Showing posts with label backup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label backup. Show all posts

NTI Backup Now Ez 2010 Review

NTI Backup Now Ez 2010
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NTI Backup Now Ez 2010 ReviewI have had this product for a few months now. I have never been able to run a successful backup. I am in the Windows Vista 32-bit environment, and the backup will get about 2% complete when my computer goes dark and completely shuts down. I have been extremely disappointed with this product and its effect on my computer. I cannot recommend it and feel as though I've been sold a defective product.NTI Backup Now Ez 2010 Overview

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Microsoft Windows Home Server System Builder with URP1 (OLD VERSION) Review

Microsoft Windows Home Server System Builder with URP1 (OLD VERSION)
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Microsoft Windows Home Server System Builder with URP1 (OLD VERSION) ReviewAt the time I'm writing this, Amazon has two versions of WHS listed: this one with a plain white graphic, and another more expensive one with a blue graphic. THIS is the more recent version, despite its lower price.
Microsoft hit a home run with Windows Home Server (WHS). It is one of the first times I've seen a sophisticated software product that is perfect for regular non-techie consumers. It is easy to use, but does not assume the user is a moron. It does this by placing just the right warnings at the right times. Obviously, it's been user-tested a LOT.
Under the covers is is built on Windows Server 2003 SP2. That is an excellent choice, because it is a very mature operating system, and is in use in millions of computer servers around the world. In fact, one of the things I was surprised about when first booting up the software is that you really do have access to the regular Windows desktop, including Start menu and many of the normal programs and features you would expect to see.
So for me, as someone who is very comfortable working with servers, I was very happy to see that although the product does not NEED any kind of tweaking, I had full access to be able to make subtle adjustments that I wanted. For example, I was able to adjust the encryption level on remote desktop sessions to "High" (from the default Normal) in the Administrative Tools > Terminal Services Configuration application. What a great thing that Microsoft did not "dumb down" the product and restrict access for those who know what they're doing.
One of the first things you should do with any new OS install is to run Windows Update, so that it gets patched with all the latest updates from Microsoft. This install is no different, and there were in fact many updates to install (53 or 54 in total). So before playing with your new server, first run Windows Update from the Start > All Programs menu, select the "Custom" option, and check all the boxes to install everything.
Then, after you install the updates (which includes the upgrade from IE6 to IE7) and the computer reboots, run Windows Update again. Typically, in an update that large there are updates that don't install because of some dependencies, and there will be additional updates to the updates you just installed. This is common. Every time Windows Update finishes, immediately run it again -- until you see "0" (zero) next to every category on the left. Also, don't use "Express", keep using "Custom" (contrary to the "recommended" tag next to Express).
Another thing you may want to do is get rid of the Logon Warning that appears every time you log in to the server's desktop (either remotely or on the computer itself). You can do that simply by deleting "Logon Warning" from the All Programs > Startup folder in the Start menu. It is a simple HTML file, so deleting it does not do any harm.
I am really happy with this home server product from Microsoft, and I highly recommend it for any household that has more than one computer.Microsoft Windows Home Server System Builder with URP1 (OLD VERSION) Overview

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True Image Home 2011 PC Backup and Recovery Review

