Medication Shop

One of the most dreaded things that can happen to anyone is getting behind in your mortgage payments and going into pre-foreclosure. Yes you heard me right, pre-foreclosure. What normally happens when people miss a few mortgage payments is the back sends them a legal notice that they are in breach of their mortgage. This is when the pre-foreclosure process starts. Basically the notice will tell you to either make up the payments immediately, or the bank will be forced to foreclose on the property. Remember, the last thing the banks or lenders want is a property to deal with, they only want their money. The simplest way to keep yourself out of foreclosure is to pay your mortgage first before all your other bills. You are more likely to succeed dealing with a collection agency then you are with the banks and their lawyers. When you miss a mortgage payment or two, you are actually forcing the banks to start proceedings.

The worst part about being foreclosed on is what happens to your credit rating. It really takes a beating and it could take 7 years before your credit report is half decent. So what can you do to stop going into foreclosure. Some simple rules to follow are, if you miss a payment, call you bank immediately and set up an appointment to speak to a lending officer or the manager. The worse thing you can do is ignore their phone calls or letters. If you get in touch with them, they will know you are sincere about working out a plan that is a win win for you both. Contacting them immediately may also put a stop on the foreclosure. Remember, they want their money, not your house.

Most banks will be happy to work with you if you let them. Often what happens is people won’t give them the chance and subsequently, they lose their home. In order to keep your self out of financial trouble, be careful not to extend yourself with a large mortgage. Only buy within your means versus what you really want. We all want a bigger home, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we can afford one.

Surfing the web always brings up a swath of different problems all based on the different settings implemented by the web designers in their signature web designs. Among these problems is a major one that has to do with the screen resolution settings of all the different visitors who may visit any given web design. When it comes to screen resolution, it doesn’t matter how perfect and beautiful the web design may be, it is very frustrating when a viewer either cannot see the images or text properly, or the viewers have to scroll to the side to see the rest of what the site has to offer. It is truly annoying when the width of the site doesn’t fit within the width of a visitor’s monitor’s screen size.

The reason for this is that many older monitors – frequently VGA monitors – have a maximum of 640×480 pixels that they will support. There area also many visitors to your website who have older video cards. This means that no matter how good their monitor and your website, they simply will not be able to handle higher resolutions. You will need to keep this in mind when you are creating a web design for a large target audience. After all, you will want the maximum number of people possible to be able to easily and clearly read and view your website.

So why is it that web designers continue to write for such large screen resolutions – such as 800×600 and 1024×768 when it means that they’ll be sending so many people away from their sites due to the inability to read them or being frustrated from having to scroll sideways all the time? Actually, there are quite a few reasons to explain this web design pattern. For one, there are likely quite a number of web designers who don’t even realize the issue that they are creating. Similarly, there are those web designers who don’t care that some people will not be able to enjoy their websites. Also, we must consider that some web masters have recognized that their target audience are typically equipped with high screen resolution capabilities, and therefore are simply catering to their desired market.

It is indeed hard to believe that there are some web designers out there who can call themselves professionals and not understand the way that the different technologies used by their viewers will be impacted by the web designs that they create. It is hard to believe that a supposed “expert” may not recognize that their web designs won’t look the same on every computer. Of course, web designers can’t always be blamed, since they often have the latest technologies to make their work more pleasant and professional. However, it is up to them to understand that the majority of the internet using world is not using state-of-the-art technologies. These web designers are only trying to put out the most impressive looking visuals for a website.

When it comes to those web designers who know that not everyone will be able to see their website properly, but they just don’t care are the most likely to lose the highest number of visitors. Any graphic larger than 600 by 620 pixels will definitely create a horizontal scroll bar for several website visitors. This is frustrating to visitors who have to scroll in order to read each line of text. Navigation also becomes a struggle because menus may become partially or entirely hidden as the rest of the content is viewed. Furthermore, if the viewer doesn’t realize that the horizontal scrollbar has appeared, they may simply assume that the site is not finished, that it has errors, or that there is nothing additional to see. If the webmaster simply doesn’t care, they’re turning away an awfully large number of people who could be potential clients, part of a potential network, or even contributors.

