Jonathan Malek

After reading this post, I had to check my Mozy install on my desktop–sure  enough, it reported that it hadn’t run successfully in 5 days, and the error message was a "required update".  No other clues would have alerted me to failed backups (it doesn’t show any kind of visual indicator until 7 days have gone by).  I would have been extremely upset to discover that in a recovery effort. 

So, I downloaded and installed (it requires a reboot–seriously?  Aren’t we past that?), and now my hourly backup option is gone; it is at most 12 times a day, and on low CPU impact.  Not happy with Mozy.  I decided to look back at Carbonite–my first impressions two years ago (I backed up 30G in about a week) was that it was clunky, but it sounds like it has gotten better.  I participated in the Beta back in early 2006, but my beta account is no longer active (schucks!)

The install was pretty painless on Vista x64, which is great.  I now have to wait for quite some time before all my content is backed up.  For the time being, I’m still running Mozy, but the whole point of automated backups is to not have to worry–and I worry about Mozy.

I’ve been on a quest to find software that would make my MacBook even remotely usable from a PC.  Using VNC on my gigabit LAN can be compared with using RDP over a 1200 baud modem.  I’ve tried every conceivable configuration without getting any faster than "agonizingly-torpid".

I finally stumbled across Timbuktu.  It’s not free, and I think I vaguely remember this company from a decade ago for Windows/Unix remote access.  I signed up for the 14-day trial, and after a couple of weeks of dithering, finally installed.  It’s not perfect (it’s got an awfully aged UI), but it is definitely the best I’ve used so far in terms of responsiveness–running my mouse across the icon bar at the bottom is relatively smooth.  For the first time, I’ve considered my MacBook usable from my desktop.

But there’s a problem–it’s priced at $199!  I am having a VERY hard time seeing how I’d be willing to pay $199 for something that’s out of the box on Windows.  You have to buy a "two-pack" multi-platform license, and there’s just no way I could justify that.  Does anyone know of alternatives?  And before anyone suggests another flavor of VNC, I’ve tried them all.