True Image Home 2011 PC Backup and Recovery
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True Image Home 2011 PC Backup and Recovery ReviewI'm a software engineer and I'm used to pushing computers to their limits. Just my computer at home has 3 hard drives with a total of 14 partitions (I use Boot IT NG to manage so many partitions). I have installed in these disks mostly Windows 7 and Windows XP.
Acronis. A backup and restore solution is like a parachute. It either opens when you need it or it doesn't. It's as simple as that. I've been using Acronis for over 6 years and I've spent my money buying the most recent versions.
Fact: this tool never let me down and it saved my skin several times. However, this isn't to say I love the tool.
To make Acronis work for you is simple: stick to the basics, backup and restore. Acronis has a smart team of developers, but their marketing team is stupid. Every version they come up with, more senseless bells and whistles are added which just clutter their tool.
After so many years, here's a list of features that worked well and some that failed miserably. Again, this is my experience with more partitions in my computer than most users.
One-click backup.
This "one-click" feature works great if you're buying stuff from Amazon. For backups you can't be serious. What will it back up, where will it store, and how do you recover? Sure, the answers are there but how can you understand things with a "one-click"? It's a silly marketing catch phrase that in the end never did anything useful to me. Spend a few more clicks and... do things right.
Try and Decide
This one should be called "please crash my computer". Every time I attempted to make this feature work, something went wrong. To me, this is absolutely useless and it's consistently useless across all Acronis Home versions I owned. This has never, ever worked for me.
Acronis Secure Zone.
This one has consistently worked well for me. On client computers I use the Acronis Startup Recovery Manager and it works really well. Again, a core feature that works when you need it. One drawback: it's painfully slow on larger disks with incremental backups. Here's a suggestion for the Acronis engineers:
MAKE EXISTING FEATURES PERFORM BETTER
instead of adding non-sense bells and whistles every year. With Acronis TI 2011, you can convert the ASZ from a FAT files system (old) to NTFS (newer). They claim this should help performance a bit; however, their conversion utility stops working at "33%" on my 350 GB ASZ (not all is used). So, I can't tell you if it's any faster on this version.
Online backup
Another "you've got to be kidding me feature". Why would you want to do it this way? Simple: another marketing catch. This is simple: save your backup locally, validate it, THEN you upload it to the online service of your choice. Now... uploading the file "directly"? It sounds good in theory, but in reality upload speeds are slower, they drop, people use wireless (!) and you set yourself up for failure. I'm sure this works well for some people, it's just that I'm not one of them. I stay away from this one. If you save your stuff online, save it locally first.
Scheduled Backups
Another feature that works well. I have several backups that run every week and Acronis does a great job emailing me the results (good or bad). These backups have worked consistently well for me over the years and they never failed me. Here's something they did right and it works well.
Recovery / Restores
This is thee acid test: does the parachute open or not? In all fairness, a restore with Acronis has never, ever failed me. I restored partitions, files, data from internal hard drives and from external ones (USB). It worked 100%, all the time. It's even smart enough to deal with the file security in Windows O/S and it even updates the boot.ini file to make Windows bootable. Smart. Useful. It's great.
All other features
I can't cover them all here without making this review 50 pages long. However, stuff like mount / un-mount images, file shredder, system clean-up, work "alright" but... they're slow. What's up with the Acronis team that their tool is "consistently" slow? How do they manage that? :-)
Again, in my opinion Acronis is going in the wrong direction trying to add more "features I don't need" to their software to make it more marketable. Instead, they should make this tool screaming fast, but it has been consistently slow over the years.
In the end: does it work? Yes, but only if you stick to the basics. Do I recommend it? Yes, but only if you stick to the basics.
I've been running TI Home 2011 on my computer at home and it seems to perform better from prior versions. The interface is now centered around backup files and this takes some getting used to. If you want to schedule a backup, it's not as obvious as before in my opinion, but it's there.
All in all, buy it if you don't have one. The price is good and the tool works, just make sure you understand what this tool is: backup and recovery. Stick to the basics. All the other stuff is almost useless to me and I guarantee you all bad reviews here have something to do with their "extra" features (Acronis just needs to get smarter). Their basic backup and recovery works well, if you can deal with slow performance (this could be because of so many partitions I have in my computer too). So your mileage may vary.
True Image Home 2011 PC Backup and Recovery OverviewHave you ever accidentally deleted a file, had a virus corrupt your files, or had a disk fail? These are just a few examples of how people lose pictures, music, personal and financial data every day. Don't let this happen to you. Now is the time to protect your PC with Acronis True Image Home 2011.
Redesign of friendly user interface includes new features like Drag and Drop for faster navigation. View larger.

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Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 Server Edition with 12 Months Basic Support Review

Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 Server Edition with 12 Months Basic Support
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Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 Server Edition with 12 Months Basic Support ReviewBottom-Line: If you need brick-level back & recovery solution for you large, medium, or small business look no further than "Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 Server Edition."
I have used some form of "Symantec's Backup Exec System Recovery Server Edition" since the Windows 2003 days, when the interface was clean, simple, and easy to use. Since that time, Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery which used to be marketed by Veritas (until Symantec bought out the company), has evolved along with Windows, and today it is a robust, flexible, somewhat complicated enterprise-class application that is almost indispensable to a shop still utilizing hardware or a Data Center operation in transition to a virtualized environment.
But not every server/application lends itself to virtualization, so I predict there will be a need for the functionality Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery brings to the Data Center table for quite some time.
Product Description (From Symantec): Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 is a simple, cost-effective backup and recovery solution for small businesses that helps minimize downtime and avoid disaster by easily recovering individual data files/folders or complete Windows systems in minutes - not hours or days - even to different hardware, virtual environments, or remote locations.
"Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery's" forte has always been in keeping the backup & recovery process simple (well relatively simple) and easy to use, but flexible enough to adapt to almost any enterprise environment. Version 2010's release is no different. Key Features include:
oBackup systems automatically, while you work, through scheduled or event-driven backups;
oOffsite Backup Copy to an FTP location or secondary disk drive;
oDissimilar Hardware Recovery with Restore Anywhere Technology;
oSeamless physical to virtual (P2V) and virtual to physical (V2P) conversions for VMWare, Microsoft and Citrix virtual environments.
Installation
"Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 Server Edition" can be installed one of two ways; either on the server you need to backed-up, or on a centralized server upon which the back-up agent can be pushed out to the servers needing to be backed-up. A centralized installation will further allow an administrator to centrally manage the backup events and scheduling for each server.
However, we choose the individual option (it was easier to administer) and installed "Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 Server Edition" on each individual server (7 in all); thereafter I can log into each server and set the backup schedule for each.
Usage

"Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 Server Edition" is like most backup software these days, wizard driven, asking as series of questions to help simplify the backup and recovery process. But, make no mistake "Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 Server Edition" is a complicated software application with a lot of moving parts, so before using it for the first time one should read the owner's manual.
Brick-level back-up is pretty straight forward (depending on the amount of data being backed-up, it could take upwards to an hour to complete), but brick-level recovery can be time consuming and problematic especially if you are performing a Restore Anywhere procedure. Partition table may need to be deleted and recreated, hard disk partitions deleted and recreated, and or FAT tables rearranged. But if all goes well, I can perform a System Recovery in under an hour.
We use "Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 Server Edition" to perform brick-level back-ups on (7) servers nightly to an off-site location connected by a generous data pipe so the process is seamless. After I installed the software on each server I ran the backup wizard, specifying what I needed backed-up, to where, and how frequently.
The "Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 Server Edition" agent runs as a Windows service so an administrator does not have to be logged into the server in order for the process to run unattended. You can set the application to append the current backup set, or overwrite it to save space. Full or incremental back-ups can also be configured.
For recovery we store our sets on a network drive. No problem, "Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 Server Edition" has a utility that allows for logging into a network and mapping a drive as long as the right credentials are used. But the application can also read back-up sets from locally attached (USB) hard drives and or DVD drives.
Conclusions
I have no (real) complaints concerning either the functionality or usage of "Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 Server Edition"; it is an easy to use, robust brick-level backup & recovery program that offers a ready solution for just about every enterprise environment. There are of course other solutions on the market, but none that seems to offer the level of functionality and refinement our business is looking for.
Symantec technical support has always been there when we needed them, including weekend and evening, and the support techs have always been knowledgeable and willing to stick with me until whatever issue I was having was resolved to my satisfaction.
If you need brick-level back & recovery solution for you large, medium, or small business look no further than "Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 Server Edition."Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery 2010 Server Edition with 12 Months Basic Support Overview

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Roxio Toast 7 Titanium (Mac) Review

Roxio Toast 7 Titanium (Mac)
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Roxio Toast 7 Titanium (Mac) ReviewI've used Toast since the early 90's, and this is by far the best version yet. I've always upgraded before to get nice little interface and usability upgrades, but this upgrade really is revolutionary for Toast. It takes a fantastic CD/DVD burner and adds some great totally new features:
1) Really good backup. Finally, I can backup chunks of data larger than 4.7 GB. The capacity of a standard DVD is about 4.7 GB, and I've always had to pick and choose which data to backup to fit it within that limit. But with the new Toast, they've added the ability to span a single backup across multiple DVDs. So, I can backup 10 GB, 20 GB, whatever. That's a great upgrade.
2) Easy movie DVD backup. They've added an easy, slick way to backup my movie DVDs to 4.7 GB DVD-+R. I've used the other conversion programs and they are very cumbersome. Toast makes it easy to do the conversion, and the quality is great. They worked with DivX to get the newest version of DivX that isn't even released yet for Mac.
CONCLUSION: There are many, many new reasons to upgrade to Toast 7. Overall, it's one of the best upgrades yet. I only wish they offered a better deal to upgraders. Other software let's upgraders pay about 30-40% of the full price, but Toast has recently done away with upgrades, and instead does a small mail-in rebate. Oh, well, they still get my money. :-)Roxio Toast 7 Titanium (Mac) OverviewNew Toast 7 is the best way to save, share and enjoy a lifetime of digital music, movies and photos on CD and DVD. Burn large files across multiple discs. Compress and copy DVD movies. Add over 50 hours of music to an audio DVD - with on-screen TV menus, shuffle play, and rich Dolby Digital sound. Turn DivX files into DVDs. Create stunning multi-image HD slideshows with collages, motion effects, titles and background soundtracks. Enjoy HD playback in your living room today! Do it all with the #1 burning software for the Mac OS.

