Last Friday the Dept of Homeland Security issued a warning advising computer users to disable Java on their computers. This was based on the discovery of a new vulnerability that could affect web browsers.

Over the weekend we got a lot of questions about how this affects CrashPlan, since it uses Java.

The short answer is that it does not affect CrashPlan at all, and CrashPlan users can continue to use Java.

The vulnerability only affects the Java browser plug-in, which CrashPlan doesn’t use (or need), and it only affects Java 7, which is not used by CrashPlan.

Here’s Oracle’s official statement about the scope of the problem -

“Oracle is aware of a flaw in Java software integrated with web browsers. The flaw is limited to JDK7. It does not exist in other releases of Java, and does not affect Java applications directly installed and running on servers, desktops, laptops, and other devices. A fix will be available shortly.”

What should you do?

As far as CrashPlan goes, you can continue to use it as always. You do not need to disable or remove Java.

If you’d like to disable the Java browser plug-in, which is a good precaution, here are some simple instructions from the Sophos Naked Security website -

For Chrome - How to disable Java – Chrome

For Safari - How to disable Java – Safari

For FireFox  - How to disable Java – Firefox

For IE - How to disable Java – Internet Explorer

For Opera - How to disable Java – Opera

If you ask a small business owner if he or she is busy, is the answer you’ll receive really in doubt? Between tracking inventory, managing budgets, overseeing marketing efforts and — oh, yeah!— responding to customers, today’s entrepreneurs have a lot on their minds. We’re here to help.

The team at Code 42 has corralled a list of innovative tools to keep the busy business owner on track and organized.

1. Expensify: “Expense reports that don’t suck” is Expensify’s motto, so feel free to kiss those paper receipts goodbye. This app lets you import credit card statements, track expenses, create reports and upload receipts simply and efficiently. It’s even helpful when customers pay with cash. All you have to do is take a photo of the receipt and upload it.
2. LinkedIn CardMunch: Do you have stacks of business cards strewn all over your desk from a recent trade show? You’re not alone. Enter CardMunch: an app that allows you to scan all those business cards and, with a few clicks, CardMunch will even auto-connect with the person on LinkedIn.
3. Asana: Need a project management tool that you can use in the office and on your phone? Asana allows you to update projects, track user activity, and request follow-ups without all those annoying emails. The app also includes a calendar to see meeting information such as attendees and dial-in information.
4. Mobile Assistant: If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “I wish someone would follow me around and transcribe my thoughts,” you’re going to love this small business efficiency app. Mobile Assistant allows you to call a phone number and record your thoughts, and then sends it to you the next day!
5. Outright.com: If you’re a fan of Mint.com for your personal finances, you’ll be right at home using Outright.com to manage your business finances. Import bank records and track your transactions. The app also generates reports showing your profit and loss. Outright.com will even provide an estimate of how much tax you might owe at the end of the year.
6. CrashPlan PRO: With CrashPlan PRO, you’ll be able to retrieve your documents, images, videos and spreadsheets no matter where you are or what gadget you’re using. If you’re a current CrashPlan PRO user, simply download our free mobile app, available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone.

These are just a few of the tools some of our customers have found useful on a day-to-day basis. Do you have a favorite we missed? Share your must-have efficiency tips and tools in the comment section below.

I received a request from one of our Support members, asking if he could write a post on our blog about his experience working for Code 42. I was thrilled, of course! I enjoyed reading Xander’s perspective on helping people, and I hope you do, too. -AB

The East Coast is dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, a storm of unprecedented impact. People who packed their bags to stay with family and friends further inland are returning to assess the damage. After securing essentials such as power and water, IT managers and consultants want to ensure their business data is protected. That’s when they call me.

My name is Xander; I’m on the CrashPlan Tier 1 Customer Support team. I answer phone calls and emails. Hundreds a week. I enjoy my work for many reasons. Our company, Code 42, treats its employees well. My teammates are fun to work alongside. The work that I do every day matters. It matters to me. It matters to you.

