Some of you may know already that when I’m not scouring the web looking for sales, I work as an IT consultant in Florida. Florida is a particularly good place to be an IT consultant due to the particularly bad storms we get on a regular basis. It also happens to be a bad place to be anything electronic… but that’s another story. The past couple weeks have seen a number of lightning storms.

Every storm season I receive lots of calls from a clients about dead computers which won’t power up, have blinking lights, etc. Yesterday was no exception, I received a frantic call by one of my clients who complained that their computer wouldn’t power on. I scheduled an emergency appointment and was was promptly at their house soon after. Once I got there to assess the situation, both the power supply and motherboard had been blown by a surge.

They were immediately worried about losing their family pictures. I assured them that with my specialized arsenal of tools and software, I can usually retrieve any lost data in most cases. Most likely the procedure will finish without a hitch, but it is a time consuming process.

As I explained to them that there could be no guarantees until it was done, I reminded them of our conversation a few weeks ago. At that time, I recommended that they purchase a copy of GoodSync, and a removable hard drive. I would then configure it to make automatic backups when they plugged it in. As most people who haven’t suffered data loss, they declined, and I left.

Had they made a different decision that day, they would have had an up to date backup of all their critical files, and I would have had them up and running yesterday. Because they didn’t however, they now have to pay for data recovery which, as I mentioned before, is a time consuming task.

Long story short… I have a feeling that they will have a different answer the next time I suggest a backup routine.

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!

• NEVR2 on RoboForm.com
• NEVR3 on GoodSync.com.

Keep in mind that you still need to click the “Buy RF Pro” link in their top navigation in order for the coupon code box to show up. If you click the main banner to purchase you will not be given the option.

Happy shopping, and be sure to pass the word on…

The one problem I had with RoboForm has been that I have so many computers (not their fault of course). I would be out on a job with my laptop, and be missing a passcard from my desktop. This often happened in reverse as well. If I needed to sign up for something while I was on a job, I would rarely get it synced up to my desktop for weeks.

The guys at SiberSystems tried to make our lives easier by creating GoodSync. With it, I was able to effortlessly sync my RoboForm data to and from my usb flash drive between all my desktops and laptops. However, it was still tedious, because if I had forgotten my usb drive, I would still not be up to date.

But… Once again SiberSystems comes to the rescue. They are now offering a free webdav server to all RoboForm Pro license holders. This WebDAV server is compatible with GoodSync, and easily configurable through RoboForm.

For further information on this great new FREE feature check out this page out. Also, it is only free for RoboForm Pro owners. If you haven’t already bought this awesome program, be sure to get 20% off your entire order with the coupon code NEVR1 during checkout.

IMHO RoboForm is an essential piece of software for anyone, and the pro version makes it possible to save more passwords and more profiles than the rather limited free version. Personally, I own a copy for every pc I own, AND a RoboForm2Go license for my u3 flash drive!

Thanks to the generous people at sibersystems, we are able to give 3 lucky people this software at the UNBEATABLE PRICE OF… well.. free. Someone would have to PAY YOU for it to be any cheaper!

For those of you who were in the first contest for GoodSync pro, the same rules apply. We will be giving out 3 licenses to 3 lucky readers. These are 100% authentic, and you can contact us, or SiberSystems directly if you have any problems activating. After you are up and going you will need to contact SiberSystems for technical support, but they are very responsive.

All entries will be accepted in the form of a comment posted below.

The first license will be given away door prize style to the FIRST eligible person to leave a comment. Basically, if you are reading this and there is no comment yet… post one quick! The second and third licenses will be given away with a mixture of a contest/drawing.

The drawing method will work exactly how you might imagine. Leave a comment, and at the end of the giveaway I will randomly choose two winners. Any entry that appears to have substantial thought/content will get preferential treatment (contest style). This sounds pretty vague… because it is. Impress me. If half the entries say "hey give me free stuff", then try to put a bit more effort into yours.

This drawing will probably go on for a week or two depending on the demand. I want to make sure that anyone who would like to enter has a chance. I will announce via a comment when the contest is over, and who the winners were.