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Retrospect 7.6 Professional for Windows Review

Retrospect 7.6 Professional for Windows
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Retrospect 7.6 Professional for Windows ReviewI am a high level geek and even I had a very hard time making this stinker work. I back up semi-regularly, thinking I'd never have to use the Retrospect backup. I use my laptop ALL of the time at work, and can't operate without it.
Then one day, I dropped my laptop HARD on my kitchen floor and the hard drive stopped working. The warranty would cover any damage to the laptop, but what about the data? Luckily, I had backed up ALL of my data using Retrospect just 48 hours prior.
The moment of truth was at hand!
Well, it took me 2.5 days of banging my head on the keyboard, and a lot of coffee and patience working with Retrospect, but I FINALLY got the hard drive restored EXACTLY as it had been at the time of my backup. It's as if nothing had happened.
HINT: you MUST install your OS _FIRST_ on your new drive before even attempting a DISATER RECOVERY with Retrospect. Don't expect to be able to just clone the image back to your new drive -- that would be too easy, and I think Retrospect is afraid of getting sued by Microsoft.
I had to learn about "backup sets", "recreating catalog files", "snapshots", etc. The wizards are awful -- not very intuitive in the least, and you have to go into "expert mode" to make it work right most of the time. Also, I had to fix a couple of boot errors along the way -- the computer thought it had two OS's on it. Additionally, I had to tell Retrospect to restore my registry and other settings (you'd think it would do this automatically being that you're doing a DISASTER RECOVERY).
Overall, a major pain in the [...]!
BUT, it works! It took me about 15 hours of work over 2.5 days, but I got it ALL back. So, the software does deliver a COMPLETE restoration when it really counts. Sure saved MY bacon!Thanks Retrospect -- I think....
Retrospect 7.6 Professional for Windows Overview

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EMC Retrospect 7.5 Professional for Windows Upgrade Review

EMC Retrospect 7.5 Professional for Windows Upgrade
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EMC Retrospect 7.5 Professional for Windows Upgrade Review[the following is excerpted from my personal blog review]
Retrospect is an old name in Macintosh software. It was the "enterprise" backup solution for many educational institutions and some businesses in the early days of the Mac.
When the Mac was dying, sometime after OS 7, Retrospect went into decline. Towards the end time Dantz, who owned it then, created a Windows SOHO product called "Retrospect Pro" that ran on a Windows machine and backed up both Macs and PCs. I wrote about my use of it many years ago. Most of what I wrote there is still true, so if you want to get my opinion of the overall app take a look at that old page.
Dantz foundered, earning a reputation for miserly customer support and increasingly buggy products. They never really adjusted to OS X; the code base was probably too old to fix and they'd deferred a rewrite for too long.
EMC bought Retrospect, and I figured that was the end. It was indeed the end for the Macintosh product line, it's not been updated in years and it's hard to believe it will be sold after 10.5 is released. I've discovered, however, that they have invested in EMC® Retrospect® Pro 7.5 for Windows.
I found this out because Retrospect Pro 6.5, which I've been reluctantly losing because there is still no alternative for automated backup of a mixed Windows/Mac LAN had become very unstable. It was failing with cryptic error messages, it's a few years old, and I was using it in an unsupported fashion (with clients released for newer server versions) -- there was no sense trying to fix it. I had to either upgrade or switch to individual machine backup - a thought too painful to consider.
I'd held off upgrading for years because Dantz releases were so buggy an "upgrade" only introduced new issues - and left the old issues unchanged. EMC looked worse at first -- no user forums, no trials, nothing. In the past six months or so, however, EMC reinstated user forums and, above all, provided 30 day trial versions of all their products. They'd done enough to deserve a look, they'd dropped the price (buy on Amazon), the upgrade price was reasonable, and I was desperate.
So I tried -- without first uninstalling Retrospect Pro 6.5 (mistake!). The first thing I got were error messages and log entries like this one:
OS: Windows XP version 5.1 (build 2600), Service Pack 2, (32 bit)
Application: C:\Program Files\Retrospect\Retrospect 7.5\retrorun.exe,
Exception occurred on 6/22/2007 at 10:56:33 AM
Exception code: c0000005 ACCESS_VIOLATION
Fault address: 004093c3 0001:000083c3 (null)
and like this:
* retrospect elem.cpp-993
I fumbled around a bit, thinking 7.5 was choking on my complex scripts, but I couldn't fix the problem. The fix was:
* uninstall Retrospect Pro 6.5
* reboot (because Retrospect does ugly things to low levels of the host OS)
* uninstall Retrospect Pro 7.5
* reboot
* heck, reboot again
* install Retrospect Pro 7.5
* reboot
* look for updates
* update and reboot
The 30 day trial then worked. I ran the backups for a week and did a few random file restores and there have been no errors, though I admit that the only Mac I backup now is a PPC Mac running OS X 10.4. I'll soon be adding in the Intel laptop and I'm reasonably sure I'll have problems -- I don't think EMC has many Mac resources left. I run the Windows software on an old XP machine I'll run until it dies and is replaced by a new Intel iMac and an XP VM.
So I bought the upgrade from Amazon, thinking I should get the physical media. The price was cheaper too I think. What you get is a CD - nothing else. No documentation of course, but I know this immensely complex and completely unfriendly software very well. (They've introduced "wizards" to try to make it friendlier, but I disabled those. I've no idea if they help.) The upgrade process is a bit odd, but despite hanging for a bit at one point it completed. What you get with the CD is an "activation code". You enter that on the right page, your old registration code, and your address information to get a new code, which you'd better not lose (it is emailed to you as well as shown online).
In summary, Retrospect Pro is still a very unfriendly and complex hunk of software, and the clients probably don't work properly with a modern Mac, but it's an improvement on recent versions and if you want to backup a mixed LAN affordably and automatically there are no other choices.
BTW, don't expect to be able to do a "bare metal" restore on OS X. That might be theoretically possible, but I've never heard of anyone doing it using Retrospect. This is all about backing up your personal data.EMC Retrospect 7.5 Professional for Windows Upgrade Overview

