Back up your files

The nightmare of everyone working on a computer is to loose your important data.
This problem is slightly solved with external disks. Mine has 180 GB space. But…… I am not always at my own office but are known to dwell at times. And I do not carry it around in my laptop bag.

But technology is evolving and remote access to your backup’s is possible.My provider UPS is offering it too but for a monthly fee I am not really interested in.

Today I received a link from one of my clients about “Mozy” Online Backup which (not unimportant) is also supporting Windows Vista. Unfortunately they do not support Mac.
They are offering Mozy Unlimited for only 4,95 USD/month and Mozy Free.

It is very easy to install and configure, even for PC dummies.

What do you get:
- secure storage (free or unlimited for $4.95/month!)
- Open/locked file support
- Block-level differential backup
- 128-bit SSL support (to secure your data during transport)
- 448-bit Blowfish encryption (to secure your data on our server)
- Continuous or scheduled backup options

I am aware that some might question storing their “stuff” elsewhere as one of my contacts put it but I feel comfortable with the idea that I can access a backup of my most important data no matter my location.

Stay safe, install Skype

My mother is looked after by some very nice ladies who either nurse her or keep her house clean.
One of them lives nearby. She is a wonderful lady, married with 2 great kids.

Her husband is a highly skilled serviceman with KPN and problem solver. He is polite, nice, calm and clients like him very much. Needless to say he is a busy serviceman. Let’s call him Tommy.

Last week he was visiting a rather demanding family who claimed to have received the wrong telephone. He was asked to have a look and to discuss what they wanted to make sure they were going to deliver the right phone.

When he arrived, the family was annoyed and wanted the right phone straight away. They were impatient, angry, impolite and the two muscular sons, blocked the doors when Tommy wanted to leave to organize a correct delivery.

The whole family got all of a sudden extremely angry, locked the doors and changed into hostage-takers.
They shouted at him that he could call his boss to tell him they would hostage him until someone else was going to deliver the phone. They were trying to frighten him with abusive language and attitude.

I already mentioned that Tommy has a calm nature and even though being a hostage all of a sudden, he remained calm. Unfortunately, talking did not help and he got his mobile out of his pocket.
The family thought he was going to call his boss and were quite satisfied with what they achieved by threatening him.

But no, Tommy phoned the police to whom he explained he was kept as a hostage.
This was something the family didn’t expect, the woman got frightened, pushed her muscular son away, unlocked and opened the door and told Tommy to leave as soon as possible.

Tommy left for the police station where he told his story and from where he called his wife to tell her he was OK (although she did not know what happened of course!).

It looks like people get more and more abusive, even when it is about an ordinary phone.

So, stay safe, stick with Skype……

Skype Reads Your BIOS and Motherboard Serial Number

No, I am not going start another blogpost with the whole story but days after it was published on the Internet for the very first time, I still receive IM’s from concerned contacts.

Fortunately I can forward them to the blog post of Jaanus at Skype’s Blog.

So please read:

“Over the past few days, we have seen a story circulating about how Skype is reading BIOS data of your computer and what this might possibly mean. Here’s an update from our Chief Security Officer Kurt Sauer on this.”

Skype based Co-workers

Varras Consultancy is a Skype based Secretarial- and Answering Service.
Our main goal is answering forwarded incoming Skype calls from one-man / one-woman companies but we are expanding our services.
The Internet is our office which means that our clients can be based anywhere in the world.

Varras Consultancy is founded in 2006 and looking back on an exiting year with wonderful opportunities for the future.
Being known world wide means working world wide. Therefore we are now looking for international co-workers who run their office from home, who are looking for part time work and who have a knowledge of how to work with the program Skype.

Please note that although I am a Moderator at Skype’s Forum, Varras Consultancy is not a support channel for Skype. Of course we do offer our clients Skype support which is part of the subscription.