Ideas for posts:

• Simple ‘give me free stuff’ or ‘enter me in the drawing’
• Have you used RoboForm before? Did you like it?
• Are you still using RoboForm now? Do you have any tips or tricks for new users?
• Have you tried any competitors software? How does it compare?
• Do you think we have an awesome website, that gives away awesome software awesomely? That’s awesome!

Standard boilerplate legalese aside, don’t try to cheat the contest. You MAY leave more than one comment, however you will only be counted once. You are not eligible if you are affiliated with this website, RoboForm, or any employees thereof. If you think you may not be eligible… you probably aren’t. Shoot me an email if you aren’t sure.

Most importantly… You MUST use a valid email address to enter . However, you will NOT receive any spam from us. The email address is necessary to send you your license keys, we can not be held responsible for sending your free license to the wrong person because you decided to use a fake email address.

In case you missed last weeks post, here is the quick and dirty:

*legal stuff*

We are offering three lucky readers a free license of GoodSync. Family members of people at this site, SiberSystems, or their affiliates are NOT elligible. This drawing is absolutely free. All you need to enter is to leave a comment below. Anyone who posts using a invalid email address will be disqualified. We will not send you spam, however we need a valid email address to send the license keys to.

You MAY post more than one comment (follow-ups etc). However, posting more than one comment will NOT increase your chances, you will only be entered once. Posting comments under more than one alias will disqualify you. Anyone found to attempt any other workarounds, or attempts to game the contest in any way, will be disqualified as well.

*rules*

Firstly, If there is no comment at the end of this post yet, act quick. The first comment is guaranteed one of the three licenses.

If someone beat you to the first spot you will still need to make a comment, but at this point you will be fighting for only two of the top three spots. A simple one line comment is a valid entry, however a more detailed post WILL increase your odds greatly.

Here are some suggestions to give you an idea of what we are looking for. If you are unfamiliar with GoodSync, take a quick look at the trial. Play with the features, try a few syncs, whatever. After you have done some quick research, post a comment with as much or little detail as you want. Describe what you liked, disliked, or otherwise felt of the software. Compare it to alternative software. You could suggest new things it could do, or old things it could do better. I’m sure that the good people at SiberSystems will check this post once or twice, but I will forward the suggestions if they do not).

Both positive and negative comparisons are welcome, but do not get petty/childish with namecalling. Make logical, thought out statements and nothing will be deleted. 

P.S. Keep an eye on our feed… we have another special surprise coming in the next week or two. I have a feeling it will prove to be even more popular.

Firstly, a big thank you to all our loyal readers who have continued to check in with us over the past few weeks. The holidays ended up overloading us over here, more than expected. However things are starting to slow down, and we’re finally starting to get caught up. A while back, we promised you some articles on getting good deals locally, and they’re still coming. Unfortunately we did not get them ready to post before the holiday rush.

We also had planned a special gift which was never even announced. It was originally planned to be either the week before or the week of Christmas. However, because of the holidays, there was an unexpected delay  in processing the licenses. So, unfortunately by the time they were in-hand, it was too late to be either a Christmas or Hanukkah gift. Once we missed the holidays it seemed less urgent, and got side tracked… sorry. We were going to wait for another holiday, but decided a gift is better late than never!

Some time within the next week or so, we are going to be announcing a drawing for 3 free licenses of GoodSync! The drawing will work as follows. Each of the licenses will be given to the people who post comments in the next post about the drawing which will be coming soon. This will likely be the very next post, however if we see something that is just too good to pass up, we will post it first.

The way the drawing will work is as follows: The first person to comment will receive one license. The remaining two will be given to either the best comment (see below, chosen by us), or chosen by random. Which of these two methods we use will be loosely based on the quality and quantity of the comments posted.

When you make your post be SURE to include a VALID email address. This address will not be shown publicly, and you will not receive any spam from us; however, if you do not include a real email address, we will have no way to send you your registration information.

For anyone who doesn’t win, does not want to wait, or needs more than one license; you can always go to the GoodSync website and apply the coupon NEVRG during checkout and you will receive 20% off your whole order.