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Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite 10 (OLD VERSION) Review

Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite 10 (OLD VERSION)
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Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite 10 (OLD VERSION) ReviewCreator Suite 10 does it all (or at least anything I could possibly want to do). Audio, video, data, photos, media devices, label creation and more. You can download directly from a camera, camcorder, iPod, cell phone and most portable devices. It has a sound editor to capture sound from DVDs and other sources. It even converts LPs and cassettes to digital sound from a stereo input. DVDs are easy to create and users can add soundtracks using their own music catalog. The program screens are well organized, with helpful wizards to get a user started with every feature.
I recently purchased a new HP tablet laptop with Windows Vista. Windows Vista does not work with older versions of many software programs. I already own Nero Burning Rom and Easy CD Creator 6. Neither would work with Vista. Creator Suite 10 runs perfectly with Vista. Also, older Roxio products do not do DVD burning and my version of Roxio will not rip from CDs to create MP3s (which is why I had bought Nero). I had never created DVDs before getting this program. But, it worked perfectly with the Lightscribe DVD drive, and I easily created a DVD from MPEGS, added chapter inserts and customized the menu. It played in our 5-disc DVD player with no issues. Burning CDs was just as simple.
So, why 4 stars and not 5? First, doing it all is great - unless you're never going to use it. A $100 retail price is a little high for some users. Other than the DVD and CD burning, I am unlikely to use the product to do photo manipulation and the myriad other features available. I already own other programs that do these things, that I am more skilled at using. Second, it will likely not work in an older system. I tried loading this on my 2 year old Averatec laptop running Windows XP. I could not get the software to install. I ran DSKCHK when prompted by Windows, but the disk would run loudly in my drive and go nowhere. I did install it on a Dell GX620 system running XP with no problem, so it is the laptop (or drive), not XP, that's the problem.
If you have an older computer, or just want to burn CDs, you may want to go with a cheaper media program. If you've got a brand new system with Windows Vista, I cannot recommend Easy Media Creator Suite 10 enough.Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite 10 (OLD VERSION) OverviewProduce impressive multi-media projects that combine photos, video and music; share and enjoy on CD, DVD, the web or on popular portable players and cell phones. Includes step-by-step video tutorials that lead users through the process of completing a wide range of personal digital-media projects. Backup non-encrypted DVD-Videos or convert video files into preferred formats for use on an iPod, PSP, Windows Media portable device or mobile phone. Powerful 32 track video editor with HD support and studio quality tools, effects, and transitions; edit and enhance photos, creating delightful photo projects and gifts. New features and capabilities that are specifically designed to naturally extend the digital-media functionality of Vista.

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Laplink PC Mover Moving Kit Review