Our co-workers can also be located world wide and at this very moment we are looking for a

telephonist / secretary (m/f)

in the Californian, Uk and Dutch time zone

Your required skills if you like to work for us:
A solid knowledge of the English language (and for Holland also Dutch), secondary languages very welcome

A reliable broadband Internet connection
Good knowledge of the Skype Program and interested in learning more
Excellent USB sound device
Excellent communication skills
Experienced in using programs such as Word, Excel and Remote Control
A non criminal back ground which will be checked by a Security Company

If you think you would like to work for us in the near future, please contact me at info@varrasconsultancy.com

And if you are too busy to work for us but you know someone who would, please forward the link of this blogpost!
Looking forward hearing from you

Skype for Dummies

Susan Abdulezer commented on my post about "Greet", the Dachshund who barks with her friends over Skype.

I clicked on Susan's name and arrived at the site "Skype for Dummies". Loren and Suzan Abdulezer and Howard Dammond are the co-authors of the book with the same name.
Niklas Zennström (Skype's co-founder) wrote the foreword.

The book is devided in 5 parts:
1) Getting Started with Skype
2) As You Like It: Skype Your Way
3) Calling All Seasoned Skypers
4) The Professional Skyper
5) The Part of Tens
+
Appendix A: Skype Multilanguage Support
Appendix B: Skype Tips and Tricks Guide

A wonderful written book for not only the Skype newbies but for everyone who wants to know all about the ins- and outs of using Skype. A must have for every Skype lover and those who think Skype is "just another IM application" (it is not! )

The website "Skype for Dummies" is an extension to the book. In it the co-authors will be adding lots of information, ideas, stories, and updates. In the weeks to come there will be a steady flow of articles, factoids, product reviews, and a lively discussion about the emerging cyber-culture centered around technologies like Skype.

Thanks you Susan for commenting on Greet's story!

Use Skype to bark your friends

One of my Skype contacts recently got a new friend in her life, a Dachshund called Greet. She started a blog about Greet which is amusing to read. Always been a dog breeder, she loves them and sees the funny side of them. Besides that she is a great writer.

I will translate her story about Greet and Skype. For those who read Dutch, please visit her blog “Tuttebelle”

“Skype

I wrote before that with Skype the world opens up for you, or did Skype say that?
The same for Greet. Besides de "ordinary” new world she is trying to understand, there is also Skype.
Using human legs to climb an office chair was a discovery. More fun for her then for me because I now often sit with a Dachshund on my lap. Sometimes there is a sound from the microphone which triggers dogs; they start barking.
So I introduced Greet to a barking James and Noury via Skype.
To get to know each other before they meet.….”

Maybe Greet would also like to bark to Skype's mascotte "Tobi"

45+ and keen to use Skype

About a year ago, I added a 13 year old teenager to my contacts. A great kid with an own view on life and he became a special contact.

One of the first things he said to me was: “Just browsed your profile, it is good to see the older generation working with computers” (I am the same age as his grandmother )

Shame he never met my great uncle who went to a home for elderly people when he was 89.
His children and grandchildren bought him his very first computer for his 90th birthday. He went to a computer course and from then on he designed the complete lay-out of the monthly magazine for the home he lived in. I was so proud of him!
Unfortunately uncle got ill at the age of 94 and passed away two weeks later.

For me 94 wasn’t old, for my teenage friend 50 was very old.

To me it didn’t come as a surprise that Britain’s mums and dads are becoming more Internet-savvy than their children according to a report out today from Birmingham Midshires. I can’t find any survey’s for mums and dads outside the UK but I think there will not be much difference.

Not only are the over-45s skype-ing (15%), VOiP-ing (13%) and popping up on MySpace, YouTube and Second Life (15%), they are driving the boom in online price comparison and e-griping. The findings come as Birmingham Midshires launches its first quarterly Life 2 report. Throughout 2007, Life 2 will examine different aspects of the lives of over-45s and will challenge traditional perceptions of this age group.

The report mentions different types of Internetters. Amongst them the so called “Info-Jockeys”. Accounting for around 7% of the over-45s, these ‘pragmatechies’ are the keenest to use tools such as Skype on their mobiles and are early adopters of tech tools they can use to enhance their work.

Peter MacBride, author of Brilliant Internet for Over-50s, added: “Gone are the days when over-45s saw the Internet as a gadget solely the preserve of techies and the younger generation. Instead, today’s over-45s are exploiting the Internet to their own end. These are smart consumers who are not scared of new technology but rather embrace it because of the important benefits it offers, saving them time, effort and money.”

Interesting to see that us “oldtimers” are not doing too bad at all!