The most popular uses for GoodSync, in my experience, is the ability to sync your My Documents and/or RoboForm data to a external/flash drive automatically. This is absolutely critical if you make frequent use of the ‘generate’ function in RoboForm when creating new logins. If you do not have your RoboForm data backed up, a hard drive crash could be even more devastating! It is also quite useful to sync your data between RoboForm desktop and RoboForm2Go (usb/u3), so that you have the same information at home and on the road.

My two favorite features are the ability to run when you insert a usb drive, and the option to to ‘tag’ the sync directories. This makes routine backups nearly completely automated. The tagging is to prevent syncing to an incorrect drive that has stolen the original drive letter.

For those who want to prepare for the drawing could do a couple things.

1. You should add our feed to your favorite rss reader.
2. You should either check it, or our site, frequently to make sure you are the first one to comment on it.
3. Download GoodSync from their site and give it a try. The trial version works quite well, and gives you a very good feel for the program. When you register it (or win the drawing) it will remove all the various file/size limitations which come with the free version.
4. If you would like to do a simple ‘give me free stuff’, or ‘NeverPayeTail is so awesome’ comment, that is perfectly acceptable. You may still win that way. However those who posted a detailed comment will be given priority.
5. Telling us how awesome our site is will certainly not hurt; but it will likely not be the deciding factor.

The request at the end of the post announcing the drawing will be to write a comment detailing why you like, or would like to have GoodSync. You could also post about what you plan on using it for. We would also love to hear your comparisons (both positive and negative) between GoodSync and other competing products.

If a post stands out as being especially detailed, useful, thought out, or any other consideration we may make up… That person will likely win one of the licenses before any one line comment. Again, you do not HAVE to post a detailed comment, and writing one does not GUARANTEE you to win the drawing. However, those who do will get extra brownie points, and we all know that everybody loves brownies

Finally, we have to get to the sticky stuff. If you are in any way related to anyone who helps maintain this site, anyone at SiberSystems, or any affiliate thereof, you ARE NOT eligible to enter, or win this drawing. Please refrain from doing so.

PS Feel free to comment below, but this is NOT the post to comment on, to win the drawing! It should be in the next week.

For instance, you might check out a clothing store for your wife, a tool store for your husband, a toy store for your kids, an antique store for your parents, and an electronics store for your geek. Chances are, you probably will not frequent ALL of these sites for yourself, outside of the holidays. Because of that, most of these sites will not have your shipping address and credit card information saved.

Your probably thinking, who cares? You can just set up a new account, or make a one time buy with no account (available at some stores). However, you still have to enter all the ridiculous information that online sellers need: name, address, you’ll have to dig through your wallet/purse to find your credit card, then they’ll want to know your mothers maiden name, date of birth, social security number, and galactic interplanetary serial identification construct. OK, OK, maybe its not that bad, but you will undoubtedly waste 5 minutes of your life grilling through their questions; 10 minutes if you are not an expert typer, or not computer savvy.

Those days are now over, because now you have installed RoboForm. RoboForm remembers all this information and more (well… you might have to remember your galactic id # yourself). It (optionally) keeps this information all locked up behind a password, and a secure layer of encryption.

When you go to a website with a long annoying form, you simply click your ‘identity’ button. Then RoboForm springs to life; using some fairly impressive AI, RoboForm will detect each field’s type (credit card #, address line 1, etc) and enter the information as needed. Then, you just breeze through making sure it did not miss anything (very rarely) and you’re done.

If you are worried about your secure information (credit cards, bank accounts), they will all be protected by secure AES encryption. However, if you are especially paranoid, RoboForm does not have ANY required fields. If you don’t feel comfortable entering certain information, just don’t. The time it saves you on whatever information you DO trust it with… will certainly be noticeable.

To top it all off… RoboForm remembers your login information to every website you have an account on. A simple click of your mouse, or tap of a hotkey will instantly log you into all of your existing banks, forums, and social networking sites.