Laplink PC Mover Moving Kit
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Laplink PC Mover Moving Kit ReviewWe recently had to upgrade the main computer used by our family, and I was dreading it. We have several user accounts, with hundreds of gigs of data and more applications installed than I can count (many of which were installed so long ago that I'm not even sure that we still have the media.)
Besides that, the new computer came with Vista, so we we were doing an upgrade from XP at the same time (note: if you're using Vista make sure to get the newly-released version of PCmover so that it supports it.)
I was completely impressed by the way that this utility handled the transfer. It was simple to use, and went without a hitch. There were only handful of programs that needed minor tweaking afterwards because either their licensing or their configurations depended on the specific system - all of these were ironed out quickly and everything is running beautifully.
A recommendation... I would recommend "grooming" the old computer a bit before the move: 1) uninstall any applications and remove any data that you don't want moved, since you can't pick and chose during the move. 2) If you're moving to a new OS, upgrade your applications on the old computer to the latest version beforehand. It's easier to handle this separately from any cleanup you may need after the move.
Laplink PC Mover Moving Kit OverviewWith PCMover you can finally enjoy upgrading to a new computer without the fear of losing important data.This powerful, intuitive migration tool is compatible with any version of Microsoft Windows.It can transfer all your existing applications, settings, data files, and even registry settings to another PC.And you don't need to tell PCMover where to find anything; it already knows exactly how to complete the move swiftly and accurately.PCMover is also ideal for copying your current configurations to a new notebook or to another computer that you plan to use in addition to your PC.Your new computer will be ready to go; complete with your important files and applications form the old computer and all of the new computer's pre-existing software.

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Kaspersky Pure 3-User Review

Kaspersky Pure 3-User
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Kaspersky Pure 3-User ReviewI was given the opportunity to evaluate Kaspersky PURE on computers where I had been running Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 and Norton Internet Security 2010. The two computers I used for the evaluation were a 6 year old laptop running Windows XP Professional with a 2 Ghz processor and 2 GB of RAM and a 2 year old netbook running Windows XP Professional with an Intel Atom 1.6 Ghz processor and 2 GB of RAM. Both computers have about 10 GB of free space on the hard drives. Neither of these computers has significant processing power or disc space by today's standards and so the use of a internet security package that provides excellent protection but does not bog down the system is a priority. I found that Kaspersky PURE excelled at this.
When I first tried to install PURE, I received an alert that I needed to remove other Kaspersky programs prior to the installation of PURE. This required a reboot of my machine after Kaspersky Internet Security was removed. Otherwise, the installation of PURE was straightforward and easy. My netbook does not have an optical drive, but the packaging with the installation disc noted that I could download the program from the Kaspersky website.
As part of the installation, you are asked to participate in the Kaspersky Security Network which allows anonymous data to be sent from your computer to Kaspersky Lab. The data sent to Kaspersky Lab is used to create a behavioral engine to further strengthen security safeguards. I didn't want to send data to Kaspersky and so I did not accept the terms and conditions of joining the Kaspersky Security Network and was able to proceed with the installation.
Once PURE was installed, I received alerts that the program's databases were out of date and that updating was required. Updating the program can be done manually or automatically. If you choose manual update, PURE will start to alert you that the databases are out of date if you do not update for a few days. A really nice feature of the Kaspersky update is that it will update even with a slow internet connection. Norton, on the other hand timed out if the internet connection wasn't fast enough during updates. This is a very nice feature by Kaspersky to allow for users with slow internet connections.
Full scans on my computers can take up to several hours. I have noticed that the scanning time is faster with PURE than with Kaspersky Internet Security. Unlike Norton Internet Security, using PURE I could easily access a detailed report of events such as banners that were blocked, scans that were performed and applications that were controlled. This level of detail in the report may not be needed, but it is nice that it is available if you want to see what PURE has been doing.
A very good feature that was not included in Kaspersky Internet Security is the Open Vulnerabilities Scan. This scan found outdated versions of Firefox, Java and even Photoshop on my computer. I was given a link to which the problems with the older versions of these programs were listed and a link that I could follow to get the latest version if I didn't want the software to upgrade myself. The scan also found vulnerabilities on my computer such as allowing autorun on usb drives or problems with Internet Explorer. I think that the Open Vulnerabilities Scan is a very good feature and an important part of the defense for a computer. Although I am pleased with the scan, I am disappointed that Kaspersky did not make the Open Vulnerabilities Scan a part of the full scan. Not everyone may run the Vulnerabilities Scan as a separate option. An annoyance with this feature was that it continued to list Java and Photoshop as being vulnerable even after I updated the correct version of these programs. I am not sure if the scan did not recognize that the latest version had been installed or if there really is a problem.
In comparison to Norton Internet Security, PURE is very light on the computer resources. Norton IS was a resource hog and there were times when my computer would be running full out due to something that Norton was running. In Kaspersky PURE runs virus scans run quietly in the background.
In comparison to Kaspersky Internet Security 2011, PURE includes a password manager and is supposed to be better at guarding your home network. PURE also included the Open Vulnerabilities Scan. A full comparison of PURE and Internet Security can be found on the Kaspersky website.
The password manager if a good option for people who want a repository of their passwords. Access to the password manager can be by a password you type, the presence of a Bluetooth device with the key or a USB device. You can also generate a list of passwords onto a USB device to take with you which would be handy if you need to access secure websites from different computers.
Other features that PURE offers beyond virus and vulnerability protection include:
- Backup and restore to backup the hard drive to an external drive
- Parental Control
- Remote control of other computers on the home network
- Create containers where sensitive files can be stored and encrypted
- Virtual keyboard to defeat keyboard loggers by giving you a virtual keyboard on your screen that you can use to type in passwords for banking websites, for example.
- Safe run which allows for suspicious programs to be run in a protected environment to prevent the programs from gaining access to personal data.
- Anti banner
PURE is a very nice security package, but it does have some minuses:
- Scheduling scans is not intuitive. You need to click on a button marked manual to change the virus scans from manual to scheduled and unless you know to click on the button. Kaspersky should have made it much easier to schedule a virus scan.
- I had to change the default setting to allow for the full scan of USB drives when they are fist detected. I strongly believe that full scans of USB drives should be the default setting with the allowance that the user can change the setting. The only time that Kaspersky has found viruses during its scans is when I have plugged in a USB drive that I have used them to get data from someone else's computer.
- Open Vulnerabilities Scan not part of the full scan
- Checks the vulnerabilities of Internet Explorer, but not of other browsers such as Firefox, Opera or Chrome.
- The Open Vulnerabilities Scan does not recognize when programs with vulnerabilities are updated to the latest version.
- The database of malicious scripts has not been updated by Kaspersky since September, 2010 which means that at the time of the writing of this review, it has not been updated in five months.
Pluses
- Not intrusive
- Updates for slow internet speeds
- Very good reputation
- Full of features
- Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 has received very good reviews by Cnet and PC Magazine and PURE offers even better protection for your computer.Overall, despite the flaws, PURE is a step up from Kaspersky Internet Security and is highly recommended over Norton Internet Security.Kaspersky Pure 3-User Overview
Kaspersky PURE Total Security is the most advanced all-in-one security software for your PC, family and home network. We've combined our award-winning protection--optimized for maximum PC performance--with advanced tools that keep your kids safe and responsible online, and your passwords, digital identity, and treasured data secure. Plus, with our unique, centralized control center, you can easily maintain the security of all PCs in your home network. With Kaspersky PURE, you have everything you need to keep you and your family completely protected.
Kaspersky PURE Total Security is the most advanced all-in-one security software for your PC, family and home network. Click here for a larger image

