Welcome

Welcome to the latest news from 2BrightSparks. In this issue we announce an update to SyncBackSE and SyncBackPro, and tell you how our products help you in the research sector. You'll also learn more about the 2BrightSparks team, and enjoy some more useful tips on using our software.

If you have any suggestions on what you might like to see in future issues of this newsletter, drop us a line with your suggestions.

SyncBackPro & SyncBackSE V5.6.0.32 Update

The latest releases of SyncBackSE & SyncBackPro V5.6.0.32 are now available as a free upgrade for all those who have paid for a SyncBackSE or SyncBackPro license. To upgrade from earlier versions simply download and install over your old version.

To upgrade from earlier versions simply download SyncBackSE or SyncBackPro and install over your older version:

Download SyncBackSE

Download SyncBackPro

Note that this is not an upgrade to SyncBackSE and SyncBackPro from SyncBack freeware

SyncBackPro enjoys nine new features including proxy support with SFTP, a menu item to import SyncBackSE profiles, CSIDL variables, and an option to filter out files Windows itself believes should not be included in a backup. SyncBackSE also has five new features and this release also provides over 25 essential fixes and updates.

Review the full list of changes in both versions

SyncBackSE, SyncBackPro, and SyncBack Freeware

Note that both SyncBackSE and SyncBackPro are not upgrades to SyncBack freeware.

There are three versions of our backup program: "SyncBack" which is freeware, and "SyncBackSE" and "SyncBackPro" which are shareware programs.

Compare the freeware and commercial versions

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Specialist Groups - Researchers

With so much data that researchers manage to churn out, misplacing information is pretty much a familiar situation that many researchers can relate to. Perhaps the raw survey data of a particular person in question is forgotten, or a particular genotyping result is lost. Opening numerous files to manually check for the required file is inefficient and time-consuming. Wouldn't it be great if you had a program to locate your needed files in minimum time? FindOnClick is your solution.

FindOnClick will locate files based on file name, file extension, a keyword or phrase in a file, file creation or modification date, file size and a few other filters. The program even allows you to search multiple drives at the same time, which speeds up the "hunting" process. Want to locate duplicate files to free up some disk space? You can do that too with FindOnClick.

Another way of keeping track of your files is with InfoHesive. There are actually several uses of InfoHesive that will prove invaluable to you as a researcher. The first is to organize your files in a tree-like format just like in Windows Explorer, which is done by linking to your files that can be kept in different folders. The great thing is you will be able to jot notes down for each file link so you will always know what that file is for, just in case you forget in the future.

The second use for InfoHesive, which is exactly what InfoHesive was designed for, is as an ePublisher. Electronically publish your analysis results and publications for proof-reading. If your research is based in a formal setting, easily distribute all your digital information relating to your work in one InfoHesive WorkSpace. Your research, images, web links, and associated files (PDFs, docs, spreadsheets etc.) can all be packaged in a single InfoHesive file. InfoHesive makes life a lot more convenient as compared to emailing or distributing numerous and varied digital files in order to achieve the same result.

Probably the most crucial part of keeping your digital data safe is backing up your files. There's no point organizing your files well when there is a risk of losing them all if your computer suffers a hard disk malfunction or it gets stolen. SyncBackSE and SyncBackPro are our backup and synchronization solutions that will help combat data loss. Schedule them to backup your files and folders at specific times of a day, as often as you want it to. No fuss, no mess, just convenience and a peace of mind.

Compare SyncBackSE and SyncBackPro

Equally important as keeping track of your files or losing them is ensuring that prying hands do not get hold of them after the files have been deleted. Deleting your files simply frees up disk space, but with the right kind of software, they are easily retrievable. Using military grade deletion, DeleteOnClick ensures that your deleted files remain deleted - forever! The commercial version of the program even renames the deleted file's name to random characters to further ensure that anyone who tries to undelete a deleted file can't see what the file was called previously.

With software to "look after" almost all your digital file needs and provide you with ease of computer use, why not give them a try? Evaluate the commercial versions risk and obligation free for 30 days and you'll see what a difference they'll make. You'll even find some great freeware applications for you at no cost at all.

http://www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html

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Staff Sparks

This is usually the section where each member of our staff gets to take a turn and tell you something about themselves. I'd like take my turn to tell you about our group as a whole, and our company philosophy.

2BrightSparks got started because the author of SyncBack, Mick Leaver, wrote it on his own time in early 2004, and had made it available to anyone - free. The first few hundred thousand downloads (!) returned a lot of compliments, and also a lot of valid suggestions for improvements - too many to implement by working nights and weekends. So he made the decision to quit his "day job" and devote all his time to release a version with advanced features, at low cost - hoping that he could support his young family with the proceeds. That was quite a leap of faith, but the history has proved it to be a good decision.

We have never lost sight of that fact that the first few hundred customers were upgrading freeware users. We wouldn't be here without them. That has led us into our fundamental philosophy that 2BrightSparks is about you, the customers. We provide you with high quality software, we listen well, and when things go wrong (as they will) we do our best to fix them fairly and quickly. We feel good about what we're doing, and it is actually a successful business model, too.

There are now seven people in 2BrightSparks - two in the UK and five in Singapore - communicating with several tens of thousands of users, developing new products, maintaining the 1,000 page web site, managing administration, and all the other things that a well-run company needs to look after.

