, Features
Once you\'ve signed up for your SOS Online Backup account, the software installation is quick and fairly straightforward. From the outset the service is visually intuitive with just three main screens to navigate to perform your first backup.
Firstly, you scan for folders to backup. This gives you a choice of \'scan all folders\', \'just scan my personal folders\' and \'do not scan (select files manually)\'. The latter will be the preferred option for most people unless you want to backup everything on your system. Below this, there were general tick-boxes covering \'documents\', \'images\', \'movies\' and \'video\' and an additional \'custom\' box with that provides further Online Backup Program flexibility when it comes to scanning your folders. The parameters you can alter include file Online Backup Program size and type, as well as deselecting files you don\'t want included in the scanning process. All in all, it was generally an intuitive interface and easy to negotiate.
In the next step, you will see a screen showing all the folders found during the scan for backup. From there, it\'s as simple as ticking the checkboxes beside the folders you want to include in your first backup. Again, it was very easy to select and deselect which files and folders required for backup.
Below the selection screen, SOS Online Backup includes a handy progress bar that lets you know how much data is to be backed up. Handy if you want to get an estimate of how long it will take or if you\'re on a limited broadband allowance.
The final screen, as you\'d expect, offers a number of options regarding the frequency of backups and whether backups are manual or automatic. There was an additional option for email reports to be sent regarding all backups made to your inbox - a potentially useful feature for business users. It was also a nice touch that, once a backup started, the final screen gave Online Backup Program a list of support icons should you need any further help with the task at hand or a new backup.
When it came to restoring data, this was just as easy. SOS Online Backup offers another reassuringly easy-to-navigate interface that lets you know at a glance how much space your backups need and how much you have left. There are just four main buttons here to allow you to set up new backups, either online or locally, or to start a backup.
To restore your data, you simply hit the \'restore\' button, select your backup and the files or folders that you want. Throughout all the screens, there was a \'support\' tab visible should you run into difficulties.
Speed-wise, SOS Online Backup is not the fastest service in terms of uploading or downloading data, but it wasn\'t the slowest either.
Similar to Dropbox, there was a \'go to web portal\' option for manual manipulation of your backups. This is significant as it also gives you \'on-the-go\' access to your files from remote machines, wherever you happen to be in the world.
Security
When it comes to security, SOS Online Backup didn\'t leave much to chance. As well as encrypting data on your computer, in transit and on the host server, a feature entitled \'SOS Ultrasafe\' allows you to add your own private password for further safety. We\'re told that this password is unavailable to staff at SOS Online Backup. In an age of corporate security breaches, many will appreciate the relevance of this feature.
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