Is installing Carbonite the best backup and recovery strategy for your computer?

What do you want to back up?

• Pictures
• Documents
• Emails
• Address Book
• Memos
• Tasks
• Calendar

For the first two items on the list, pictures and documents, Carbonite does a pretty good job.

For the rest of the items on the list, however, their integration with Outlook can present a problem. If you are like me, Outlook is always up and running. Unless Outlook is shut down, Carbonite cannot back up the rest of the types of files on the list because Outlook is using them and has them "locked".

To ensure Carbonite or an other backup program you use is able to access all your Outlook stuff, you need to export the contents of Outlook to a .PST file and that .PST file needs to be in a place where Carbonite will back it up. Since different versions of Outlook will go about the process of exporting a .PST file differently, I suggest a Google search of "Outlook export .PST" and follow the directions.

Another problem with Carbonite shows up during file recovery. Let's say your computer needed to be re-loaded because of a hard drive failure or a virus attack. Where will Carbonite load your backup files? The short answer is all over your desktop. You are expected to cut and paste the individual files to their proper locations. If you don't know what you are doing, this is a very time-consuming and tedious process. It is not recommended for the faint-hearted.

Given these two areas of concern, I would not recommend Carbonite. There are better solutions out there that can back up your system safely if they are used properly. I would suggest engaging an IT professional to design, implement and test a backup and recovery strategy for you. The small cost you pay will be worth it when you have peace of mind knowing your important files are backed up and can be recovered, with a minimum of effort.

Here are a couple of things you can try to fix the problem:

• Did you lock your keyboard by pressing the lock button? When you press the lock button again, does the screen remain blank? Try pressing the escape key (it looks like a u-turn) to force the display to re-appear. Then try pressing the lock button again.
• Do you see an error message about an uncaught trap? In the body of the message may be a cryptic reference to the program that caused the problem. In my case it was the Blackberry Messenger application. I deleted the application, the uncaught trap message went away, and my Blackberry stopped freezing. Re-loading Blackberry Messenger should fix the problem.
• When all else fails, your cellphone may need to be rebooted. Remove the battery and re-insert the battery. If re-booting the cellphone is becoming a daily occurrence, the next fix is wiping out your cellphone's operating system and re-installing it along with all the applications, themes, music and pictures you added since you bought the cellphone. Before attempting this, you must make a current backup of your cellphone by using the Blackberry Desktop application. This can be a complex, time consuming process. I would suggest having an IT Professional do this for you.