Cloud Computing – Pioneer of Change

As far as developing technologies are concerned cloud has been a subject of controversy. There have been several arguments, debates that have left people confused. Several firms however have shifted their IT department to cloud. Cloud computing would influence the way we do business, offer advantage to companies who are bold enough to think outside the box”. We can have a look at how cloud computing can benefit people:

Healthcare  

Just consider a dentist or a doctor who can check the radiograph and zoom into certain areas of radiograph with a button. This would allow the practitioners to make medical decisions immediately irrespective of the location or whether they have access to any desktop PC. With introduction of this technology this would soon turn into reality. 

Staff can access several clinical records from tablets which also improve the patient experience as well as allow one-to-one care.  

Immediate payment  

Time is always valuable for business. Online payment providers has benefited greatly. It can offer the customers self-service as well as the ability to immediately add a payment method to service. Simultaneously, businesses such as online gaming companies use this to stay ahead of competitors and provide new options to its customers. Customers are used to having immediate access and the ability to get real-time feedback. Company can react quickly to several market events, create as well as use new applications in order to capitalize on major trends. 

Cloud ensures that the employees are in contact always. It allows new forms of collaboration. This technology is gradually becoming critical part of the company’s infrastructure. Several businesses are relying on mobile devices. This has crept in so much so that people are ready to leave job if they are not allowed mobile devices.  

These are among the several ways as to how cloud is influencing our lives. This is just the beginning but the technology would develop. Several businesses have realized that cloud can do so much more. Other than this cloud can do so much more than speeding or reducing the cost.   

Here are few useful resources about cloud computing.
Benefits of Google driveintegration with Gmail

Are your documents securedin Google drive?
Use Google Drive add ons

Pros and Cons of Online File Storage

Would you use online storage at work? These sites are becoming popular and many are free services too. However the big question is that is it worth using these sites? Are your details safe? Let’s look at some of the popular online storage external providers:

Google Online Storage

With the online storage system of Google it wants to take care of your life. This also includes Google Drive. With the combination of Gmail and Google drive it is possible to have office which runs on net only. This however has its share of good and bad. One of the major merits is that the files can be accessed from anywhere whether you use a mobile phone or a computer. Google Drive allows installation of applications. Despite having a quick internet connection, these applications are slow and not meant for professional use. Google Drive even permits to upload entire hard disk and allows viewing as well as editing some files if the application installed is proper.  Gmail stores images and files. This should be used for communication only. Google Drive should look after file storage.

Zoho

Zoho offers a complete office solution for a business for databases, spreadsheet and so on. Basic editing can be done. All business can be done online but files cannot be made with each other. This is best for basic business as well as university students. You would have several utilities like chats, meetings, note and everything that a desktop computer has. Some among these are not free and they would have to be upgraded. 

Dropbox

Dropbox provides good sharing and syncing facilities between computers. If a document is edited and the same is done by your friend too, when uploaded to drop box there would be trouble and it would be overwritten through the automatic sync. Google drive is better here.

Skydrive, Office 365 and Hotmail 

MS started initially with live storage which saved files. Thereafter it upgraded to Mesh which failed. Then it updated to Office 365 and now Skydrive. This is not suggested for online business. Google Drive is competent universally. 

Yahoo Mail

This has no online storage solution other than Yahoo mail that has limited space. Therefore files can be uploaded to inbox and saved later. Here the files are not encrypted in the server. It does not have free POP3. This is not reliable as far as speed is concerned. You would have to download all one by one in order to access them.   

There are several merits and demerits as far as working with online tools are concerned. However several experts and users based on their experience say that desktop is better as far as speed, reliability and such factors are concerned. The cloud needs to catch up and till users use optic fiber, cloud cannot defeat desktop.

Can you Run Windows Software on Mac?

There are some programs in Mac which support Windows. You can surely run Windows programs irrespective of business software or PC games. These techniques are similar to the ways Windows software can be installed on Chromebook or Linux. Below given the ways to run Windows software on Mac:

Virtual Machine is a good method to run Windows desktop software. They would allow you to install Windows as well as other operating systems in the window on Mac desktop. Windows would think it’s running on actual system, but it is running inside the piece of software on Mac. You need not use Windows program in virtual machine window. The program permits you to bring out Windows programs from virtual machine window so that it appears on Mac desktop. However the 3D graphics would not perform well. There would be several games which cannot be played. 

