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…

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.