When the webmaster has recognized that the primary audience of the site has higher screen resolutions, it is quite natural to create a website design that caters to that resolution. While they will usually meet the standard, making certain that a viewer of 640×480 can still see the vital information on the site, the entire itself will have been optimized for their main target audience. This is an extremely professional way to function because it avoids creating problems of viewing the site no matter what the client, and it still gives the most accurate settings for the equipment used by the main visitors.

Copyright 2006 Mark Nenadic

Mark Nenadic
Mark is the director and face behind FifteenDegrees-North http://www.15dn.com, where you will find articles and resources to help with SEO, marketing and Web design.

Several months ago, the 3,000-member California Association of Mortgage Brokers (CAMB) created the first real definition to describe the abusive lending practices of predatory lenders. According to the CAMB, predatory lending was described as “placing consumers in loan products with significantly worse terms and/or higher costs than loans offered to similarly qualified consumers in the region for the primary purpose of enriching the originator and with little or no regard for the costs to the consumer.”

Most mortgage brokers provide good service to their clients, yet there are a few who use unethical practices. Those brokers, called “predatory lenders” by the CAMB, not only over-charge consumers, but they also get paid in other hidden ways.

For instance, avoid lenders who charge more than the usual three percent fees for a conventional loan or four percent fees for a government-sponsored loan. Even non-prime lenders can’t justify excessive fees.

Also watch for hidden loan costs, such as the Yield-Spread Premium. This term refers to a rebate that’s given to brokers when they place a borrower at an interest rate higher than the rate for which they qualify. Refuse to pay yield-spread premiums and unwarranted fees, and avoid brokers who include these charges in their loans.

Besides charging high points and fees, predatory lending practices may also include such things as “packing” credit insurance on to a loan, making mortgage loans to homeowners who don’t have the income to repay them, and repeatedly refinancing loans.

When it comes to obtaining a real estate loan, it’s your responsibility to become a knowledgeable consumer, which means you’ll need to keep asking questions of your lender. If you aren’t able to get clear, easily understandable answers to your questions, it’s possible that you may be dealing with a predatory lender.

Copyright © 2005 Jeanette J. Fisher – All Rights Reserved.

Jeanette Fisher, author of “Credit Help! Get the Credit You Need to Buy Real Estate,” helps people buy their dream home or finance multiple investment properties. Jeanette teaches real estate investing and Design Psychology. For help with your credit or answers to your questions, visit the Real Estate Help Credit Center at http://www.recredithelp.com
Subscribe to Credit Help! Tips. Send a blank email to CreditTips at reCreditHelp.com

Get the credit you need to buy your dream home or multiple investment properties!

This is the first of a series of articles about recreating yourself and allowing your inner Enchantress to come to life! It’s not for the faint hearted! If you aren’t very serious about giving yourself the juicy, energized life you deserve, then you might not want to take the time to continue reading.

The first step is probably the hardest of all. The first thing you absolutely must do is to place your life in your own hands. Your life is no one else’s responsibility. You still need to follow through with those you love, but you can set the terms for how you are going to do that. We’ll get to that later.

Right now I would like for you to get a mirror and look at yourself, look deeply into your eyes. While you are doing this, Firmly tell yourself, “My life is my own and I now claim full ownership!”

You might feel fear when you claim sole ownership of your life. Your ego might try to take over and tell you that you aren’t good enough, or smart enough; that other people are to blame for what you do in your very own life. Or maybe you are afraid of losing love from those who you currently give your power to. Go ahead and feel those feelings, but don’t let them stop you. Instead, try to find out where those feelings are coming from and start to work on those beliefs within yourself that are holding you back. We’ll talk more about this is upcoming articles.

