Talking with a writing friend the other week, he expressed the need for a backup drive. He’s talking external drives. I should have one, too. I don’t, but what I have is pretty good – it’s Mozy.
Mozy lets you back up your files virtually. You get 2GB of free storage. All you do is download the application and set the time and frequency of your backups, as well as what files you’d like Mozy to back up. That takes a bit of time at first, but once it’s done, Mozy does the rest. I’ve been using it for a year now. I love it. If you go over your 2GB, you can always purchase more space – how about unlimited backup for $4.95 monthly?
Another cool application I use regularly – Project Timer. It’s simple – a tiny window that you can “pin” on top of your project or allow it to be hidden. You can create new project files easily. It’s not fancy like some, but the beauty is its simplicity. I’ve used it for a few years.
Here’s a must-have: SpyBot. You’ve heard of it, I’m sure. If so, you probably have it and use it. If not, get it. This little gadget finds and eliminates spyware and adware. For anyone sharing a computer with the family or not having anti-virus software installed, it’s a must.
For those of you who have issues with Outlook, try Mozilla Thunderbird. It lacks one critical function for me – a calendar. But it really is a neat little email program. You’re going to like the way you can customize your email.
Do you have any favorite freebies? Any anti-virus or writing-related stuff you can’t live without?
This list is like a treasure chest of all the things I need. Thanks, Lori! 🙂
Great list! I use SpyBot regularly, and it is an excellent little program. I’m in the midst of downloading Mozy now, and I will probably check out Project Timer too (I keep track of my project time in a spreadsheet, but it’s a bit clumsy).
As for other favorites, I like the browser Mozilla Firefox–like Thunderbird, it’s highly customizable. It is also a lot less vulnerable to internet threats than Internet Explorer.
I use Airset for sharing files and information with clients. It has a calendar function and blog function so you can keep everyone on the team up to date on what is going on and you can upload and download files as well.
I’ve also started using Evernote. It’s extremely valuable if you are working offline because it takes and saves any page that you were working from online. For instance if I am pulling research from a site – all I do is add the page to Evernote and it takes it. If my power goes out I still have my pages saved. No bookmarking required!
I’m going to look into Project Timer because I think it’s something I could really use.
I’m with you on Thunderbird. And now I’m interested in Mozy, thanks for sharing!
Could-not-live without my Google tool bar! It integrates directly into an IE or FF browser’s navigation tool bar and contains so many useful features, I couldn’t begin to list them. What do I like best? Probably the ability to send a resource straight to my blog, followed immediately by the spelling checker. So sad, isn’t it, an editor who needs a spel checker?
Georganna @ A Writer’s Edge
That’s kind of like Blogger hosting all of our blogs for free 🙂 Thanks for the tips. I hadn’t heard of Mozy.
I just made a note that I need to investigate more options for backing up data. Thanks for mentioning Mozy – I’ll check it out!