Free Set and Forget Backup: Recommended by the Wall Street Journal

Mozy: Free, Automatic Secure Online Backup

Hi this is Sam. Here's my picture. I am in charge of quality control here at Free For Today. You can see me counting all the money I save our subscribers. Sometimes the "boss" also let's me write recommendations like this one.

I don't understand all of the fancy phrases you hear today, but I do understand good old fashioned value, which is why I wanted to write about Mozy today.

Now, as I have gotten older I admit I have become cynical. Can you imagine how many times I have heard people offer me something for nothing? I bet that I have heard the words "what have you got to lose?" at least 64,756 times. But, I think that's what makes me good at this job. I am so cynical that a product really has to be good in order for me to suggest it to you subscribers.



Most people think I don't like to have fun. But they are wrong. Why I remember the time my wife Amy and I spent almost two whole hours sharing one strawberry milk shake on a Saturday night at the local diner. But, that's another story...

Every few weeks one of the bright young people that work here comes running into my office, his or her face puffy with tears, telling me that their computer has died, and they have lost all kinds of stuff that I barely understand. Of course, as far as I know, "twitter" is what my wife and her friends do at a social gathering.

Now, I ask these suffering youngsters why they don't have an off-site backup program installed on their computers. They usually tell me that they back-up all of their important stuff and it's too much trouble to back-up everything. Or, they look kind of foolish and say "I always meant to, but somehow I never got around to it." So, I ask them to name all of the things they have lost and it's a pretty long list. It's amazing to me how much stuff that is critical to their everyday lives these young people keep on one super-vulnerable computer.

After I hand my crying friends a few tissues, I tell them what they should do from now on.

There's a backup service called Mozy, that I like to call my "set and forget" friend. It's incredibly easy to set-up and once you turn it on, it automatically backs up everything on your computer. You never have to worry about back-up again. Mozy now works with both PC's and Mac's.

With Mozy installed, you can use your computer every day, add things, change things, download files, write important documents, and never worry because in the background my friend Mozy is always working -- sending a private, secure version of your computer files to a super reliable offsite facility. I bet they have plenty redundant backup systems too. The service keeps your information private by using fancy stuff I don't understand like 448-bit Blowfish encryption and 128-bit SSL encryption. Just like in the spy movies on TV.

Naturally, I read The Wall Street Journal from cover to cover every day. So, when Walt Mossberg at The Wall Street Journal, who is probably the nation's leading technology reviewer went looking for the best backup program, he concluded that Mozy was his top choice: That's good enough for me!

Mozy also received the PC Magazine Editor's Choice Award, plus lot's of other great reviews from "important people."

Now, here's where it gets really exciting. Mozy is available for free. I could not believe it. I still don't understand why anyone would give away something this good for nothing. I have always said Internet business ideas just don't make sense to an old fashioned person like me.

The free version of Mozy is exactly the same as the paid version. And, you can use it as long as you like. Yes, if you need to store more than two Gigabytes of information (which is an awful lot) you will have to start paying a fee. But, that's your choice...and it probably means you like the service a whole lot.

So, if you don't want to come running into my office all puffy faced,and teary eyed, I suggest you install Mozy right now.

Installing Mozy only takes a few minutes and the worst thing you can do is say I will do it later. Then, I guarantee you never will. If you wait, I am willing to bet my pension you will end up just like all the other sad faces I see every day. If I have learned anything in my long life it's to do something easy when you are thinking about it-- which is right now.

By the way, I hear some of these so-called productivity gurus charge a fortune for this old-fashioned do-it-now wisdom I just gave you for free. Hmm... I better talk to the "boss." I'm not sure I am allowed to give free advice (which I think is pretty valuable) plus valuable free product recommendations.