If you are going to live the way you want to live, right now is the perfect time to get started. Life is not a dress rehearsal and there are no “do overs”. So let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work!

The first thing I want you to do is go through your wardrobe. Take out each piece of clothing that you own. If you don’t feel wonderful wearing it, or if it doesn’t fit properly, today and not 10 pounds ago, donate it. No holds barred! It’s better to have just a few good pieces of clothing that you feel wonderful in instead of a closet full of clothes that you can’t stand to wear or that are not flattering to you. Be tough with yourself on this!

Now, go through your house and do the same thing. Don’t save anything that you don’t love or that you don’t absolutely need. Start with one room at a time and give yourself up to a week to do each one. The reason for this is to make room for new things to come into your life. Clean as you go, an Enchantress has no use for dust bunnies!

What else can you get rid of that isn’t serving you well in life? We are talking about getting down to the bare bones of what is the most important to you. Are there toxic people in your life? Ditch them, be kind to them about it, but just let them go!

If it’s your immediate family, maybe you can’t get rid of them. In that case, recreate your relationship with them, a relationship that works better for you. Set boundaries and consequences for those that refuse to respect them. That goes for your parents and especially your children. Your children can’t learn to respect and stand up for themselves if they don’t see you living that way first.

If you have problems with the people you work with, consider finding a new job. That’s not always realistic, but it is a possibility to work towards if it’s something you really want for yourself. That’s yet another article will we get to in the future.

If your temporarily stuck in the job you have, schedule meetings and do your best to come to an understanding with the people that you are having issues with, even if it’s your boss. Your life is simply too valuable to suffer difficult people. You can be professional and courteous and still let others know what you need from them.

Speaking of all these people, make sure you are coming to terms with YOU. Forgive yourself of your past regrets. You can never go back, but you can move forward. Think kind, loving thoughts about yourself. Treat yourself as you would your most treasured friend and lover. You are never alone when you are your own best friend.

Whatever you want in life, think about it as if you all ready have it. This will set a whole series of events happening in your life that will help you get what you really want. Of course you still have to do some legwork to get to where you want to go. Keep reading The Enchantress Articles to learn more about goals and making your dreams come true.

Please email me if you want to make sure not to miss any of The Enchantress Articles. Also, if you have any questions or would like to talk about how these suggestions are working in your life, I would love to hear from you. You might just make yourself eligible for a special gift from me to you!

Tracy Togliatti is a Registered Reiki Master through the Global Reiki Association and an Energy Psychology Practitioner. Tracy is also acting Director of http://www.happyher.com, where she offers a Free Advice service and free email Reiki lessons. You may contact her anytime here http://www.happyher.com/advice/contact.shtml

Over the last two weeks, events have unfolded that have reminded me of an important truism in real estate investing.

“Always have a back-up!”

This was played out in dramatic form with a deal I’m closing tomorrow. A wholesaler friend of mine brought me this great little three bedroom one bath home tucked away on a dead end street where pride in ownership is alive and well. The electric and plumbing is already upgraded and this rehab is cosmetic with the exception of adding a bath.

I’m buying it for $52,500 and the as-repaired appraisal came in at $86,000. Not a bad spread. This is the kind of deal I like!

When I called my hard money broker, she was delighted and we moved quickly toward closing. I was only waiting on the closing time…

That’s when the wheels fell off.

It seems my broker’s money source decided he was only going to invest in property valued at $250,000 or more. Yikes!

So, I went to back-up hard money broker number 1.

The broker took his time…about 5 days…to finally tell me that he only wanted to loan about 60% of the as-repair value. No way. Not when I can do better (70%) with back-up hard money broker number 2.

Back-up broker number 2 is probably who I should have went with in the first place. I’ve borrowed from this source before. It took one phone call, and the money is there and I close in a couple of days. Wham-bam, the deal is arranged.

