Google Docs touts: Create, edit, and upload quickly. Access and edit from anywhere. Share changes in real time. It’s free.

Wow. No more hassles with emailing documents as attachments and worrying about document versions. Now you can work on a centralized document with all of your team members or clients.

What a great idea; leave it to Google to implement it. True, it’s another account with a username and password to remember (see my tips on picking passwords), but it might be worth your while if you work in teams.

I’ve tried it, and it works great. You can even upload existing spreadsheets or documents and store them securely. Invite others to log in and make updates to your documents together - in real time. All you need is internet access.

Isn’t the world wide web an interesting and useful place? This is just another example of how you can make the internet work for you.

You might want to give it shot - Google Docs.

Why should I back up my computer? There are two types of hard drives: those that have failed and those that will.

Don’t get caught with your pants down when your computer crashes. There are numerous methods you can employ to organize and back up your computer files. I even find myself refining my backup strategy periodically. There’s also the constant struggle to organize local and offsite backups. What happens if there’s a local natural disaster? With a remote backup, you can have Aunt Stella FedEx your external backup hard drive from Australia and you’re all set.

Most of your files are likely in your My Documents folder (Windows) or Home directory (Mac and Linux). But do you know where your email messages are? Your applications? Your pictures? You’d better find out.

Here are some tips:

• Back up your email. A quick search on Google for “email backup software” results in numerous listings, but the one I have personal experience with is for Macs called MailSteward ($49.95). You can download a demo that archives up to 3,000 emails. It even includes a scheduler that automatically archives emails without you having to lift a finger. With email archiving software, you can store those thousands of messages you want to keep without clogging up your email server.
• Back up all your files. General purpose backup software can be configured to selectively back up your important files to external hard drives or even remote servers. You just need to organize your files, possibly buy some extra hard drives, and schedule your backups, and you can rest easy knowing that disaster recovery is just a few clicks away. My backup software of choice is ChronoSync ($30), because it can synchronize two hard drives - delete or change files on the master drive, and the copy automatically mirrors those changes.
• Make a bootable backup of your computer. Let’s say your computer crashes. No worries with a bootable backup drive. All you have to do is start up from your bootable drive and continue working. In other words, a bootable drive includes your operating system, applications, files, and preferences. It’s literally a mirror image of your regular working hard drive. Backing up all your files/documents is a great start, but when your main hard drive crashes, you not only have to copy all your files, but also reinstall all of your software and preferences. What a pain! Unfortunately, ChronoSync doesn’t create bootable drives, so I use SuperDuper! ($27.95). Confirm that the hard drive you’re using is a compatible bootable drive for your operating system.

It happens to the best of us, I guess. Late Wednesday, the cable company Comcast had their website redirected to a page created by hackers. Members of the the hacker group Kryogeniks were apparently really proud of blocking Comcast customers from using their web-based email service, potentially affecting up to 14 million customers.

The hackers somehow obtained the username and password for Comcast’s domain name registration account with NetworkSolutions. They logged into Comcast’s account and updated the settings to redirect their home page.

According to sources at NetworkSolutions, Comcast’s account was not hacked nor compromised. Currently, it’s unclear as to how they acquired the username and password.

I’m taking away a valuable lesson from this unfortunate incident: Guard my usernames and passwords with my life. I’ll continue to use my encrypted password manager software, 1Password. Another effective option is to periodically change passwords associated with sensitive accounts.

I recently received an email from Google on how to avoid phishing, or attempts by criminals to fraudulently collect passwords, credit card numbers, and other sensitive information through email.

Here are some basic tips on how to avoid these scams:

• Don’t reply to or click on links in emails that ask for personal, financial, or account information.
• Check the message headers. The From: address and the Return-path should reference the same source.
• Instead of clicking on the links in emails, go to the websites directly by typing the web address into your browser, cutting and pasting it, or using bookmarks.
• If on a secure page, look for “https” at the beginning of the URL and the padlock icon in the browser.
• Keep your computer’s antivirus, spyware, browser, and security patches up to date, and regularly run system scans.
• Review your accounts regularly and check for unauthorized activity.
• Use a browser that has a phishing filter (Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Opera).

Have you ever considered the amount of money you spend each time you print invoices, brochures, letters, and pamphlets? Then you have to consider the ink, envelopes, packaging, and postage. Why not use electronic correspondence instead, such as email and websites?

Incidentally, U.S. Postal Service rates just increased again, which means rates have gone up nearly 24 percent since 2001.

Save the paper, ink, and postage, and send email with attachments to provide information and documents (PDFs). Use hyperlinks within emails to refer to pages on your company websites. Rather than mass marketing through snail mail, email marketing is more efficient and easier to track.

Here’s the best part: You can choose Dogpaw Web Hosting to run your website on sustainable wind power.