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Nero Multimedia Suite 10 Review

Nero Multimedia Suite 10
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Nero Multimedia Suite 10 ReviewPurchased this software with the expectations it could produce a decent quality DVD image.
My wife and I spent weeks producing a DVD of our son's christening using Nero Vision 10 which was all shot on a Sony HDR-CX350v in FX mode (24Mbps). When it's burnt to DVD, the picture quality looks like something shot through a lens covered in Vaseline, the original footage (1080i) is crystal clear however.
I tried every option, "Motion-adaptive Deinterlacing" (checked/unchecked), "Sample Format" (tried every option), "Encoding mode" (tried Fast encoding (1-pass) and High Quality (2-pass VBR)).
It all produces this same rubbish DVD render quality. This has been discussed on the Nero forums and Nero are yet to admit to a problem.
I downloaded a trial version of Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10, created a simple movie, added some of the clips I used in my Nero project, burnt to DVD just using the default Vegas settings and the difference between the Sony Vegas DVD and the Nero DVD are like night and day.
Some of my clips show footage inside a church, on the Vegas DVD details are crisp and clear. In the Nero DVD, details are blurred to the point you can't even make out the patterns on people's clothing.
Nero 10 is garbage and I wish I could get my money back on this product.
Avoid at all costs. I think Sony Vegas will be my next purchase.Nero Multimedia Suite 10 OverviewFinally, multimedia software that truly does what you need. Nero 11 empowers you to create, manage and share your photos, music and videos like never before. The express video editing workflows, plus burning and backup are stepped up and seamlessly integrated with exciting features to give you a true 360-degree experience. Easy-to-advanced video editing, including innovative video file conversion technology for multiple device playback, provides you with the full circle connection for your digital media needs.

