Khobbits Blog

There is a post on lifehacker at the moment about different online backup services, and the leader in the polls seems to be mozy back. I’ve been using mozy back for a few years now, and for the most part there have been no problems what-so-ever. Having a look at the write ups on mozy and the lack of a mention on the referral codes seemed begging for me to leave a post.

Firstly why would anyone need to backup online? that should be the first question. There are a few reasons, first if you loose the data in the first place chances are something has gone badly wrong, that could include things like natural disasters, fires and theft. If the data is gone from your computer the hard copies you made on CD could also be gone. The next reason is someone similar, apart from being used as a backup, you can also access backed up data elsewhere. If you don’t have access to your computer for an extended period and need some data you can use the online service to download the data. Finally I’d say its easy. There is no burning CD’s or manually checking which files need backed up, the software will manage it for you.

The free version of mozy will let you backup up to 2gb of data (2.2 if you use a referral). The software scans your computer for files to backup, and using a quite simple interface you can select what you want using default file types and locations like “backup office documents”. You can also mark full folders/files/extensions to backup including future files. It is pretty much a setup and forget ordeal, might take half an hour, but you might never need to touch the software again.

I currently use it to back up two PC’s (under one account) and it does so with very little maintenance, a few times I’ve edited the rules to include/exclude files and folders but it was mainly out of choice.

Oh one final note, it uses an incremental backup system, it only backs up that which has changed since the last backup, so there’s no need to upload over a gb of data a couple of days a week, you instead will find it backing up odd mb when you’ve gone off and left your pc idle for a while.

If you want to get started I’d suggest visiting https://mozy.com/?ref… If you struggle to find the free sign up, at the time of writing it’s centre bottom of the page linked. There is no need to sign up for the larger account unless your a business or intend to use it to back up a decent chunk of data.

Now when browsing on the net, I typically bookmark certain websites I believe will come in useful in the future, or sites I might want to check back for updates, or just recommend to friends.  I thought it would be best to make a public list of some of these sites and descriptions about about why they own.

Hamachi
This app allows the setup of mini VPNs or virtual private networks, through a similar to IM client interface.  This means to the computers you add in side each of your little groups can access your computer as if it was connected via a LAN.  In application this means where ever you are, your laptop will have encrypted connection to your computer at home and behave as if it were on a local network.  Other uses could be encrypted file sharing using windows shared folders.  It also isn’t hard to use remote desktop through this app or set up a proxy, as the connections are encrypted before they leave your laptop, any wifi would never see the raw traffic.

meebo
This is a website that is a sort of web based trillian or gaim.  It allows the connection to a few popular IM networks via a easy website.  As a bonus the site provides a repeater app which means your home pc can proxy the service so that if your work blocks the site you can simply ‘host’ the site on your home pc.

freeware list
This is a cool site which lists tons of free software that does just about everything, if you ever want a tool or program but dont want to pay for brand name software check this list to see if there is a freeware version.  Typical examples are firefox, openoffice, spybot, avg and 7-zip.  At the top of the page there is also a list for open source apps.

Process explorer
This is a sysinternals app that is an alternate to the windows taskman for working out what apps are doing what, which one is using all your cpu and memory.  It can replace taskman or just run along side it.

Process tamer
This little app sits in your systray and manages the priority of all your applications, when a program starts eating up cpu it will lower the priority so it doesn’t disturb other apps.  It can also be used to remember the priority of apps so next time they open they will automatically be set to to whatever you like.  You might prefer itunes is set to high so opening firefox doesn’t make it skip a few seconds.

Someone sick of all crapware you get upon new computers these days has built an app to ‘decrap’ your computer. The program called ‘PC Decrapifier‘ targets typical Dell machines but should work for any computer sporting the typical crapware. Beware, although the tool specifically targets apps shipped with a new dell machine it will remove some full working apps as well, so if you aren’t running it on a new machine, or have some sort of extended dell free trial on apps you want to abuse (typically norton or mcafee although i’d suggest avast or avg free over these programs), be sure to untick these apps first.

Ok, for all you mathematically thinking
people out there, and for people who think they can add, I have a game for you,
it’s important).  The game starts with someone (or a computer) with 5
dice, they are rolled and you are asked the answer, now typically you don’t
know, so you are told.  The dice is rolled again, and you are asked the
answer, and so on.  The only facts you need to work it out, in fact you
don’t really need any.  But traditionally (yes this is a very old game)
you can know 3 things.  The answer to any roll, the name of the game, and
the fact that the answer is always even or 0.

Here’s a good web version and another one if you don’t like that interface…

Also a nice article on what happened with Bill Gates back in 1977

Sometimes you read something that you just have to share, not only share but archive…
“A kid tries to contact someone over MSN in an attempt to coerce him into dropping password details, and gets a little more than he bargained for.”

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Finished school, waiting for my exam results. That pretty much sums up most things. My parents went on holiday for the last week of term and are due back on tomorrow. It for the most part has been a fairly uneventful couple of weeks, Nat stayed over in the second week for a handful of days, we had fun trying to cook a few different things and it was interesting living with my gf for almost a week. It kinda opened my eyes to a little.

Other news, I stumbled upon pennradio.com which is by the same guy who stars in Penn & Teller: Bullshit, he chats on about different things, I’ll be sticking it on my ipod for a laugh at least.

Bede’s has currently blocked any reference to the word “runescape” if that word is found anywhere on the page of any site, that page is blocked completely. I’m tempted to go through my site correcting any references by abbreviating it or hiding the word in tags, but at the min I can’t really be assed.
Things are pretty much sailing calmly towards the end of the term, with the last day on Friday, and with different activities going on within the week, such as “Brazil Day” which is meant to be a day filled with activities, and a “Fun Sports Day” there aren’t many lessons left. I’ve almost completed my math coursework for A2, which we started to fill in the time after the exams until the end of the term, and has made up most of the real work I’ve done in the last few weeks.
On a different note, today instead of posting my Runescape stats, I’m going to post a few links to a graphing project a friend is running, I have mirrored the links as they are quite long normally, and these are easier to update. The real site can be found at www.filoni.co.uk, his site is progressing well and is definitely worth watching for the future.

My stats graph | IC graph | College graphs | RSS+ graphs

“The innovations we’re delivering in Excel in terms of new usability, new visual user interface advancements, support for collaboration and business intelligence with things like Excel Services are so far beyond [Google Spreadsheets] that it’s like watching a time machine from 10 years ago.”

It sounds like Microsoft is going back on the offensive, they allways have had a problem with most Google products, with Microsoft trying to be more internet orientated latly with the release of it’s ‘live’ products, google still seems to beat them hands down. It will be interesting to see the outcome in the next few years, Google’s tools are usally much better, but Microsoft is the brand people know (and hate) and can advertise in Windows.

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