergency, it’s time to go online backup shopping.
