Hewie's Views and Reviews
By Hewie Poplock

Welcome to this issue of Hewie's Views & Reviews. Be sure to visit Hewie's Favorites at http://www.hewie.net/ .

In this issue:
++++ Special Issue
++++ Importance of Smoke Alarms
++++ Importance of Backing Up Your Computer
++++ New additions to Hewie's Favorites

++++ This is a special issue of Hewie's Favorites. I am writing this issue on my laptop computer. All of my files that I store for reference to writing my column are on my main desktop PC and I do not have access to that computer. A week previous to my writing the column I lost the upstairs of my home to a fire. I made it through 3 hurricanes without a problem, but a malfunctioning hair blow dryer caused considerable damage and a huge loss.

I returned home after my graduation from the http://www.seminolesheriff.org/community/academy.php Seminole County (Florida) Community Law Enforcement Academy. As I was relaxing by watching TV, a smoke alarm upstairs sounded. I went to explore and saw black smoke coming from an air conditioning duct. A quick call to 9-1-1 was made and their advice was to leave the premises immediately, which I did and the Fire Department arrived a few minutes later. However, it seemed like hours.

When firemen knocked out a window in my bedroom and black smoke billowed out, I knew that I had big problems. The firemen, the hazmat team, and inspectors were done in about an hour and I was able to enter to view the damage. To make a long story short, I lost everything in my room and some items in the other rooms upstairs, and the downstairs was almost unscathed. My computers, computer equipment and backups were downstairs and not disturbed, although somewhat smoky and without power.

When the emergency operator said to leave immediately, I did and did not take any time to remove my computer equipment. The smoke alarm and quick response of the Winter Springs Fire Department saved my home and my computer equipment. I will be out of my home for several months for restoration, but I am fine and so are my computers.

++++ Importance of Smoke Alarms

The smoke alarms saved much of my home, my personal belongings, and my life. I urge you to make sure that you have several smoke detectors and check them often. Be sure to change the batteries twice a year. I do it when we change the clock to and from daylight savings time. Before you finish reading this article, check all of your alarms.

I found a few sites with good information about smoke alarms. Check out:
http://www.firesafehome.org/detection/smokealarms.asp
http://www.usfa.fema.gov/safety/alarms/
http://www.ul.com/consumers/smoke.html

++++ Importance of Backing Up Your Computer
I am diligent as to backing up my computers. I have covered this in User Group meetings and in this newsletter. When I was in the computer business, I remember one customer calling us on a Saturday. She was frantic. During the night a burglar broke into the business and stole the company computer system. When I asked when the last backup was done, I was assured that it was done after business on Friday. When I asked where the backup was kept, the response was hesitant and then she said "in the computer."

I had great backups of my computers when the fire broke out in my home. However, all of them were within feet of my computers. Although my computers were not damaged by the fire, I now keep a copy of my backups off site and away from my computers.

The best system is to have at least one current set of backups at a remote site such as a relative's home, a very trusted friend's home, or even a safety deposit box. Be sure to rotate your backups, so that you have a current one off site. You might "buddy up" and swap backups with a friend, but be sure that it's not the next door neighbor. Hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, floods, etc., can affect a neighborhood. If you have a business you must have a disaster recovery plan in place. If you lose your stored data, such as customers, vendors, sales, inventory, receivables and payables, etc., your business may not survive.

Do not be cheap when it comes to backups. Work out a system and stick to it. Make sure that you have adequate equipment and software for backing up and restoring. Check your backups to make sure that you are getting the data and you can restore it. I remember one person who had been backing up their Quicken data to floppy disk for years. When his hard drive crashed and he was restoring programs and data to a new drive, he discovered that his backup data with years of information was blank. His backup stopped working properly several versions past and he had lost all of the data.

There will be a time when you will need your data. Be sure you have backed it up before you need it.

++++ New additions to Hewie's Favorites

This month's additions will be listed in the next issue or check on line at http://www.hewie.net/23.html on the web.