10.07.12

A year of updates and security enhancements

Posted in Blogs at 12:22 am by Ashley

The past year has been a busy one for me. With so many updates and patches to roll out on my systems, and then trying to fix all of my friends security issues, I have not been able to keep up with the fun things in life as much as I have wanted. This blog was one of my favorite ways of sharing and connecting with others in a single unified place, yet as so many other things have changed the past year or so, I had to put it on hold.

Well I am back, for the weekend anyway. I am considering a theme change for the blog section here, so if you return it may look a bit different, but will have the same info as before. I have seen so many great customized blog themes around the web, it makes me want to try out some of the premium options out there that will save me from having to re-invent the wheel with custom css written from scratch. It’s funny to me how so many of must get good at doing some things while in school or working on a big project, then after a couple years go by we find ourselves taking advantage of well made shortcuts and saving the hassle or re-writing from scratch. I see this with many other professionals such as dentists and doctors as well.

Speaking of that, I am going to sort through some new theme possibilities. As much as I enjoy the simplicity of this one, average monitor size and screen resolution has been increasing for most people, and even those who do not have 24 inch screens many are probably using widescreen more these days. I see so many people using laptops and tablets to surf these days, it seems that the old days of keeping web pages long and narrow may be over. Maybe that will change again one day. Maybe I should just try to find a fluid theme so that people who surf here using a tablet can turn it sideways and read it more like a book, yet those who are using laptops and monitors can still get plenty of info on their screen and save some scrolling. Thinking cap on – can’t wait to see what’s out there these days.

11.14.10

Updates and backups – ugh

Posted in Uncategorized at 8:28 pm by Ashley

Updates are important, and backups are just as important. Whether it is backing up precious digital photos – which I tell everyone to do all the time, or updating windows – these are things that are absolutely necessary around my home and office. Then there are site and blog updates – these are needed too.

Sometimes I find myself spending more time updating software than I do actually using it. That certainly drives me crazy! I prefer to take pictures and write new articles. Most of the last year however I have spent mroe time doing backups (for myself and friends) and updating software. There have been so many updates for everything I use this year, it’s making me batty!

Everything from firefox, to windows, to Divx, and wordpress – all these updates are really necessary to help keep things safe and secure. So today I am updating my blog instead of just updating the backend software. Please everyone, make a backup of your photos today.

right now, save your precious pictures to a CD or DVD – burn a disc – or make a backup on a USB stick, heck you can even upload the important ones to facebook or flickr – but make a backup. I hate to see the tears in people eyes when they call me for help when a virus destroys their computer – or a hard drive fails and they have no backup of the precious memories that were so easily stored on their computer – and yet so quickly disappear when there was not a 5 minutes spent making a copy.