We spend the majority of our day answering routine questions about error messages and common network issues. But at least once a day, I receive a call or email from someone who needs assistance getting back a file that went missing, dealing with a mistake made in a database or a fixing a backup that isn’t working. These are the moments when I thrive. It often requires me to think creatively. I have no idea where your accounting spreadsheet was located or when the last time that your contact list was updated, but you can be sure that I will do my best to help you find out.

Tech support can be difficult because we all speak different languages. I come from a business that uses metaphors and analogies to simplify complex concepts. There are definitely times when this approach is difficult, especially when people are stressed about losing an important piece of their life. That’s when I have to get creative. Some of my greatest successes have been built around speaking a common language to solve a problem.

I hope to share these experiences with you as our support team grows, because I think these stories are important for everyone to hear, and it gives you and I a chance to speak the same language. Get to know me as more than a voice behind a phone and keyboard, and I will be able to more successfully understand how to address the issues you are having.

Before the storm, I answered dozens of calls from people getting ready for Sandy. They were not certain what would happen with the storm or how their home or business would stand up. But they were confident that having an online backup would put them one step closer to their digital security.

Please know that if you and I interacted to help you deal with Hurricane Sandy, my efforts were to reassure you that your data was safe. You were working with a team who wanted to make the backup process simple, so that you could focus your energies on other important tasks. I wish you the best and look forward to helping you soon.

Our hearts go out to those who are facing the brunt of Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast. We know that everyone is anxious about their friends, family, and loved ones, and we hope all of you get through this safely. If you’re backing up with CrashPlan, you don’t need to worry about your files, so you can focus your attention on other important things. And when the storm is over, CrashPlan makes it easy to restore lost files, even from another location or computer. Here’s what you do to get your files back:

If you don’t have your computer handy, you can restore your most important files (up to 500MB for CrashPlan+; 250MB for PRO and PROe) via a web browser by following these instructions:

CrashPlan | CrashPlan PRO | CrashPlan PROe

You can also restore from another computer to which you have temporary access by following these steps:

1. Download and install CrashPlan on another computer.
2. Click the Existing Account option and sign in.
3. Ignore the prompt asking if you want this computer to replace your lost computer.
4. Click Restore.
5. Choose the computer from which you want to restore your files.
   Click the underlined text to cycle through the restore options.
6. Select the files you’d like to restore.
7. Click Restore.
8. IMPORTANT: Uninstall CrashPlan.

Later when you get a new replacement computer, you can follow these instructions to avoid restarting your backup.

CrashPlan | CrashPlan PRO | CrashPlan PROe

Full instructions:

CrashPlan | CrashPlan PRO | CrashPlan PROe

If you have any questions, the CrashPlan support team is here… ready to help.

Be safe,

Code 42 Software

Part and parcel of running a small business is finding ways to save resources. So how can you ensure your data is secure and accessible without wasting space and time? Without room for stacks of tape drives, or a dedicated IT staff to run a server, many SMBs are considering cloud data backup services. Giving SMBs access to the same technology experts and economies of scale as large enterprises without the upfront capital investment of physical storage solutions levels the IT playing field, enabling them to compete globally against international enterprises. However, despite the well-documented benefits to companies that switch to cloud-based backup, and the multiple options available, some SMBs are still wary of the technology. To help SMB managers make the right decision, Matthew Dornquast, CEO of Code 42 Software, reviews the benefits and considerations associated with cloud backup and recovery.

Considerations

• Seeding data and full recovery – Depending on the total amount of data, the first full backup and/or full recovery of all data could prove to be a bit time-consuming. So be sure to choose a data backup service that does not require you to wait for the entire initial backup to complete before allowing you to restore. Also verify that you are not limited to restoring entire folders. You want to be able to restore individual files, so you can get back a lost file faster.
• Control – One of the biggest concerns is the perceived loss of control over data once it’s outside the company’s facilities. To reduce control problems, you should have a contract with a solid service-level agreement (SLA) to ensure that the service provides the access to your data that you require.
• Bandwidth – The business needs enough bandwidth capacity to transfer files to and from the business location and the data backup service provider. Look for data backup software that allows you to adjust the amount of bandwidth used during backup, so that it falls within your bandwidth constraints.
• Discontinuation of the service –  Be sure to review termination or early-withdrawal fees, cancellation notification and data extraction factors before signing with a provider.

