I have software, to protect my software, to protect my software,etc.

LUSHER
All I do is try and help... I provide good information and I have a proven track record of helping many people over many years... "You" on the other hand do everything you can to undermine everything I do... Get a life and get of my back!

 

Intellectually challenged?....No. Informationally challenged? Yes. And thats why I come here...to learn. This is my "Brain.exe" update site on safe computing. Nuff said...back on topic.

 

No actually, it's implied here as I was relating a personal story, and as I always try and set users on a back up protocol, most just wont pay to do it until after where they to loose something... In my experience most have to pay a higher price to get it...

Also a note on the almighty backup... I have more than once over the years walked into offices with rows of neatly stacked and well documented backup cartridges on high end system setup by a previous consultant where the client had religiously performed the backup and replaced the DAT's and documented the even in a log... only to find out all the tapes where blank... Hahaha.

The skills and intelligence required to setup the system are apparently greater than those required to sell it... So I'm not too impressed by that...

Backups are often faulty for multiple reasons. So backups alone are not enough...

 

I can't argue with your point that many people will just not back up - I have seen it many times myself. Also I never cease to be amazed that people say they have being using XYZ imaging for some time and have never performed a restore. I suspect these are the people that you will see as clients, again and again as they are incapable of being protected no matter how many programs they have.

BUT "backups alone are not enough" ? In the right hands ( most on Wilders ) when properly made and stored backups may well be enough. I have images of C: on several drives and DVD in office and out of office. I have data on several drives and copies in a fireproof safe and again off site. Perhaps I am alone in taking such precautions ? but I doubt it. I could run multiple layers of protection, HIPS etc but choose not to. If anything ever does go wrong I could use other machines and be back in business in minutes and fully restore the contaminated machine later the same day.

 

I ask how many will restore an image to verify its integrity,many live in false sense of security that once a backup is made and religiously updated every day so if at times that disaster strikes,they can recover without a hitch.

But the naked truth is that as examplified in Acronis as well as Storagecraft forums many failed to do so.

 

Huupi,

Point well made!
Most claim to be religious in their practice but, when it comes right down to it... it failed because they failed... The Human factor is the high risk factor.... Almost always is with computers and technology in general.

 

My personal take on this situation is that it is really reflective of how people used PC's in the past. Think back a few years. Not too long ago, you used a PC for surfing/games/working on material that would end up as hardcopy (that odd essay for school or report for work). For the most part, in this state, it's a little inconvenient to wipe a machine and start with a clean slate, but it is generally doable without major grief.

Fast forward to today. Many of us maintain fairly valuable personal (banking, tax, personal photos) and other (documents/essays/reports/etc. which will never be captured as hardcopy) records for which it's a bit of a disaster if they're lost. Add in download only music/software/video/games and it starts to become an objectively valuable asset if it is lost and needs to be replaced.

Unfortunately, the creep in this direction has gone largely unnoticed by many users and it's only when they hit the brick wall of large scale data loss (by whatever cause) that they will come to grips with it.

In my own case (multiple family desktops and laptops), the obvious answer was not the classical backups mentioned here, but an automated home LAN based solution. I opted for a Windows Home Server system with nightly backup and a somewhat extended retention policy (mainly since there is really no downside to this). A NAS unit (or Time Capsule on the Mac end) would have basically yielded the same end result. At least from my perspective, WHS/NAS/Time Capsule is the direction to migrate towards for this aspect of protection in a multiple machine environment. It can look expensive, until you start to weigh questions of scaleability, time investment, and the replacement cost of the assets being protected. At least IMHO...

Blue

 

Point well made indeed But what makes anyone think that a user incapable of imaging properly will be able to handle AS AV or HIPS ?

 

Blue,

Wow, couldn't have put it better myself!

You can train a dog to do tricks, a monkey to dance or do dishes... Why cant we train a human to protect itself?

The consultant providing the education is the one to blame for not communicating it effectively to those in most need... Simply put we need to take the appropriate amount of time instead of rushing to our next client so we can collect more $$$...

 

I agree,For many people,including me to get the hang of all this stuff is a hard road and sometimes a too steep a learning curve,i have no illusions at least about myself so if due to mindless actions[and it sometimes happen]that i get stuck and mess up everything,its nice to know that i have a few sound images at hand as my last line of defence.

Imaging without a test restore is useless !! Many sad stories on the imaging forums can attest to that.

 

Howdy Guy,

Reading your posts,I would assume most of your clients are corporate-theres your reason immediately for most of the problems.
The staff are either terrified of computers,couldnt care less, arent properly trained-or probably all three-needs more than a consultants input.

On the home front,really feel you are being too concerned,I must agree with all those who have a minimalist approach,one reason only is that its always worked for me.
Its too easy to get carried away at Wilders with all the ominous threats reported and all the security apps on offer,but there is no substitute for commonsense-you either have it or not.
The home users who arent able or too lazy to learn a bit about security are a lost cause.
Microsoft realise this and have the right idea,just build it in,its either on or off.
It may be basic but it works.

 

Doesn't Acronis True Image's validation tool perform this task, either upon image creation (if selected) or at any chosen time thereafter?

 

Hairy Coo,

Hola, well, yes... Many oh, so many users are 100 % clueless to the point of being afraid of pressing keys for fear of doing something wrong, and I am probably a bit more zealous as a result as I have to mop the mess much too often....

But largely my concerns with security is not because of what is said here at wilders or what I read elsewhere... It's really because of what I see via online services as well as the on site visits... I guess I might be more exposed than the average joe and it may have skewed my "Perceptions" of the world somewhat...

However I still struggle to clean up... many many infected computers perhaps not as many as in the past like in the Win98 days... but many nonetheless (I'm doing one as I write this... so far 5 different Trojans + a browser hijack.)

I cant help it, it comes to me like flies on honney... I just cant ignore it...

 

That must be good for you. That way you don't have to drum up business for yourself here at Wilders

 

I don't think I ever tried to drum up business in forums... I am helping many though... perhaps not everyone but I pay my dues as best I can!

 

One difference between us and the animals is that we create. We reason.
I don't see many dogs cooking.
I also don't see many animals with big egos.
Hugger

 

Thank God, or we'd be eating an awful lot of Dog food!

 

Bonjour Guy,

My point was that being exposed to the corporate field,possibly your perceptions of security were somewhat colored by that as compared to the lesser risk faced by the home user-I realise Wilders doesnt affect your judgement.

Anyway please keep up your timely advice, its all well worth considering.

 

You are most welcome... It's nice to see some actually appreciate my feeble efforts a bit.
I usually get more flack than praises...

 

Hope your cooking arrangements are back to normal after your altercation with the wifes computer and didnt have to call in the dog.
Everyone at Wilders have huge egos because of their superior intellect,especially moi

 

The problem with Egos is like poorly written computer programs, they tend to conflict...

 

Worse than the dog.
She decided to bake a cake yesterday!
This getting really serious guys.
It's almost as if she doesn't want me to play anymore.
This is truly a sad state of affairs.
Regards-and watch those egos.
Hugger

 

Well, thanks for that info. I proceeded to read up on the validation topic in the ATI forums, and now I see that I have been living under a false sense of security that my image safety net will be good when I need it.

It looks like the next best thing to a full restore is to boot up the rescue CD and validate the archive with it, and not Windows, since the recovery environment is Linux. Do you agree?

When using the restore-to-test-method, what percentage of restores failed due to image corruption, and does simply cancelling the restore allow your system to revert to its previous good environment?