Carbonite Review for Business File Backup

As a company that likes to help small businesses experience more success, Qlixite is now incorporating reviews of products and services.

This review will discuss how Carbonite can help you protect your Small Business files in a secure offsite location in case of computer failure.

Carbonite is a comprehensive and robust online backup service that will keep your important files backed up with a minimum of fuss and virtually no interference. It's all controlled by a simple program that runs invisibly in the background. In fact, the recent release of Carbonite 4.0, makes the whole process even easier. They've simplified the setup and given you more options for restoring your files. But before we get much more into restoring files, let's talk about backing things up.

Backup:
As with all online backup services, the initial backup will take a while. Depending on your Internet connection speed and the amount of data on your hard drive, it could take a day or more. Your computer is completely usable during this time, but you'll need to keep it on and connected. Subsequent backups will take less time as Carbonite will only need to save new files and previously backed-up files that have changed.

By default, Carbonite backs up your documents, email, photos, and music. We like that Carbonite takes care of emails automatically, since many online backup services don't, requiring the user to manually locate these files and add them to a backup schedule. However, it won't back up files larger than 4GB unless you tell it to.

Restore & Remote File Access:
In the event of a crash or any other data loss, you simply use the downloadable Carbonite InfoCenter to restore your lost data. But Carbonite's usefulness goes beyond disaster recovery. While we generally talk about an online backup service as a remedy for catastrophic data loss, there's another feature users will love and use much more often, and that's versioning. Carbonite will automatically save up to twelve versions of every file you back up. This allows you to roll back to a previous iteration of any file to recover lost changes. It's like the ultimate "undo" option. Anyone who's ever made unalterable changes to a large text or graphics file will recognize the value in this feature.

Carbonite can also migrate files to a brand new PC. That functionality is now standard with Carbonite 4.0; a new restore option promises to put all your files in just the right place on your new system.

Carbonite can also be used to access your files from any computer that has an Internet connection. Simply log in to the remote access section of carbonite.com and you'll see all your files, just as you would if you were looking at your hard drive (minus the programs). It's a good feature, and it's one you'll find with many online backup services, although it's not as evolved as it is in a product like SugarSync. You can't, for instance, use it to securely share files with others. They're for your eyes only. A small knock against an otherwise great service.

Pricing:
Carbonite does offer a free 15 day trial version of their product so you can see if you will like and use the service. We wish it was a 30 day option but at least they offer a trial.

Carbonite offers unlimited storage for a single computer in the form of three plans.
Click here to see their online comparison.

• Home $59 per computer per year for Mac and Windows.

• File and folder backup
• Web and mobile access
• Phone, chat and email support
• Manual video backup

• HomePlus $99 per computer per year for Windows only.

• File and folder backup
• Web and mobile access
• Phone, chat and email support
• External hard drive backup
• Mirror Image backup
• Manual video backup

• HomePremier $149 per computer per year for Windows only.

• File and folder backup
• Web and mobile access
• Phone, chat and email support
• External hard drive backup
• Mirror Image backup
• Courier Recovery service
• Automatic video backup

Unlimited backup is a great deal, but note that Carbonite limits you to backing up a single computer. If you'd like to backup multiple computers, you need to purchase a subscription for every computer you need to backup.

Conclusion:
For pure online backup for a single home or business computer, Carbonite is a good bargain. While it may not have all the fancy features other online backup providers have, the setup is simple, fuss free, and comprehensive. The user interface simple and easy to use. You'll just set it and forget it—until the day you need to restore your files

Kindle Fire Winner!!

First off, thank you to everyone who participated in the Indelibles Blog Hop. We feel like our launch was a great success and we couldn't have done it without the support of all of you awesome YA and MG readers, reviewers, and fellow authors.

The winner of the Kindle Fire Giveaway and 25! e-books is Chris Fenimore.

Congratulations Chris!

For those of you that didn't win this time around, please be aware that we have several other giveaways planned.

In fact, next week during our Blogger chat on the 17th and the Writer chat on the 18th, we'll be giving away more e-books!

We wouldn't ask you to follow our blog for nothin'!

