Quickly Sync in iTunes with BackOff

Rating: 10 out of 10
Pros: Saves valuable time, it’s FREE, ability to only use it when needed, Mac and PC.
Cons: Must restart iTunes between uses
Overall: Skipping the backup is not something I’d recommend on any regular frequency, but this allows you to skip it for those times where you are really just out of time and needing to run out the door. Works for Mac and PC.

Video Review: iAntiVirus Software

Rating: 10 out of 10
Pros: It’s FREE, what more can you say
Cons: You’ll probably never catch any malicious attacks on your mac
Overall: What more can I say about this software, it’s FREE. Why not protect your Mac from any possible threats that may be placed on it. Like I said in the video, I’ve never had any issues with viruses on my Macs, but I can’t think of any reasons not to have this running your machine. You’ll barely even notice that it’s there running in the background, but trust me you’ll be so thankful that it is if you ever run into a malicious attack.

Go download iAntiVirus for FREE from their site. It’ll be the smartest software install you’ve performed all year.

Mac Monday Review: Keeper Password & Data Vault

Rating: 9 out of 10
Pros: Keeps all your user names and passwords secure and in one place. Awesome Sync capabilities with you iPod touch or iPhone. Works on both Mac and PC. Very easy to use and intuitive user interface. Inexpensive.
Cons: Not being a guy that knows how to hack stuff I can’t talk about how easy or hard it would be to hack this program
Overall:  This program is one that I wish I had come across years ago.  With every website requiring some sort of registration which in turn forces you to establish a user name and password it just becomes mind boggling.  I have used this program for about 5 days and have already entered in 8 user names and passwords.  As life gets more and more hectic it is nearly impossible to remember all of them.  Not only does Keeper from Callpod let you keep a vault of these user names and passwords on your computer but it syncs very nicely with your iPod Touch or iPhone over your wifi network.  I like the idea of this product so much that I am awarding it the Editor’s Choice Award.

Keeper can be purchased for the extremely affordable price of $14.95 for the desktop version and the mobile version for your iPod Touch or iPhone is, now hold your breath, FREE!!!!  Learn more about Keeper by clicking here and visiting their website

Mac Monday: Carbonite Online Backup

Rating: 8 out of 10
Pros: Very easy to learn user interface, can pick and chose what to back up down to the file level, runs in the background, affordable at $54.95 a year for unlimited storage, colored icons let you know what is being back up and what is not via the preferences pane.
Cons: Sometimes does not play well with Time Machine(watch the video for that solution), customer service is tough to get on the phone but chat is usually always available.
Overall: A quality online/off site backup solution that is easy to use. At $54.95 a year for unlited staorage space this is my personal choice to backup my systems.

You can learn more about Carbonite by visiting their website.

Mac Monday: Mozy Online Backup software

Rating: 7 out of 10
Pros: Offsite backup that works for both Mac and PC, relatively inexpensive at $4.95 a month.  The one year subscription comes with a free month and the 2 year subscription adds 3 months free.  Easy to use and automatic backup that runs in the background.
Cons: Must choose complete folders to backup instead of individual files.  For example you either back up ALL your movies or none of your movies.  I would like to back up some movies but not all of them.  No way to pause a backup for say 24 hours you either let it run or stop it and then you need to restart backup manually.
Overall: If you are looking for an affordable offsite/online backup service, Mozy could be the one for you.  Customer service is fantastic and they are constantly checking your satisfaction via email.  Chat and phone support is an extra added bonus. For business users of the iPhone, the added bonus of being able to backup your work & monitor your work with an online CRM can increase overall efficiency.

You can learn more about Mozy by clicking here and checking out their site.

Mac Monday Review: TeamViewer

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQHljDzGwm0[/youtube]

Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Pros: Fast, simple, safe, multi platform, FREE for noncommercial – personal use
Cons: Sometimes there are some problems with connection and with transferring files to remote computers. You have to be on a decent Internet connection with a high bandwidth upstream to use highest quality settings.
Overall: This is definitely a must have application if you use more than one computer. With TeamViewer you can establish connections to any PC or server all around the world within just a few seconds. You can remote control your partner’s PC as if you were sitting right in front of it.

TeamViewer is available for multiple platforms, from Windows to Apple Mac OS X – and can even be used for cross-platform connections from Windows to Mac and back! You can download your free copy here – http://www.teamviewer.com

Mac Monday: Moneydance Personal Financial Manager

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io50_plKYvM[/youtube]

Rating: 9 out of 10
Pros: Simple financial management software that runs on Mac, Windows, & Linux, seamless direct download from your banking institution, ability to set budgets, see graphs and have a snapshot of your financial portfolio, inexpensive $39.
Cons: Definitely not as much eye candy and graphics as quicken or iBank.
Overall: Moneydance is not a very well known program and doesn’t have the advertising budget that Quicken has but it is more than capable of holding it’s own.  As I mentioned earlier it doesn’t have the graphical interface that Quicken and iBank sport but the performance and price difference more than make up for that.  With Quicken for Mac priced at $69, PC version $39.99 and iBank priced at $59.99, Moneydance is a bargain at $39.99 and it actually works with ALL banks for direct download.  Quicken on the other hand is hit or miss.  For example Quicken does not support direct download for Bank of America in California on the Mac version but does on the PC version.  Of course Quicken doesn’t document this anywhere until you purchase then have to jump through hoops to get a refund.  In closing Moneydance just plain works, works well, and all at an affordable price.

You can download Moneydance and try it for free by clicking here and the full version purchase price is $39.