How To Back up your Computer for Free!

I was skimming through my Sunday paper when I happened upon the USA Weekend magazine. I know it usually has a picture of a celebrity on it, and many might think it is similar to a "star" mag...but that is not true. Through the years, I have found so many helpful "short" articles in it that give me a heads up on important issues.

This week was one of those such times. There was an article on the 5 Things You Need to Know About Backing Up a Computer. And, it immediately caught my attention. The first reason? Because my computer is bogging down lately. It is 5 years old, and running slower and slower as I load more pictures, more spreadsheets, etc, etc. And, as this article pointed out...a lack of space can kill your computer! If that happens...I lose everything. Years worth of pictures of my kids!! I would be crushed!! CRUSHED!!

The second thing that caught my eye? It said to consider a virtual hard drive! Hey, I knew what that was...I had found this great service awhile ago and actually have it on my computer! Yeah!

So, I am finally getting to the point of my article. Although many of us, hopefully, back up our computer periodically, this free service through Mozy is a great 2nd alternative ( or 1st ) to backing up all your files. Currently, if you sign up, you load their software to you PC and it runs in the background. They will back your files up daily. You do not need to think about it ever again. No need to click a button to update your files, etc. Once it is loaded, it does it continously each day. How much easier does it get? And, if your computer ever crashes? Get a hold of them, and they can restore the data! Whew!

The free backup is only for 2GB, and as we know, this is not as much as you probably need. But, when I signed up, this was enough to back up all my excel, word, etc files. And, since that is where all my family budgets, banking info, and spreadsheets for my free online offers are.....this came in very handy for me. If I ever lost this information, I would be...well....lost. And, for every friend you refer, they will give you an extra 256 MB. So, this is a great way to get even more space on your computer backed up for free!!

For those of you that might be leery of using a company you are unfamiliar with, here is a link to PCMag.com ( PC Magazine, as we know...a very legitimate magazine ) where they give a review of this product!

If your PC is not currently backed up virtually, click here to go to Mozy and get your free download. Once in their site, click on the Mozy Home tab along the top. When you are on the home page, scroll down the left side and you will see where you can sign up for MozyHome Free. And, sleep well tonight knowing your files are safe at last!