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Symantec Norton Ghost 15.0 - Single User Review

Symantec Norton Ghost 15.0 - Single User
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Symantec Norton Ghost 15.0 - Single User ReviewBackups get A+:
1. Backing up over network, high compression, custom drivers loading is easy to do. You will backup in style
2. Superior and useful utilities.
3. Every imaginable problem from the legendary Ghost 2003 is fixed and improved.
4. No more .gho format anymore. The current format so far has handled some large partition backups for me. Full 30GB partitions to high compression is a breeze.
Restores get C-:
1. Right away after a partition recover, you will get the message "Please insert the Recovery disk". It will say "Error EA730002: Cannot find the driver database directory". How does this error stay in the product? It is one confusing message for a successful recovery. The recovery disk is really just the ghost CD.
2. Then there is the staged recovery mystery. With 2 identical machines of the same hardware, I can only restore to the machine where I initially did the cold backups. I don't understand. This is ruining my confidence in the product. We are talking same motherboards, same versions, everything.
3. What other kind of hardware replacement will prevent my restores? Should I buy another backup product just in case?
Symantec Norton Ghost 15.0 - Single User Overview

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Nero 11 Review

Nero 11
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Nero 11 ReviewThe new Nero has hit the shelves. The world's most successful CD/DVD burning suite has experiened yet another reincarnation, while trying to evolve into the ultimate digital experience suite.
PROS:
1. RELIABLE TECHNOLOGY: I have friends still using versions 6 and 7, so that should give you an idea of how good software engineering has been at Nero - if the product still works well after all those years.
2. NBR - NO 1: Nero Burying ROM - the heart and soul of the digital suite - is as good as ever, and with the addition of Nero DiscSpan and SecurRom is currently offering more than any other CD/DVD authoring suite on the planet.
3. REVAMPED: Nero Video (formerly known as Nero Vision) has been revamped and continually improved since verion 10 with background editing, Express Editing and Storyboarding tools, Prosumer workflow on demand, etc. and will not leave the user wanting.
4. HELP AVAILABLE: The complete workflow has been improved with help and explanations at your fingertips (something missing in the past).
5. A SENSIBLE APPROACH: Nero Burning ROM, Nero Video and Nero BackItUp are sold separately, so you can pick the product you need at the optimum price, or buy the whole package in Nero v11 Platinum. Offering those applications separately means that Nero has finally recognized the fact that not all components in the bundle may be described as equally successful - and has done what would be right for customers.
CONS
1. PLAYBACK AND VIEWER ISSUES: Since v10 Nero have decided to drop Showtime - their dedicated DVD player, which may not have been the best on the market, but was nevertheless quite useful. Now Kwik media has been introduced, but it leaves much to be desired with regards to speed and usability. It will also hijack all your video and picture formats at the time of installation, if you do not uncheck a not very conspicuous tick box, which is checked by default. I never install Kwik anyway, and with PotPlayer and FastStone Image Viewer available (both excellent and free) I do not feel anyone else should. The very fact that the multimedia player is called Kwik (being the slow and clumsy mastodon that it really is) is an expression of Nero's wonderful sense of humor.
2. TIME AND SPACE ISSUES: The installation package for Nero 11 Platinum is almost 1 GB big. Installation time is 30-40 minutes, which is almost as long as the installation time of Windows XP. Takes up 2.2 GB on your HDD. When installation finishes it leaves behind some 3 GB of temporary files on your HDD. You need to remove those manually, which is both unnecessary and is an overkill for the average user.
3. BUNDLED, BUT UNNECESSARY: BackItUp is another Nero bundled product that I do not install. Why? I have ViceVersa, and the difference in functionality is simply enormous. BackItUp ls eye candy, but I'd rather have a highly configurable piece of software with a more modest interface.
4. TOO BIG: Although customers have been continually unhappy over the years with Nero's growing size, it seems that its developers are not unfazed with such opinions and continue to make Nero bigger and shinier, while at the same time keeping the changes in functionality to the minimum.
5. NOT QUITE STABLE YET: At the time of the publishing of this review the product was not quite stable yet.
CONCLUSION:
1. Nero solidifies its position among the top players with CD/DVD buring tools being top-notch and Video editing tools being among the best prosumer solutions on the market (Cyberlink, Roxio and Corel being its close competitors). Nero Burning ROM is simply No 1 on the planet - period.
2. Kwik and BackItUp - both products should either be re-thought fundamentally or dropped altogether. They are just eye candy, but no one wants a slow and clumsy interface combined with limited functionality.
3. As a whole, I do hope Nero developers pay more attention this time and Nero v12 (when it comes out) is less in size and more agile.Nero 11 Overview
Nero 11
360-degree experience for your photos, music & videos
Finally, multimedia software that truly does what you need. Nero 11 empowers you to create, manage and share your photos, music and videos like never before. The express video editing workflows, plus burning and backup are stepped up and seamlessly integrated with exciting features to give you a true 360 degree experience. Easy-to-advanced video editing, including innovative video file conversion technology for multiple device playback, provides you with the full circle connection for your digital media needs.

Highlights
Find / Manage / Play View larger.

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