It looks like it’s time to shift around the players in my core team a bit. Back-up number 2 is now my starter. Back-up number 1 (foot-dragger, doesn’t-loan-the-70%-he-said-he-would) is benched.

I tell this story to illustrate that it’s absolutely CENTRAL to your business to have back-up plans in all aspects of the business.

I strongly recommend having two or three:

- Hard money brokers
- Appraisers for quick value assessments
- Rehab crew leaders
- Plumbers
- Electricians
- Roofers
- HVAC techs
- Realtors

In fact, have two or three of any trade or profession lined up, ready to spring into action as a moment’s notice. Sure, I have my favorites in each of these areas, but I am striving to have 3-deep hot back-ups in each. Thing happen. Life happens! Be prepared for it.

Don’t stop there. Have back-ups when you rent or sell a property. A property isn’t rented until the rent and deposit (or lease/option fee) is paid and the keys are in the hands of the new tenant. So, encourage back-ups until the money is in your hands (in cash).

I’ve had appointments set up to sign leases, and the potential tenants never show up, no call, and they quit answering their phone. This is despite being hot for the house an hour earlier! If you are in this business long, you will learn that people will disappoint you and they will fool you. So, establish policies and make one of them “it ain’t rented until it’s paid for!”

Encourage back-up offers to purchase. Deals fall through all the time! Take as many back-up offers as you can.

Having back-ups is a mental frame of mind that fits within being a big-picture thinker portion of the Mind of the Real Estate Investor. In addition, rearranging your core team is thinking big and long term. It’s a constant process of improvement and adjustment. This approach is crucial to your business! Apply this principle and profit!

———-
Bruce W. Ford publishes the “Nothing Held Back” newsletter, a free service of Rehab Real Estate Central (www.Rehab-Real-Estate.com). Get a free copy of his mini-course entitled “The Mind of the Real Estate Investor by clicking here!.”

Get Wholesale Latin Dance Clothes at Salehoo wholesale directories and help your business. All of this can be done right from your home. Read on about Wholesale Latin Dance Clothes, Wholesale Sterling Photo Charms and how Salehoo Wholesalers can help. And the dishes you serve can lose their attractiveness and look like a stain on a masterpiece if the plates are wildly patterned. More on Wholesale Latin Dance Clothes and China Jobbers Wholesale at Salehoo wholesalers. And also see more about Wholesale Suppliers

Convenience- Ever wait in long lines during the holiday season? What a time saver online shopping has become! No lines to wait in, no parking hassles, no traffic, no gas expense, no crowds and your merchandise can be shipped right to your door! Read on about Wholesale Latin Dance Clothes and China Jobbers Wholesale. If you are just starting out or if you don’t have money to lose I recommend that you find suppliers in one of the drop ship directories. More on Wholesale Latin Dance Clothes and Wholesale Sterling Photo Charms at our Wholesale Review website. Find out more about Wholesale Latin Dance Clothes and how Salehoo directory can help you start your own business from home. Wholesale Latin Dance Clothes, 925 sterling silver jewelry to sterling silver jewelry making supplies like French wires fasteners and findings.

Get: Wholesale Latin Dance Clothes at Salehoo wholesale directories, and get a head start in your own startup business. The only way to thrive in your startup business is to get quality products cheaply, and from 100%, weekly verified wholesale suppliers from all over the world.
100% Endorsed by CNN Networks, Forbes, Business Networks and Many other TOP Business Journals!

If you’re looking to diversify, broaden or even begin your property portfolio consider Europe for your next investment destination.

Europe is host to such a broad range of countries all offering diverse property opportunities – you have everything from emerging market economies with massive potential for sharp growth rates, well established city based rental markets giving great yields and even residential housing markets offering an investor a slow burn on his capital outlay.

Here’s an overview of the potential on offer in the top ten European countries for real estate property investors right now.

