For anyone who reads this blog who hasn’t gotten RoboForm yet, you should. However, while you’re busy at the checkout getting 20% off with our coupon code NEVR2… You’re probably not be aware of how valuable it could be to check the box next to GoodSync while you’re at it.
I recently heard from a friend of mine that he had a horrible experience reinstalling windows recently. His computer was running slow, and he wanted to erase it all and start over from scratch. Someone had told him about some elite hacker program that securely erases your computer and he couldn’t wait to do it so that he could call me and tell me how awesome it was. In hindsight, I bet he wishes he would have known I was completely familiar with DBAN already.
Unfortunately for my friend, the person who told him about the program neglected to mention that it would erase every hard drive connected to the computer. I bet you all just gasped, for good reason too. As most of you already guessed, when he ran the program he still had his external usb drive connected which contained his one and only “secure” backup.
At this point, he’s lost everything on his computer, including the backup he just finished making. In addition to the obvious losses of priceless photos, and other personal documents, this person had managed to rack up user accounts on hundreds of websites. He foolishly saved all this vital information, in a text document hidden away where he thought it was safe (which, it wasn’t, but thats another story). That text file is now gone, and he has a LOT of work ahead of him
You’re probably thinking, wow, it would be awful if that happened to me, but I bet it would be a whole lot worse than you’re even imagining. Losing that one file is pretty much the same thing as losing your wallet, so let’s play a game. Get out a piece of paper, and write down everything that you carry in your wallet/purse, and who you would have to contact to replace each one. When you’re sure you’ve got it all, check your wallet. I’ll wait…
…
…
Ok, so how did you do? If you’re like most people the first things on your list were probably credit and debit cards. Somehow they are always on our minds, right? You’re next couple items might be your drivers license, and maybe a membership card or two… after that I bet everything got a bit fuzzy, right?. You start asking yourself questions like, did I have a discount card to AMC or Regal? CVS or Walgreens? Who do I call to get a new birth certificate? Will they need my drivers license before they give me my birth certificate? Will I need my birth certificate to get my drivers license? I’m sure you get the idea… It get’s messy quick!
The same thing happens with your online accounts… you always remember a few basics, like who your email provider is (gmail, hotmail, yahoo); what portal do you use as your home page (google, yahoo, msn); your favorite social networking site is (facebook, twitter, myspace); you might even get a few more. However, once you get past 5-10 sites, you start forgetting them completely. You ask yourself things like “when I had a problem with my car last year I found a forum that really helped and seemed very well informed, but what was the name” or, “My ex’s friend told me about this really cool site, but we don’t talk since the breakup… what was it called?” That is all forgetting the obvious fact that most people don’t even remember their login data if they manage to GET to the website they want.
So, what’s the solution? Well, RoboForm itself is a great start. It remembers all your passwords securely… but it only goes so far if you wipe your hard drive like my friend did. SiberSystems makes another product, GoodSync, that works perfectly in this situation. GoodSync will backup sections of your hard drive to other locations that you choose. Most of the time this would be to an external drive. However, when you lose your main copy, AND the backup simultaniously… this STILL doesn’t help you, by itself.
What I neglected to mention, is that when you combine the two products, you can instead backup to RoboForm‘s online backup service– FOR FREE! That way, if my friend ever suffers another a catastrophic loss… he will rest soundly with the knowledge that his login data will be safe. It also serves the dual purpose of easing multiple RoboForm installations. Mine is set up to automatically sync up login data between my desktop, laptop, and my android phone instantly over the internet. That way I always have the information I need on the go. Depending on what information you store, it might just help you with that wallet problem as well!