We are pretty selective when hiring new staff. We don't like to micro-manage, so everyone needs to be competent, proactive, customer-centric, and capable of working to objectives. We work almost completely on "flex time", which is a great environment for the four staff members with young children. It lets us have true "quality time" with our families - not just a rushed hour before bedtime - and we think that makes us better at doing our jobs, too. It is quite a kick to see your five-year-old surfing the web with her own computer, just like Mommy.

So... you might have purchased our software because it is the best technically, and the best value. But you are also now a part of a culture that will continue to provide you dividends in continuous improvement and benefits. We welcome your suggestions and will consider for inclusion those that we can implement.

Thank you for having selected us!

Richard Gascoigne, Corporate Director.

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Tip of the Month

SyncBackSE and SyncBackPro Compression and Encryption (See the end of this article if you have forgotten your encryption key.)

Two of the very valuable features of SyncBackSE and SyncBackPro are compression and encryption.

COMPRESSION - is particularly valuable in either of two situations:

- your backup destination space is limited (perhaps a DVD), or
- you are sending large amounts of data over a network, and need to save bandwidth or time.

SyncBackSE/Pro can usually compress your data much faster than it can be transmitted. Just as an example: a 50MB text file might be compressed 90% in just a second or two - thus saving 90% of the transmission time.

As they say, "results may vary" depending on the type of files: most graphic and PDF files are already compressed, but text files usually see greater than 50% savings.

You will need to decide whether to compress each file individually, or to put all the backed-up files into one large compressed file. I suggest that you try it both ways, and see which works best for you - or some combination.

To turn on compression, your profile display must be set to "Expert" (click on the "click for options" in the upper left corner of your Profile Setup window and select "Expert"), then click on "Compression".

For most situations, selecting the default options provides good compression, quickly. The default ZIP style compression ensures that you can always decompress the files with another utility (such as our EncryptOnClick) without needing SyncBackSE/Pro.

ENCRYPTION - is something that you should always consider if someone else could gain access to your backed-up data: a USB drive, company server, internet service, etc. Encryption prevents anyone seeing your backed-up data.

In order to use Encryption, you must also have selected Compression (you can specify "no compression" if you wish). (However, you can specify "no compression" if you wish.) The default "256-bit AES" encryption level has been approved by the US Government for their own classified data protection.

That said, complete protection depends on your selection of a strong Encryption Password (key) that cannot be guessed. Exactly how you do that is beyond the scope of this tip, but here are some hints:

- it should be at least 16 characters;
- contain only printable ASCII characters (a-Z, A-Z, 0-9, !@#$%^&*(), etc);
- do not use your name, birthday, address, or any combination of such "guessable" characters;
- mix character types - upper/lower case, numerics, punctuation.

Oh, my! Now the problem is remembering it! I have a couple of suggestions.

One is to use our information management program, InfoHesive. You can use it to store any kind of information, and then encrypt it all together with a master password. Easy to do, and InfoHesive is great for organizing and storing all kinds of information.

You can do something similar by using our EncryptOnClick or ScrambleOnClick utilities to store all of your passwords in one encrypted file.

Of course, if someone gets your master password, they have the keys to your kingdom, so keep it safe!

Recovering data encrypted with SyncBackSE/Pro

Oops! You forgot the password that you specified in a backup Profile many months ago. Now you want to decrypt one of the files. Sorry, but there is no way to "break" the password. But wait! The Profile knows the password. So all you have to do is to use the "Restore" feature, and the Profile will recover AND decrypt the file you specify.

You can even Restore the entire backup destination to a temporary folder, then make a profile with a new password and back up that recovered data all over again. Now... don't forget the new password, and you're back in business.

If all you want is straight-forward backup, then SyncBackSE/Pro are very easy to use. They also have dozens of great features that can handle about anything you can think of. Check out the tutorials, and the Help, and keep reading these TIPS in our monthly newsletter to "tune" your backup for maximum protection.

If you have any tips of your own we would love to hear them. Send your tips via our Online Contact Form.

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Articles at 2BrightSparks

We've added a new article to the collection:

InfoHesive for University Professionals and Students: InfoHesive is great for organizing lecturer and teacher notes, teaching material, student records, and any other personal information. You can even include photos of your students or classmates for easier identification, especially at the beginning of school terms. Not only is InfoHesive useful in retrieving your information efficiently, with a digital publisher-built in, InfoHesive lets you share your digital information with your colleagues or classmates as well.

Check out our collection of articles for more:

If you would like to see articles of a particular topic, please do let us know.

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Lucky Draw Winners

Every month, ten lucky winners who complete the SyncBackSE survey form receive a free license for OnClick Utilities. The link to the survey is contained in the order confirmation email for SyncBackSE. We will even allow you to transfer your license to friends or family if you've already got a license. Good luck!

To date, 430 lucky people have already received free software from by completing a simple survey, so what are you waiting for?

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Feedback

If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions about SyncBackSE or SyncBackPro, please complete our contact form at:

http://www.2brightsparks.com/contact-form.html

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Until Next Time

Thanks for reading and we look forward to getting in touch again next time.

The 2BrightSparks Team.
2BrightSparks Pte Ltd.
www.2brightsparks.com

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