Bulgaria – Bulgaria is in position for EU accession in 2007 and as a result it is receiving massive foreign and domestic investment particularly into infrastructure and construction and the whole country is benefiting from the amount of money being spent on it.

Those who buy now in Bulgaria are buying into the longest projected period of growth and buying before the expected boom that will begin when Bulgaria is officially made an EU Member State. Furthermore they are buying to target the burgeoning tourism market that heads for the beautiful beaches of the Black Sea Coast in the summer and the snow capped mountains of Bulgaria’s ski resorts in the winter.

Croatia – Another country tipped for full EU membership in 2007, Croatia offers property investors commercial and residential property opportunities. The numbers of international business establishing bases in Croatia has increased substantially in the last couple of years and there is demand for the development of light industrial and office space.

Furthermore Croatia has a strong tourism market that offers a real estate investor further opportunity to either target short term rental yields or to buy off plan or develop for resale to the second and holiday home market in Croatia.

Cyprus – There are two real estate economies in Cyprus – you have the well established Republic of Cyprus property market where an investor should seek to target the retiree audience or the tourism market and then in Northern Cyrus you have an emerging economy currently offering massive growth potential.

Property price increases in North Cyprus have consistently been in double digits for the past three years and there are no signs of a slow down in the offing.

Czech Republic – The majority of real estate investors consider Prague the only city worth targeting in the Czech Republic but the country’s other cities like Brno also offer an investor opportunity to purchase residential accommodation for rent to the domestic and expatriate professional population. Property price growth has been fantastic in recent years and rental rates are increasing annually.

Estonia – Real estate investors should target the local market in Estonia and consider looking for opportunities in the capital city of Tallinn. The Estonian economy is growing at a staggering rate which is affording the local people greater purchasing power which in turn is having a direct effect on the property market in Estonia.

Basically as local demand increases so prices can rise and as local purchasing power increases so it can sustain these price rises. A real estate investor can buy into this growth now and should expect the period of growth to be sustainable for at least the medium term.

Hungary – Property investors who targeted Hungary’s capital city of Budapest last year enjoyed up to 15% growth on underlying property prices and these growth rates show no sign of slowing down currently.

There is local and expatriate demand for property to buy and let in Budapest and the local economy is benefiting from foreign direct investment and strengthening. This means that there are long term prospect for growth in Hungary. Furthermore there’s an emerging market within Hungary’s property sector and that is the tourism market which offers an investor a chance to get in on both residential and commercial property ventures targeting this growing market segment.

Latvia – Latvia is benefiting from substantial foreign direct investment which has helped establish the Latvian economy as one of the fastest growing in Europe and Latvians are on target to receive one of the five largest wage increases in the world. All this means that locally the population can afford to spend more on property either in the form of rental rates payable or property prices payable and real estate investors can buy off plan and flip on to the local market upon completion or even buy to let out in the capital city of Riga or in the coastal port towns.

Poland – Having joined the European Union back in 2004 Poland has received massive aid and investment as a result which has improved the country’s infrastructure incredibly and led to a strong period of economic growth.

Many European and international companies have established bases in Warsaw and Krakow and the demand for accommodation in these cities alone has really soared. Real estate investors are targeting Poland because it offers a low risk, high potential property market. Furthermore investor confidence in Poland is high because the Polish government have already proved that they have a strong commitment to maintaining the good economic growth rates that their country is currently enjoying.

Romania – Because Romania has yet to join the EU and align all its governmental, fiscal and constitutional policies with those of Europe it is quite a tricky country for a foreign investor to get in on. However it offers a real estate investor such exciting opportunities – where else in the world can you buy anything and everything from a castle to a factory at such ridiculously low prices.

Those with a strong appetite for paperwork and red tape will make their fortunes from Romania’s property market, but for the rest of us it’s an economy to watch carefully. As the country moves slowly towards EU membership so it will become easier and more attractive for property investors to target.