Benefits

• Cost – Pricing of cloud storage is almost always lower than setting up your own IT infrastructure. However, it is advisable to make an actual cost comparison for maintaining your own vs. using cloud storage.
• Maintenance and Administration – After the first full backup, most of the requirements for maintenance and administration become someone else’s responsibility since the data is stored offsite, making it convenient for SMBs.
• Scalability – Simply buy additional capacity as your business grows, which means you need a lot less excess capacity in your data storage system.
• Security – When done right, cloud backup can be more secure than storing data on a company’s own servers, as storage at a remote site in the cloud avoids problems with a local disaster such as a fire, flood or criminal act wiping out all of your stored data. From a business standpoint, there is no way most SMBs could afford to upgrade security technology as frequently as needed, but cloud backup providers risk going out of business if they don’t.

Are you a small business owner looking for a cloud backup solution? Get started with CrashPlan PRO. Select your platform and install CrashPlan PRO on your computer. When prompted, log in with the email and password for your account. It’s completely free for 30 days!

A new report by Juniper Research dropped a staggering prediction: based on their research, they expect the number of employee-owned devices used for business purposes to grow from the 150 million currently to 350 million, in just two years.

They note that private companies are driving the trend, but BYOD will inevitably make its way into the public sector as well. The consumerization of IT is here to stay.

Unfortunately, Juniper also found that many companies that do allow personal devices to be used for work do not invest in adequate security measures to protect the business data on those devices.

The first responsibility of the modern IT leader is to make sure company data is securely backed up, no matter what endpoint is used to house or create that data. To that end, we made CrashPlan PROe secure, cross-platform, and automatic. With scalable, multi-destination backup, customizable data sets, a full suite of real-time admin tools and seamless integration with your authentication protocols and other systems, CrashPlan PROe is robust enough for the enterprise, but still just as easy for your employees to use as their consumer devices.

One analyst estimates that Apple will sell over 263 million units of the next iPhone. That’s not counting iPads or notebooks; just the iPhone. 263 million.

Don’t be caught unprepared when consumer devices show up at work.  Get started with CrashPlan PROe today, and you’ll know your business is ready.

The Code 42 office espresso machine got quite the workout yesterday morning. Everyone was a little groggy after staying up late to watch the Curiosity rover land on Mars. How could any self-respecting geek ignore landing a laser-equipped giant robot on another planet?

But there’s another reason we were interested in this historic occasion: NASA is one of our backup clients. That’s right: the rocket scientists who engineered this spectacular success trust their data to CrashPlan PROe.

NASA Curiosity Mission Control Room

So we’re pretty proud to play our (very) small part in mankind’s latest exploration of our galaxy.

To see why NASA relies on us, try CrashPlan PROe for free, right now. And if your backup needs are more, shall we say, terrestrial? Try CrashPlan for all the computers in your home.

In a recent head-to-head comparison of popular backup services, CrashPlan is the clear winner according to IT World.

Top cloud services for online backup – IT World

CrashPlan reigns supreme against the other backup services thanks to its “extensive customization options and OS compatibility.”

The recent IT World honor (also noted in today’s PC World article “Top Cloud Services for Online Backup”) is not the first to highlight CrashPlan’s features and functionality. CrashPlan backup software has been widely recognized in the media in 2012 as a top personal backup solution, with highlights including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, and many more major news sources.

Lifehacker has also praised CrashPlan as the best online backup app for OS X and Windows.

CrashPlan PRO, Code 42 Software’s business backup offering, is also the talk of the town. In the past year alone, PC World has named CrashPlan PRO one of the “15 Best Free Business Tools of 2012” and PCMag.com recognized CrashPlan PRO as one of the “Best Small Business Apps of 2012”.

Backing up your home and business is not only affordable, but also extremely easy with CrashPlan and CrashPlan PRO. Learn more about how to bulletproof your backup solution and download a free trial of CrashPlan+, CrashPlan PRO, or –for the enterprise– CrashPlan PROe.