You hear it all the time from us—back up your data, keep your virus protection current, and install and maintain a firewall to protect yourself from hackers and other online threats.

However, while these precautions will certainly help you avoid problems, they CAN’T do anything if you don’t have a good backup and disaster recovery plan in place.

Are You A Sitting Duck?

We all know that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure; yet, disaster recovery planning often takes a distant second to the daily deadlines and pressures of running a business.

That means that most businesses, including your own, may end up offline and without your data after a simple lightening storm.

Don’t think that could ever happen to you? Consider this: “data-erasing disasters” can also take the form of office fires and broken water pipes, not just earthquakes, floods and tornadoes. If a fire started in your building, the parts that weren’t burned beyond recovery would probably be destroyed by the firemen’s efforts. But even more common is software corruption, hardware failures and human error!

Disaster Recovery Questions You Need To Answer

A disaster recovery plan doesn’t have to be complicated, time-consuming or expensive. Start by asking yourself the following questions…

1. Do you back up your company’s data daily to both an onsite and offsite location?
2. Are you absolutely certain that your backup copy is valid, complete and not corrupt? How do you know for sure?
3. If disaster strikes, HOW would you get your data back, and how long would it take? In many cases it takes days and often weeks; what would you do during that period of time?
4. Do you have copies of all the software licenses and discs in a safe location that could be accessed in the event of having to rebuild your server?
5. Would you and your employees have a way to access your network remotely if you couldn’t get to the office?
6. Do you store important passwords in a secure place that company officers can access if you are unavailable?
7. Do you have a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) device in place to keep your network and other critical data operations running during a power outage?

This is NOT a complete list, but it is a good start to get you thinking in the right direction.
Our FREE Disaster Recovery Plan Helps You Prepare

Since it’s the HURRICANE SEASON, we’ve decided to help our clients get their “Hurricane disaster plan” in order by giving away a FREE Backup and Disaster Recovery Audit. At no charge or obligation, we’ll come to your office, review your current plan (or lack of one!) and provide a simple action plan on what you need to do to make sure your business can always be up and running.

But take note! We can only make this available to our clients and friends during the month of October after that, the fee for this consultation will be $395. For more information, please contact our office at 561-771-1460 Ext. 908 and ask for Marco or e-mail us at www.performancedata.com

• Marco Ortiz Performance Data
• Dr. Vincent Dolce Dolce Dental
• Gary Truitt New Epic Media
• Ryan Steinolfson Accelerated Marketing
• Dave Sprague Accelerated Marketing

Will Be Covering but not limiting to the following topics:

1. How to brand yourself with online video,
2. How to choose keywords for your practice that will translate into money
3. How to dominate with social media and discover how Twitter will explode your practice
4. How to cut your marketing budget by as much as 50%
5. How to get your practice listed on Google local

At the end of the hour we will be conducting a Q & A period, were we will answer and help you with any of your concerns.

We are looking forward to seeing you at the event!

On the road, in the airport, at a client’s site, or simply at home on the couch. These are places you can’t – or don’t want to – plug your laptop in. Want to keep your laptop running as long as possible without searching for an outlet? Here are 5 tips to help:

1) Keep your screen dim. A laptop’s backlight requires a lot of power. Reducing the brightness conserves battery life.

2) Turn off unused hardware. Your Bluetooth and your Wi-FI receiver can both be turned off if not in use. Unplug your external mouse or other device. And mute the PC’s sound system. Not only will it save power, it avoids annoying everyone else around you.

3) Don’t multitask. Run as few programs as you can get away with. Stick to one application (word processor, browser, or whatever) if possible. (If online keep your antivirus and firewall on in the background.)

4) Avoid multimedia. Save your photo editing and video watching for when have AC power. These tasks suck up immense battery life. To listen to music, use your iPod (or similar device).

5) Sleep, standby or hibernate. Sleep mode (a.k.a. “standby” in XP) keeps your PC on. It still uses power, just less than normal. Hibernate uses no power initially, but a lot of battery life to start back up.

Interruptions come in many forms. Phone calls, emails, faxes, colleagues, vendors. And once a person is interrupted, it can take as much as 30 minutes to get back on track. According to a recent study from the University of California, employees have an average of only 11 minutes of uninterrupted time on any given project; and they typically have 12 projects going at once. All this interruption adds up to over 10 ½ hours of unproductive time per week, says the study. So what advice does the study give to resolve this productivity loss? Close your email, let your phone go to voicemail, and shut your door – at least until the next crisis strikes.

According to Symantec’s 2009 security review, the biggest single threat to computer security is a user’s failure to apply new security patches when they become available. A “patch” is simply a software fix to a known security bug in a software program. Once a vulnerability is discovered, software vendors scramble to develop a patch to prevent hackers from using this to access PCs – but their release of a patch is also a “go” sign for hackers who them scramble to write viruses designed to exploit PC users who haven’t gotten around to patching or updating their system.

As you might expect, online criminal opportunism is at an all-time high. One well-written virus can spread and attack millions of PCs in minutes, giving these cyber criminals access and control over your PC – often without YOU ever realizing it until it’s too late. And since most of us are storing and using our PCs for banking, making purchases, and storing other sensitive information, it’s a fast-track break in that’s irresistible.

The Two Most Common Applications Attacked

Surprisingly, PDF-based download exploits rose to account for 49 percent of online attacks. Internet Explorer was the second most attacked application, accounting for 18 percent of web-based attacks. Incredibly, the Internet Explorer vulnerability in question is the Microsoft Internet Explorer ADODB.Stream Object File Installation Weakness that first came to the world’s attention in August 2003, and was patched the following July – and that means that a whole lot of people AREN’T patching their computer regularly.

Your PC Isn’t A Toaster

The main reason systems get attacked is because too many people treat their computer like an appliance: they turn it on and conduct ZERO maintenance. While it’s important for everyone to keep their network secure, it goes double for you as a business owner because the costs of restoring a compromised network escalate quickly when compounded with corrupt data, downtime and possibly the embarrassment of notifying your clients their information was compromised by a hacker under YOUR watch. If you are currently a <> customer, you have nothing to worry about. But if you’re NOT on this plan and you don’t have someone updating your firewall and security settings DAILY, it’s only a matter of time before your system gets compromised.

Let Us Protect Your Business

For more information on how you can completely offload the worry of maintaining your network to a true team of professionals, call us today. We have various plans for all budgets and needs:
561-771-1460 ext. 908

Shiny New Gadget of the Month

The Hood PC

It’s a hat. For your laptop. If you’ve ever tried to work outside on a bright sunny day, you know there is one factor that makes it nearly impossible to see the screen – the glare.

Try as you might to angle or maneuver your laptop, you just can’t see the darn thing when the sun is beating down on it.
The solution? The HoodPC. For under $40, this little laptop hood is the solution. It blocks the sun’s glare so you can easily view your laptop screen, even when outdoors. Here’s how it works…

Right out of the bag, the HoodPC pops into shape and fits a 16” laptop. With the help of 2 sets of snaps, you can secure the HoodPC to fit either a 15” or a 14” laptop as well.

Spring tension in the HoodPC keeps it in place. When you’re done, the HoodPC folds flat in a few seconds. Tuck it back into its convenient travel case – and that’s it.
Think your laptop will look silly with a hat on? Maybe. But if it means you get to enjoy the great outdoors while taking care of business …who cares?

More information about the HoodPC can be found at www.hoodmanusa.com