Turkey – Turkey is on track for EU accession following agreement that it should begin accession talks in 2005. Since that point Turkey’s economy has been granted ‘Market Economy’ status, the country has received billions of dollars of Middle Eastern funds into its property sector and world wide investor interest in Turkey’s property market has exploded.

The majority of opportunities either exist in Istanbul or along Turkey’s southern coastline where hundreds of thousands of tourists flock every year. Prices for property in Turkey are currently incredibly low so with all the positive data and news coming from Turkey recently there is only one way prices are going to go – and that’s up!

There are so many opportunities available to an investor in Europe that those serious about profiting from real estate property should give the continent careful consideration!

Rhiannon Williamson is a freelance writer whose articles about property investing and emerging real estate markets have appeared in publications around the world. She is currently working on a brand new property investment resource www.amberlamb.com/

Numerous gamers will have spotted the expression “offshore sports betting”, though some are not altogether convinced of what it means. A foreign betting internet site inherently acts outside the legal power of any given country or else it can be an internet based betting site which deploys their computer servers within the borders of a state in which live gaming is not prohibited. In brief therefore, it can be described as a gaming agency running outside the area of the gamer. World wide web based gambling internet sites are mainly regulated with the assistance of three organisations. These are the OSGA (the Offshore Gaming Association), IGC (Interactive Gaming Council) and the Fidelity Trust Gaming Association (the FTGA).

The Offshore Gaming Association is in fact a self-ruling federation that currently oversees the thriving overseas sports gaming trade in an enterprise to supply gaming devotees the capability to choose honest enterprises to play games on, without having to worry. It attempts to defend the legal rights of consumers, and in addition they do not demand any association costs.

The association is an expert not to mention neutral third party agency which gives impartial judgments, advised by customer feedback, unbiased research, chats, inside information and additionally offers inside intelligence.

The Interactive Gaming Council is a not-for-profit council. The agency was established to allow an arena for concerned parties to address points and in addition to boost shared interests in the global online sports gaming industry, in an effort to establish conscientious and also amenable trade protocols and forms that raise customer certainty in world wide web based wagering commodities and functions, also to serve as the sports gaming industry’s extensive practise adviser furthermore the council works as an information center.

The Interactive Gaming Council have made a name for safety, integrity and also believability by virtue of the uncompromising principles it exhibits, and also its allure for ethical business enterprises. The IGC regularises overseas gaming via utilizing a specific ten-point operative code and in addition bills gambling internet sites a price for displaying their logo. Discontented betters can furthermore mention their disagreements to the Interactive Gaming Council.

The Fidelity Trust Gaming Association has been formed in order to produce a benchmark to improve the actions of live sports gaming operations. The IGC believe that by carrying on trade with good companies, they are able to form a coalition of the most ethical and professional offshore gaming businesses in the world at large.

These are councils which guide the transactions practised by live sports betting and which should in time serve to mitigate most of the misgivings held by bettors. Live sports gaming websites are consistently dependable, now that private data are not necessary and the remuneration and the betting odds are consistently just as equal and sportsmanlike as your usual Vegas-style sportsbet. These websites slash traveling expenditure, but nevertheless retain of a gambling casino, but nowadays you may gamble at your desk.

betting live sports wagering

Although this list can’t be seen to be definitive, it lists my top ski resorts for skiing holidays in the European Alps. You might opt for Chamonix, Flegere and Chatel but these areas are my number one skiing resorts.

1. Flims Laax Falera, Switzerland ” Is famous for its 3 connected mountains: Flims, Laax and Falera making up one of the most popular skiing areas in Switzerland. It is more for the intermediate skiers and beginners, with over 130 miles of slopes to satisfy all skiers.

2. Verbier, Switzerland ” With its four fantastic valleys and over 240 miles of slopes, this is a resort more for the experienced skier looking for a challenge. Exploring its off piste and moguls are just some of the things that make it worth your visit.