Boot Camp helps you to install Windows with OS X on Mac. At a time only one operating system can run thus having to restart Mac to toggle between Windows and OS X. The problem here is that you cannot run Mac and Windows application simultaneously. If you just want to run a Windows desktop application alongside your Mac applications, a virtual machine is the best.  

Run Windows Software on Ubuntu with Wine

Wine is a compatibility layer which allows Windows applications to run on some other operating systems. Wine would write Windows code again which applications depend, so that they can be executed on various other operating systems. Wine is way to run Windows applications on Mac. There is no graphical interface.

Crossover comes under the category of paid application, but no free trial is offered. This focuses on compatibility. A good graphical interface is provided and emphasis is on popular programs. You can view list of programs that would run well on Crossover. Despite being focused on compatibility it is based on Wine and would not work with everything. Here you need not run any virtual machine. However if you run it then you would be able to execute any Windows program with not much risk. 

Access Windows Remote Desktop via Internet

You can obliterate the method of running Windows software on Mac and use remote desktop software in order to access remote Windows system running Windows application of your choice. Those organizations which have business software runs on Windows and can host Windows servers as well as make applications available to iPads, Chromebooks, Android tablet and others. If you are a home user then you could configure Windows PC for accessing remotely and connect whenever you require Windows application. This is not perfect for something like games. If you are user of Chrome then you can make use of Chrome Remote Desktop to connect to Windows PC from your Mac running Chrome.

All these tricks require more work than installing a Windows program on the PC. If you have a Mac focuses on making use of Mac software. Windows programs would not be integrated properly.  You would have to buy a Windows license for Mac to achieve good compatibility.

Use Private Mode of a Browser

The modern day browsers are packed with features. One of them is the private or the incognito mode. Though it is known to be used for all wrong reasons but this mode is used not only for that. This mode helps you to browse privately but would not be able to keep the browsing activities secret from ISP or online spy.

This erases search, browsing activities and abandon tracking cookies you pick-up during your incognito session. You can activate the privacy mode for Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer. There are many websites who hides come content but allow you to view limited content for free prior persuading you to pay some amount.   

If the browser is in private mode no cookies would be allowed and whenever you visit the soft paywall site, the visitor would be considered fresh who has a limit of ten articles say. With the introduction of Tablets, ultra portable laptops and smartphones, now people need not visit internet café in order to access online accounts. However there are public PCs which are not maintained properly as well as not erase browsing history at the end of the session. Use this mode when you are surfing in a public system. It cannot be considered as a foolproof but if used combined with a site that does not store password then this is highly effective.   

There are several reasons as to why you want to cover the tracks while searching for details. Say if you want to get details about a medical condition then it should not pop up while other family members use the PC. May be you are shopping online for any surprise gift. There are endless reasons for keeping it concealed.   

You are not made anonymous on the net with this utility. The ISP, sites or the employer can track the pages you visit. You would not be protected from spyware or key loggers that would be installed on the system. It would not save visited pages, new passwords, new downloads list, cookies, cached and offline web content as well as User Data. While the new bookmarks crated would not be deleted. 

Does your PC Require an Outbound Firewall?

Windows has an in built firewall that blocks inbound connections. If the program acts as a server then Windows would prompt you. This firewall allows you to connect without your permission. Windows firewall shows a single application related firewall prompt. When the application wants to function as a web server, prompt appears informing this. If you allow, then applications can receive incoming connections from the net or even local network. You would have to forward the ports on router if application is not supportive of UPnP forwarding it automatically.

These are not frequent and not easy to deal with. Whenever an application wants to connect Internet or local network you get to see a prompt. If connection is declined, the firewall would prevent application from connecting.

Outbound firewalls are not that useful for an average user. These prevent applications on computer from connecting online. If you get to see a malware which is connecting then you are in trouble as it is running on the computer. The malware does lot of damage. 

If the program was running on the system and had access then it would open loopholes in firewall program. Malware could ally with other programs in order to communicate over net. It is not easy to isolate any particular application from the net. 

Outbound firewall is quite effective against any type of malware. Focus is mainly on effective antivirus program thereby keeping it updated and ensuring that Java is not installed. This would keep PC more secure compared to an antivirus which would not be that effective. If for once the system has been compromised then it cannot be undone.   

However geeks feel that this application would block apps which cannot be trusted blindly. However no unreliable application should be allowed to run on the system. Outbound firewalls cannot be totally discarded. In case you have some particular need and want to prevent the application from connecting to net then this can be valuable. However not many require this. 