To get the latest on what the Indelibles are up to, you can check this blog, our Facebook page, or follow us on Twitter.

Go Flo

Flo worked while I played. I'm liking this style of trading more and more. As long as Flo can keep making more than I can spend, she'll be right, mate!


Light Crude is one of Flo's favourite markets. Actually, she has a lot of favourites: those that pay her to play. As for me, I flew into London, picked up my new car and went to visit my Mother. Tomorrow, will be Lunch with Mum and then dinner with a couple of my favourite women, Kiki and Candace, at a great Chinese restaurant near Elephant and Castle. Luckily, I get to eat more Chinese food on Saturday when I catch up with a mate in London's China town. Reminds me, it's getting close to that time of the year when we wish Kung Hei Fat Choi.

The chart below is pure Flo and only shows part of her lovely day.

Leave it to Beaver

There was a very popular TV show when I was growing up about an American family. Beaver was the nickname of the younger son. I don't think I can remember what the title of the show had to do with what went on, except I think the show as about what Beaver did. Anyway, I'm back in London tomorrow until Sunday so I will be leaving my trading not to Beaver, but to Flo and her clones. I'll post charts and comments.


Today was another unremarkable day. When designing an algo, one of the criteria is the old saw: Do I want low volume and high markup or high volume and low markup? That is, do I want lots of trades with small profits or a few surer trades with higher profits per trade? Both ways can work. The chart below is a high win rate larger profit algo's trade this morning. This algo didn't trade the last couple of days. Today it did and hit the ball well. Sold 1.2768 and covered at 1.2727. That's $509/contract after commish. Do that on a few markets a couple of times a week and.....

Business Email Signatures are Effective Marketing

When you're a small business, you live by the mantra that EVERYTHING YOU DO IS SALES. Keeping that in mind, email Signatures are easy to do and can help represent your business with personality and professionalism....but it can be easy to get it wrong! Let's get it right with Qlixite!

Why do I need an email signature?

It may seem menial that you need to re-state who you are to the person you are sending an email to but your business email signature will affect the tone of every email you write. Think of it as virtual professional letterhead from your company. Here are some tips to making a professional signtaure that sets your business apart.



Our Qlixite Email Signature through Email Ideas.com

Start Off on the Right Foot

Is your email address professional?
First and foremost, the sender’s header (the “From” field) should have a name, and you should use a company email address if you can. If someone sees stinker747@gmail.com, they’ll suspect it’s spam or a personal email. If the sender’s header reads, “Susan Jones - ABC Enterprises” <susan@abcenterprises.com>, they’ll know it’s a professional email from a business person.

Is your website a link?
Make it as easy as possible for people to get to your website. Many email clients convert email addresses and websites into links automatically, but not always. You may need to make sure 'http://' or 'www.' appears to ensure the link will work properly. Instead of linking text like “My website,” type out the URL, which will be useful for those who want to copy and paste the address.

Is you signature longer than your thumb?
Okay it doesn't need to be an exact measure of your finger but an email signature should be clear an concise (three to four lines is usually enough). Don’t get into your life story here. The purpose of a signature is to let them see who you are and how to get in touch with you - you don't need to give every phone, fax, cell or email you own - give your preferred method of contact.

The Meat of Your Email Signature

Include...
• Your Name
• Your Company Name and Position
• How to get in touch with you

Do NOT include...
• Personal links to Twitter, Facebook, IM or Skype sites
• Your home phone number or address
• Random quotes at the bottom
• Your entire skill set or resume in bullet form

Random quotes are fun for friends, but you risk offending business associates with whom you don’t have a personal relationship. Unless you want clients contacting you while you’re watching Lost, don’t share your home details. Also, don’t share your personal contact information with your business partners. They certainly won’t be interested in it, and you may not want them to know certain details about you. However, mentioning your business Twitter account or alternative means of contact in your signature might be useful, in case your correspondent is not able to get in touch with you by regular email.