3. Sestriere, Italy ” Friendly family skiing resort renowned for its pistes that are connected to the Milky Way. A great place to visit with fantastic snow reliability and a range of slopes with some tougher pistes for the more experienced skier.Val dIsere, France ” One of the most famous resorts in Europe for the experts, it is no surprise that its often a busy place. However, even beginners can find something here as they have pistes for all standards and abilities with the huge area linked to Tignes.

4. Les Deux Alpes, France ” Brilliant for all standards and infamous for its combination of summer and winter skiing with an excellent snow record. It is one enormous skiing resort where you’ll feel at ease.

5. Chamonix, France – Situated at the foot of Mont-Blanc this town boasts fantastic skiing such as Les Grand Montets (1235 m ” 3000 m) and the linked areas of Br©vent / Fl©gre (1030 m – 2525 m) whilst providing a sense of adventure that won’t disappoint.

1. What you should be doing about data backup and why?
2. Fine electro-mechanical devices to backup.
3. Meant to do it!
4. Once Bitten.
5. Backup, a mistaken or confused name.
6. What do you need to do today to start a backup plan or backup program?
7. Let’s get organised.
8. Things to save or to backup.
9. Our recommended Backup System.
10. Near worst case scenario. When you most need a backup to restore from.
11. Our own system. How we backup our data.
12. Remember, Backup, start today.

1. Why do a data backup?
What you should be doing and why?
Computers always go perfectly. Right? What would you do without your PC? Computers can and do fail usually at the worst possible time. They may get stolen, trashed or crash. Most of us deal with the problems as and when they occur.
There are times though, when a little bit of planning and forethought pays big dividends.

2. Fine electro-mechanical devices.
The hard drive in your computer has both electronic and mechanical components that work with very fine tolerances where the head literally flies a fraction of a millimeter above the disks fast spinning surface. Measurements a fraction of a human hair thickness are not unusual. So bumping or dropping them or having PC power problems causes the components to literally crash and may result in irreparable damage.

3. Meant to do it!
Most business people and many home users are aware of the need to Backup (or copy, in easy terms) their information to another place for safe keeping. After failures they often say ‘I meant to do it but never made the time.’

4. Once Bitten.
Every day before they walk out of the office they’ll religiously run or at least start the backup going. In the morning they’ll check and make sure all went Ok with the Backup and look at any errors reported.

5. Backup, a mistaken or confused name!
Simply put, Data Backup is the ability to recreate or restore the system you had working before the PC failure or loss.
It may be called Copy, Save, Burn, Write. Unfortunately the word Backup is often used different ways. And means different things in different places!
Bookkeeping software typically prompts you to backup your data (the company accounts and ledgers, in other words). But the backup is usually on the PC not another disk or computer. So if that computer goes missing, then the company bookkeeping info is gone too.
You need to do this type of data Backup for bookkeeping and company client lists.
But there’s more to do. Make a note where it goes to so you can Backup or copy it to another disk, CD, ZIP or Flash device you can take home.

6. What do you need to do today?
Simple. Work out what you use your computers for that you simply couldn’t do without if it wasn’t there tomorrow.
Would your business or personal relationships STOP without the ability to re-create the computer info you’re using?
Please. Take a minute to read the full story below.

7. Let’s get organised.
You’ll need: –
any equipment and software to make the backup;
a plan to follow to do it regularly;
to backup what you should;
to store it somewhere safe;
to write down the backups done;
reminders to do it next time;
most of all the patience to wait and do it whenever it’s due.
Lastly, it should be tested that you can recover from disaster if it ever occurs.

8. Things to save.
Information to Backup should include Documents; Spreadsheets;
Bookkeeping & Transaction data; Address Books; Lists; Emails; Personal information, Photos; Downloaded Programs and Licenses; Favorites;
Special things; Internet & Email settings; Regulatory matters.
Many of these items are irreplaceable, so they should be safeguarded.