You can also make use of Windows Firewall in order to create a rule to block the application from connecting to net. If you are configuring any server then this can be done to arrange outbound firewall rules thereby locking the machine.  

You can surely install an external firewall on Windows PC and avail benefits of the software. Sure, you could install a third-party firewall on your Windows PC and get outbound firewall capabilities. You should be able to control applications which connect with net.   

However every application would be connecting to the net for updates. Most programs on computer connect for some reason or the other. 

While outbound firewalls are not harmful they do not come with many disadvantages. It would take up more system resources and irritate you to upgrade. In case it is part of internet security suite it adds up to other programs which are not required in the system. 

The firewall adds complexity. You have to determine which applications should or must not connect. You would not surely like to deal with prompts always. On the other hand if you want to manage programs on the system which can connect easily, then install an external firewall.   

Do you Need more than One Backup Solution?

Do you require more than one backup service? It is good to use an offline or online backup solution to secure data. But for proper safety you would require more than a single service. Your data is unsafe unless they are being backed up and with redundancy. If you are using two separate backup programs regularly then daily basis provide that extra layer of protection especially if they are backed up to different media.

You might have come across as site which was available till yesterday but has disappeared or shut down? In case it appear to the online backup solution that you subscribe to where do you stand? This is when backing up in more than one place makes sense.   

You need not be happy that because you are using a portable hard drive for the backup. You should have one for sure as it is a good asset as well as highly susceptible. In case you take it along with you can forget it and then it would get lost. It can also get accidentally damaged. While some can resist drops others cannot and if it falls from huge height then it is sure you would lose your data.  

There is another advantage to having more than one backup solution. Several providers provide free storage to some extent. Free storage can be used from several providers ensuring that all data is backed up. If you are using services of more than one provider you can surely maximize the storage space. You can use for each task a different backup provider. 

One of the major disadvantages of using several backup providers is confusion. There are several providers who offer mobile access. However you would have to find one who has a client which works with the phone OS, integrates with desktop version as well has user-friendly app which has all the features you require.

Some things are recommended to all users:

·         3 copies of the most important data

·         2 diverse formats  

·         There should be single off site backup to ward off natural disaster

Some use SugarSync on the desktop as the primary form of backup and even a portable hard drive as the secondary one. Certain files are even copied to Google Drive. Now it is upon you whether you want to rely on one or you want to use two. 

In case you want to ensure that the two backup services of your preference would work together, just test them. You can also run a complete backup with one and then with other too. You can change one existing file and create a new. Thereafter you can run incremental backups with both applications.

Related Post: Few must features for a good online backup solution

Use Email Backup Service to Protect your Email

Email is one of the most used communication channel for several businesses and individuals. What would do you do if you do not have access to email? Email outages do occur and at times when you shift to new system or change location you can miss out on some crucial data. There are various cloud and web services which is also inclusive of email backup.

DropMyEmail is an automatic Email backup service. Just login with Twitter, Facebook, Google account to start and within seconds backup would start. It would work with several email accounts and after first backup it would keep the backup in sync. Just enter email ID and password. It would even backup email attachments as well as allow you to filter via file type for quick sharing and searching. It also supports email migration if you want to move the email to a new account or restore to previous one.  

Mailkeepr helps to keep the email organized. It has secured SSL encryption which would encrypt emails prior to being stored. Email is backed up on multiple servers so there is no risk of losing the access. You can even backup attachments by sending them via email account. 

Backupify protects email as well as the entire data in the Google Apps account. Just add it via Google Apps market and application would check for latest data which would be copied to the cloud. This way you can restore the date with single click if required. The service has both search and management tools for the data. 

CloudAlly provides a backup service which covers the Yahoo Mail, Google account, Office 365, Salesforce, Google Apps and AWS. Data can be exported as well as stored locally or even restored to Google account without overwriting what is already there. The data migrations between Gmail accounts are also supported. Daily data is backed up as well as encrypted. 

In case if the emails service provider fails, then you would need a different solution like secondary MX provider. This gives you access as well as keeps the mail secure for several days while the primary service gets back on the feed. The two services which offer that includes DNS Made Easy and Cudamail.

Offline Backup

The above services are online backup services. In case you want to backup Gmail alone then it can be done offline via Gmvault which is available for Mac, Windows and Linux. It would back up Gmail as well as copes well with IMAP. Encryption and restoring of emails can be done. This solution is open sourced. Email back is in the evolving process as solution meant for enterprises.