Example of an Unprofessional Email Signature


Steve Stevenson, Web Designer
web: http://www.misterstevenson.com/
blog: blogspot.celebritiesneedhelp.com
email: steve@misterstevenson.com

home: 613.555.2654
home (wife): 613.555.3369
work: 613.555.9876
cell: 613.555.1234

55 Drury Lane
Apartment 22
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada

twitter: @stevie_liverpool_fan
skype: stevie_the_man
messenger: stevie_mrstevenson

I specialize in:
Website design
Graphic design
Logo design
Front-end development
UI design

“Flying may not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is
worth the price.” -Amelia Aerheart

Images and Logos
As much as you may want to get fancy with your email signature, there are downsides. Your entire signature should not be an image. Sure, it will look exactly how you want, but it is completely impractical. Not only does an image increase the email’s file size, but it could be blocked before being opened.Plus it's impossible to copy information from an image. Any images should be used with care and attention. If you do use one, make it small in both dimensions and size, and make it fit in aesthetically with the rest of the signature. 50 x 50 pixels should be plenty big for any logo. If you want to be taken seriously as a business person, do not make it an animated picture, dancing dog or shooting rainbow!

Most email clients store images as attachments or block them by default. So, if you present your signature as an image, your correspondents will have a hard time guessing when you’ve sent a genuine attachment.

The best way to include an image is to host it on a server somewhere and then use your email client to display the html at the bottom of all of your messages. This can also allow you to make the image linked with a website. Qlixite uses a third party company called EmailIdeas.com which creates easy to use and clickable email signatures. We'll will be reviewing this company very soon as part of our new review series.

Use vCards with Caution

While vCards are useful and convenient way to share contact information, they add bytes and appear as attachments in emails . Using a vCard for your email signature can be helpful the first time you correspond with someone but receiving it every time after that gets annoying. Besides, the average email user won’t know what it is. Look at the example below. Would an average user know what that is?

Personality is OK!
While your signature should be useful and straightforward, it's okay to make your email signature reflect your business. This can also help seperate your email signature from your email content. Whether you use a line, color or spaces - your email signature should be easy to identify.




Working with Your Email Client
Here's a great set of links from Smashing Mag which offers resources to help implement email signatures in Outlook, Gmail or Yahoo etc.

Outlook
Changing Outlook’s signature is a real pain, but here‘s a guide that teaches you a few things. If you use Outlook 2003, here‘s another tutorial on custom signatures.

Entourage
Microsoft’s mail for mac works differently. Here’s a tutorial on how to set it up.

Gmail
Want just one basic signature? Here‘s how to change the text. You’d think Google would allow you multiple signatures, links and a bit of formatting. If you’re looking for something a little more designed or wish to choose between multiple signatures, here are five ways to do it in Firefox.

Hotmail
Tips on custom images and more for Hotmail can be found here. If you use Windows Live, here is a tutorial on adding images and HTML. The detail is helpful, even if the images are awful.

YahooHere‘s how to change your signature using rich text.

Apple MailHere is a pretty decent tutorial, with some inline HTML for formatting. It then explains how to implement it in the application. You even get some hints on how it will look on the iPhone.

Palm Pre
Learn how to customize your message on your Palm Pre here.

iPhone
Customize your “Sent from my iPhone” message here.

BlackBerry
Some information on how to change your message on BlackBerry smartphones here.

---
Steve Stevenson, Web Designer
www.misterstevenson.com | steve@misterstevenson.com

If you do want to provide a vCard, just include a link to a remote copy.

Confidentiality Clauses

If your emails include confidential information, you may need to include a non-disclosure agreement to prevent information leaks. However, good practice is never to send sensitive information as plain text in emails because the information could be extracted by third parties or forwarded by recipients to other people. Thus, including a non-disclosure agreement doesn’t make much sense if you do not send sensitive information anyway.

Keep in mind, too, that the longer a confidentiality clause is, the more unlikely someone will actually read it. Again, check your country’s privacy laws. Some big companies require a disclosure with every email, but if you’re at a small company or are a freelancer and don’t really require it, then don’t put it in. The length of such clauses can be annoying, especially in short emails.

