From the AEGIS e-Journal, Volume 11 Number 6, June 2008
Acronis True Image 11 Home Acronis $49.99 http://www.acronis.com/ We had a problem shared by many. We would get a computer installed and running, and eventually it would get really slow as we installed new programs. We would then reformat the hard drive, reinstall all the software, reinstall all the data, reinstall all the updates, and start over again. This reinstallation process would take us a day or two, and was, at best, really annoying. The obvious solution was to find software which would create an image of our hard drive the moment is was reinstalled. There are a number of such programs around, including some that are freeware, but we chose Acronis True Image. We first went through the usual nightmare of reinstalling the base software, putting in all the updates, installing all the other software, installing all their updates, and putting back the data. The system now worked flawlessly, and gave us the base to which we would like to return in the future, so we installed Acronis True Image and did a copy of the system onto a second, larger hard drive. For the next several months we kept track of the updates we did and the additional programs we added, the install programs for which we saved on a DVD. At some point we realized that system performance was degrading, so we backed up all the data, And re-installed the system as it was. The entire process took under an hour! AcronisTrue Image Home will also allow you to do backups: Full, Incremental, and Differential. Acronis True Image Home will allow you to handle your backups and restores rather handily. Indeed, it offers an extremely sophisticated set of choices for you. In addition, there are a number of other valuable tools included. One allows you, in essence, to build a virtual computer with which to try software or load iffy Web sites. If it doesn’t go well you can reboot and the virtual stuff disappears, leaving you with your original system unharmed. Or you can install it into your real computer. It also includes software to securely ÆGIS, June 2008 17 destroy data, including all the hidden system data of which you are unaware, and to do system recovery. There are also corporate versions, which cost only marginally more. We looked at, but have not yet tried, Acronis True Image Echo Workstation. This has even more sophisticated backup and recovery features, appropriate to a corporate environment, but does not include the additional features: The assumption is that your IT group is responsible for these. But what it does include is an add-on that lets you recover a system to a different machine. Imagine that you are traveling with your laptop, for which you have an image, and drop the machine. You race to buy a new one, but it is a different brand and uses different motherboards, chipsets or even CPUs. Using Acronis True Image Echo Workstation in conjunction with Acronis Universal Restore, you can burn the image onto the new machine, and it will work just like the old machine, including all of your network settings, mail and system configurations. This is close to magic. Acronis True Image Home is a worthwhile investment for anyone, but if you have more than one machine at home, use only a laptop, or work for a corporate IT group, you may be better served looking at Acronis True Image Echo Workstation. 7. Subscription/Unsubscription/Copyright Information •• ÆGIS is supported and maintained by voluntary efforts. This publication is owned, published, and copyright © 2008 by The LUBRINCO Group Ltd, Inc. and Financial Examinations and Evaluations, Inc. It is edited jointly by Richard Isaacs (RBIsaacs@lubrinco.com), L. Burke Files (LBFiles@feeinc.com), and Terry Philips (TPhillips@aegisjournal.com). LUBRINCO provides services in three high-threat areas, too specialized to be dealt-with in-house, that can adversely affect domestic and international bottom lines. • Identification, valuation, and protection of intellectual assets and critical information. • American businesses lose $300 billion in revenues annually to competitive intelligence, economic espionage, inappropriate disclosure, and information theft. • LUBRINCO provides private sector consulting access to OPSEC, the government-standard process for identification, valuation, and protection of intellectual property and critical information. ÆGIS, June 2008 18 • Implementing an OPSEC program is likely to increase revenues for an at-risk operating group by $75 million. • International asset location and due diligence. o Location of concealed assets in fraud, theft, and divorce. o Due diligence to prevent fraud and loss in China, Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the offshore financial centers, Latin America, and the Caribbean. o Financial fraud, anti-money laundering, and anti-corruption program development and training. • Protection of management, staff, and families. o In the high-threat environments of Latin America, Africa, the Mid- East, and Southeast Asia. o When traveling and living overseas. o When transporting items of substantial value. LUBRINCO identifies and quantifies threats and vulnerabilities, and their associated risk, then manages the vulnerabilities so you can transfer or live with the residual risk. We prevent disastrous financial loss to your company, and physical harm to you, your family, and your staff. For information on LUBRINCO and its services, or for the archive of all past issues of ÆGIS in PDF format, please go to http://www.aegisjournal.com/. Subscription to ÆGIS is available for $15 per year in North America and $20 per year outside of North America. To sign up for a complimentary subscription to ÆGIS or the ÆGIS PDF notification list, send an email to subscribe@aegisjournal.com. To subscribe to our AvantGo channel, go to http://avantgo.com/channels/_add_channel.pl?cha_id=1773 To be removed from the subscription list, send an e-mail to unsubscribe@aegisjournal.com. If you know of anyone else who should be receiving ÆGIS, please send their e-mail address to subscribe@aegisjournal.com. If there is a topic that you would like to know more about, send it to editor@aegisjournal.com and the editors will consider it as the topic for an article in an upcoming issue. ÆGIS, June 2008 19 If you would like to submit an article for publication in ÆGIS, send it as an attachment to an e-mail to editor@aegisjournal.com. Submission of an article certifies that (a) all information in the article is in the public record, or (b) that you are authorized to release any personal or corporate proprietary information contained in the article, and (c) that none of the article has previously been copyrighted. The submission of materials for publication in ÆGIS constitutes a license to LUBRINCO, and/or Financial Examinations and Evaluations, Inc, their assigns, associates, or affiliates, to abridge and/or edit said submission, and to copyright and publish/republish any submitted materials in whatever written and/or electronic form they may choose. If you would like to go beyond normal fair-use in reproducing articles from this issue of ÆGIS, you may do so freely as long as appropriate source, copyright, accreditation, and link to the ÆGIS Web site is included. 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Article Title, from the June 2008 ÆGIS (© 2008 LUBRINCO and FE&E), to be found at http://www.aegisjournal.com/. ÆGIS is a forum for the exchange of information, ideas, operating styles, theories, and related topics for corporate managers who make decisions about threats typically outside the expertise available in-house, yet which have the potential to affect their company’s domestic and international bottom lines. Nothing appearing in ÆGIS should be construed as legal advice. The information provided is “general information,” not “specific advice.” The solution to any problem is highly dependent upon the precise facts involved. Thus, before making any reliance upon anything said here, you should consult with an appropriately skilled professional. Opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily endorsed by the publisher, and may be presented to encourage a dialogue among subscribers. The publisher and any re-publisher cannot be held responsible for any loss incurred as a result of the application of any information published in ÆGIS. Please be safe, and be smart.