9. Our recommended backup system.
Two copies, one at your place and one at a friends place.
Small Backup, things that change frequently, done daily.
Big Backup, total Backup of your PC because the info is organised in a disorganized sort of way, spread over the hard drive in hard to find places, done weekly or monthly.
More than one PC?
If you have more than one PC you may need to re-think and re-organise where information is stored in the computers.
A central point for all company data is easier to manage and Backup than data in all the odd places on the computer. You may investigate ’synchronizing’ data so it’s naturally on more than one PC.

10. Near worst case scenario.
If the Hard drive fails the information may be recoverable.
But it’s a very expensive job by the professionals.
Occasionally one of our customers has needed to retrieve data from a dead hard drive. We recommend a particular company who has always managed to recover the data, but there’s a lot of lost time and un-necessary expense especially when compared to the simple smart solution where you take all the necessary precautions and do the backup first.

We hope you never see one of these errors:-
an MYOB fatal error 1199 as one of our customers did recently. It translates to the data file causing this error is definitely unusable and irrepairable. It can only be fixed by restoring your data from your most recent backup. (Do you have a recent Backup?)
or HAL.DLL is missing or corrupt. It translated (in this case) to the Windows folder has disappeared. Anything at all that was stored in the windows folder is GONE. Windows needs to be re-installed from the original media (CD), Updated and Settings restored from a recent backup.
Occasionally we (you or I) will start working on a document or data file and have a little accident. Accidents happen to us all occasionally. The simplest way is often to simply restore from the most recent backup, or waste a lot of productive time just getting things back to the way before we commenced, and made the accident.
Just imagine what the worst case would be!

11. Our own system. How we backup.
Pixel ITT has these systems in place.
Daily, MYOB, when closing company data the data integrity is checked and Zipped up on the C Drive. It takes about 3 minutes.

Monday, 9am, Customer database and documents, Zipped into one file on C Drive. Takes 5 to 10 minutes at the start of day.

Monday to Friday, 9.50pm, Automatic Backup using XXCopy Pro of My Documents Folder which includes, MYOB, Customer data, Documents, saved to a redundant (older) PC as a file server, 5 minutes unattended. Older PC must be turned on and available on the office network.

Monday to Friday, 10pm, Automatic Unattended Backup of daily data important to business, MYOB, Customer data, Documents, Security info saved to CD, 3 to 5 minutes usually unattended.

Every 2nd Saturday, 2 secondary PC’s, Full incremental backup, to CD on main PC. Takes 10 to 20 minutes attended.

Every 4th Saturday, Main PC, Full incremental backup to CD on main PC, takes 60 to 120 minutes attended.

What’s missing in our backup system?
Off-site backup copy could be more recent but has the main ingredients of our business in a workable version.
Backup test has been performed to restore secondary PC’s only. The main PC will be done when time permits or it becomes necessary.

12. Remember, Backup, start today.
We tell our customers, whether they’re small business clients or home computer users at every chance we get, to backup, somehow, but backup regardless. We’ve all got cd burners and cd writing software these days, but still most clients do not have a recent data backup or use the backup software that came with their computer. If the worst disaster happens, we’re called in to clean up the situation and regretfully tell the customer if they didn’t backup before the computer was stolen or broken there’s really nothing we can do to ease their pain whether it’s business critical data or data like home pictures and email address contact lists.

So BACKUP, Backup, backup just do a BACKUP.

Greg Martyn is a partner in Pixel ITT providing computer service and support in the St George and Sutherland area south of Sydney Australia.
Pixel ITT also supply software for backup, internet security, antivirus and firewall in Australia.
Greg Martyn has been in a technicial role since 1967, and until 2000 worked for OTC and Telstra. Pixel ITT use and recommend the software we sell including EMCDantz Retrospect Pro which is our main backup tool. Trial software and more info is available through http://www.pixelitt.com.au.