Conclusion
Your email signature is important! Even as I have been writing this article I am recalling all of the times my signature was incomplete, sparse or missing entirely. If you need help or would like some feedback on your business email signature - we're here for you! Let's start 2012 off right by making your business more successful! Call or visit Qlixite 800-596-6218

Oyl Bidness

I used to love watching Dallas, back in the 1980s, when it was all the rage. Everywhere I went in the world, people were watching Dallas. Restaurants and theatres were empty on Dallas night. He just loved the "oyl bidness". I'd been in Texas in the 1970s and really identified with many of the people on that show. I loved Texans, especially the women, who were very friendly and had hair about 2 feet high above their heads.


Light Crude was really good in the London morning but hard to trade in RTH. I stopped trading it after giving a little back.

Indelibles On Fire - Kindle Fire Giveaway!

The Indelibles are fun, fierce and fabulous authors who hope to make a permanent mark on readers. To read how we got started, go here.

Today starts our Kindle Fire Giveaway Plus 25 of our books. The person who wins this can also email us once you receive the Kindle Fire and get coupons for each of our books to load up and get started.


This contest starts at 12:01 AM tonight, early Mon morning) and ends 12:01 AM EST (early Thurs morning). The winner will be posted here on this blog next Monday.


Other Upcoming Launch Events
Tuesday, Jan 17th 8-9 pm (blogger chat)
Wed, Jan 18th 8-9 EST (writer chat)

25 Individual Giveaways

On each blog, the author will offer another giveaway of their choice. Just to thank you for playing. :)

How do you enter the Kindle Fire contest?

Using the form at the bottom of this post, there are four mandatory steps (and one optional one for an extra entry). You have to:

1. Follow the Indelibles Blog (uh easy!)
2. Like us on Facebook (Even easier)
3. Follow us on Twitter (and bonus - we will follow you back :)
4. Complete our Launch Day Blog Hop to get the SECRET PHRASE (this is the tricky part but after all it IS a KINDLE FIRE!)

For an extra entry - You can tweet about our giveaway (this is OPTIONAL, but you’ll get an extra entry PLUS we’ll heart you X 25.)

Everyone who completes the form (no later than midnight wed night/thursday am) will be entered to win the Kindle Fire through Rafflecopter (the winner will be chosen by Random.org)

Blog Hop - Secret Phrase

1. Each blog on the Blog Hop has ONE KEY WORD for the secret phrase, which will be at the bottom of every post. It will be easy to find - we promise.
2. Visit all blogs to collect all the key words (plus, you will also find 25 great new bloggers that also have special giveaways. BONUS!)
3. Then enter the phrase into the form along with completing steps 1-3 above.

You have 3 days to do this!


Blog Hop Order

Please visit these blogs in order as they are provided.

Don't forget to write down the word at each blog for the secret phrase.

1) Indelibles Home page (look at bottom of this page for first word)

2) Karen Amanda Hooper

3) Heather McCorkle
4) Stacey Wallace Benefiel
5) Megg Jensen
6) Sarra Cannon
7) RaShelle Workman
8) Karly Kirkpatrick
9) Elle Strauss
10) Jessie Harrell
11) Christine Bryant
12) Laura Pauling
13) Susan Quinn
14) Michelle Muto
15) Genevieve Ching
16) Katie Klein
17) Magan Vernon
18) Cheri Lasota
19) Cindy Hogan
20) Ali Cross
21) Angela Carlie
22) Melanie McCullough
23) Addison Moore
24) Lisa Nowak
25) Shelli Johannes Wells
26) Cory Putman Oakes

27) Indelibles Home (Enter in all the words in the form)

Disclaimer: You must be 13 to enter or have parent's permission to enter. Valid for US only. Winner will be chosen through Random.org. We are not responsible for lost or damaged merchandise once the item is shipped. Void where prohibited.

Good luck! And thanks for celebrating Indelible Launch Day with us! We look forward to being blogger buddies and getting to know you all.

With love, the Indelibles (First KEYWORD: THE)
Next Stop in the Blog Hop: Karen Amanda Hooper


a Rafflecopter giveaway