Disclaimer, we do advertise Mozy on this site. However, we advertise Mozy because it is a great service, not because they pay us.

With that out of the way, I’m going to give you a brief overview of how Mozy works and why it will be beneficial to you. First of all, Mozy offers Unlimited Backup for $4.95 per month for individuals. The price is right, and in fact, you can try 2GB for free. Past that, Mozy is an online or cloud service. That means, your data gets backed up offsite. That is huge. Imagine if you had a natural disaster or a fire at your office or home. If you had your data backed up to another hard drive, that is great, but that hard drive probably burned too. Mozy offers you the flexibility of having all of your data online and impervious to catastrophes at your location.

Mozy is extremely easy to utilize. You download the software, install it, insert your login credentials and then select the files you want to backup. It even gives you an option to select the type of files you want to back up. You can set preferences to backup at certain times of the day or automatically when your computer is idle. The Mozy preferences even allow you to easily throttle the bandwidth so that you don’t bog down your internet connection. Mozy even allows you to use one account to backup multiple computers. If you run a business, there is also MozyPro.

One of the greatest features of Mozy is its easy restore functionality. You can initiate a restore of your computer from your web control panel, from the downloaded software or you can order a set of DVDs direct from Mozy.

In summary: Backup! Off site is best. Mozy makes it easy to backup and restore. Go check Mozy out, it is free to try and only $4.95/month otherwise. Best insurance ever!

What methods of backup do you use? Post in the comments and share with everyone.

TUAW: 5 Apps for Lawyers.

At the foundation of Highrise is a contact manager. A lot like the address book on your computer, you can add people, where they work and then contact information for the individual and the company. You can enter all kinds of information into the initial screens in order to stay in touch with the contact, but once you finish entering the contact information the real power of Highrise begins to set in. It is also a full-fledge customer relationship system designed for web users and firms that need a way to organize contact simply and efficiently.

How does it work?

In short, it works the way you do. It has a unique capability of integrating very easily with your email routine. When you first login, you are presented with the Dashboard which provides you with an overview of the most recent activity along with a search box to find contacts quickly and your tasks listed by due date. Along the top are tabs that allow you to jump to the major components of Highrise.

If you search for a contact or click on the Contacts tab, you can drill down and see their contact information along with any tasks specific to them and their own feed of contact history. You can also add important dates, create new tasks regarding this contact and even add a generic note.

The next tab is the Tasks section. This gives you a list of tasks assigned to you. It also allows you to view tasks that you have assigned to others, and, if you’re the Administrator, you can even view all of the tasks assigned to others.

Moving on we come to the Cases tab. Cases are groups that contain multiple contacts and companies surrounding a specific project or event. They can act stand alone with their own notes, but you can also attach contacts’ notes to Cases for tracking. It’s a great way to keep real cases organized together.

On we go to Deals. Deals are a lot like Cases in that it is a container for other notes, but Deals are more akin to prospective work and winning that work. You can set a status and an amount of money the project is worth and some other details such as who is responsible. It’s a great way to keep prospective clients and communications with them organized.

The final tab is Tags. Tags can be assigned to any contact or company and gives you a way to categorize them. Click on a tag here and it shows you a list of tagged contacts.

Now, I mentioned above that it integrates with your email. You can, as with most web apps, have Highrise email you task reminders, but you can also email information to Highrise. Every user is given a Dropbox that they can email to. If you are sending an email to a client and place the Dropbox address in the BCC field, Highrise will automatically recognize the email and who it is to, then attach it to that contact. This only scratches the surface of what it is capable of.

If you want to learn more, visit HighriseHQ.com where you will find training videos and more in depth descriptions of each tab. As we progress here at Opveon University, we will add more in depth and focused articles surrounding Highrise. It’s a wonderful tool, especially suited to small groups and solo firms. Enjoy!

1. Follow the Quick Start guide and insert the Install CD
2. Setup Printer
3. Install Drivers
4. You’re done

That’s really it. The HL-2170w prints quickly and quietly. No long warm-up times. The crisp text is second to none.

The best part about the printer is its wired and wireless networking capability. Once you have the wireless network setup (taken care of during the install) you can place the printer anywhere you want in your office.

We recommend it. Comment with questions, otherwise, go check it out and read what others have to say. HL-2170w