Back up your computer and breathe easy with Mozy

If your computer crashed RIGHT NOW, how much data would you lose? Wedding photos? Tax information? Five years of email archives? Playlists a mile long? Business contacts? I have no doubt that you have a backup device close at hand, but do you remember to use it every day? If you were to have a fire, would it burn up along with your PC?

The modern, and thankfully very cheap, alternative to losing your precious data is online backup, and Mozy.com makes it about as simple as possible. The company offers 2 gig of backup for free, or, the better deal, $4.95 per month for unlimited backup.

The best part, though, is the software that comes with a Mozy.com account. It can be configured to automatically back up your files at a designated time (say every morning at 3 a.m.). Your data will be stored on one of their servers far from any house fire or other local disaster, and can be accessed from other PCs should the need arise.

One hard drive crash is enough to commit most of us to rigourous backup, but just this once, let's take care of business before it bites us in the butt. Give Mosy or one of its competitors such as ibackup.com a try, and I think you'll agree with me that the most successful backup is one you never have to remember to do.