And now the moment you have been waiting for… the 20%. If you act quickly, you can save 20% on RoboForm, RoboForm2Go and GoodSync from RoboForm‘s website by entering the coupon code NEVR1 during checkout. In case some of you are wondering, they decided to hide the coupon code box if you click the image in the middle of their page. To see the coupon box you need to click "buy rf pro" from the upper navigation.

If you go to the RoboForm website and enter the code "NEVR1" on the checkout page they will give you 20% off *anything* in their store. This includes RoboForm Pro, RoboForm2Go, as well as GoodSync. So for anyone who missed out last month, jump on it now, and pass the news on to your friends. With our coupon code NEVR1 which takes off 20% from the normal price of $30 to a mere $23. This coupon has no maximum limit applied to it, so if you have a big family, or wanted to buy copies for your office, this is the perfect time!

If any of you who don’t know what RoboForm is… It is a fantastic tool that can safely and securely remember your most sensitive information including passwords, addresses, credit and bank information, as well as typed notes about anything you want. When you finally need this information you click a single button and it will quickly detect the fields on the form and fill them out. It will detect how to format the information to the websites liking.

It also can help protect against keyloggers. Keyloggers can monitor every key you type. Some evil-doer somewhere will look over these logs looking for interesting information, like bank, or strings of numbers that look like bank credit card or identification numbers. Around these, he may find some more strings that he may be able to recognise as a username or password. This can lead to disasterous effects, as you might imagine.

RoboForm solves this because, you are no longer typing any of this information. You simply go to a site, click a button and it effortlessly appears. You may then be wondering, if they are monitoring my keystrokes, won’t they detect the RoboForm password too? Well, the great people at SiberSystems have thought of everything; you can either type the password with your keyboard, which is convienient, or you can type it with an on-screen keyboard which, like the form filling does not get logged as a keystroke.

It makes us proud to be able to bring this excellent software to you, our readers, at such a fantastic price. If the current demand keeps up, we hope to keep saving you guys money for a long time to come. Whether you make a lot of online purchases, sign up for contests, freebies, or simply want a convienient place to find things… Once you use this program, you will wonder how you ever survived without it!

This offer is open to all of our readers, old and new. Be sure to tell all your friends and family about this discount, and the website that works hard to save you money. If you are new to the site, be sure to check back regularly or subscribe to our feed to hear about future specials. This offer may be discontinued at any time without warning. Act now, while you still can!

If you already know what RoboForm is, just click this link and the coupon code NEVR1 should already be applied. This 20% off will bring the cost down from the normal price of $30 to a mere $23. This coupon has no maximum limit applied to it, so if you have a big family, or wanted to buy copies for your office, this is the perfect time!

If any of you missed the original post, RoboForm is a fantastic tool that remembers your passwords, and other personal information. It will recall any of it whenever you need it. Whether you frequently sign up for contests, freebies, or simply buy things online … this program should be able to detect all of the form fields and seamlessly enter the information which you dread repeating.

We’re very proud to be able to bring this excellent software to you, our readers, at such a fantastic price. This offer is open to all of our readers, old and new. If you are new to the site, be sure to check back regularly or subscribe to our feed to hear about future specials. This offer may be discontinued at any time without warning. Act now, while you still can!

If you choose to set a password on this information (we suggest you do), all your information will be securely encrypted. If you want, you can tweak the settings or use a secure encryption password for even greater security. This means that if the information should ever fall into the wrong hands, they won’t be able to read your bank data, or other personal information without the correct password. At least, not unless they have a spare supercomputer at their disposal; not many internet theives do.

It also can help protect against keyloggers. Keyloggers work by monitoring keystrokes which you type. Some evil-doer who has infected your computer with this virus will look over the logs of every key typed. At some point, he will see that you typed the website of your bank, followed by two strings (presumably a username and password. This can lead to disasterous effects, as you might imagine. RoboForm solves this because, you no longer have to type anything to log into your bank. You simply go to the website and press login. You may then be wondering, if they are monitoring my keystrokes, won’t they detect the RoboForm password too? Well, the great people at SyberSystems have thought of everything; you can either type the password with your keyboard, which is convienient, or you can type it with an on-screen keyboard, which can not be read by the keyloggers.