LojiklSweep has a professional look and feel to it despite the fact that it is currently offered for free by the developing company. You need to register on the website to receive a serial number for the backup program, but registration is free and the serial registers the program for a year.

When you first start the program you need to enter that serial number to enable all program functionality. Once done you have options to create a custom backup project or use a pre-configured project that backs up prominent folders on the operating system with a few clicks.

One of the interesting features of the application are the available backup options. Here it is for instance possible to select important Windows folders including the user folder, system fonts or Windows Live Mail, Registry hubs or specific folders from a connected storage device.

Other options that can be configured right away are extensive filtering options, like including or excluding file types, using file dates for file selection or files with specific attributes. Another feature is the option to
execute batch files and scripts before or after a backup job.

The backup program supports storing backups on local or network drives, online storage services or on optical discs. Especially the online backup services that are available by default worth mentioning. They include ftp and WebDAV as well as DropBox, Box.net, CloudMe and Storegate at the time of writing. Even top notch commercial backup services usually do not offer this variety.

Other features include encryption and compression, advanced timestamping options and email notification options.

Backups can be scheduled to run backups automatically. Another interesting option is the ability to create a backup project shortcut on the desktop to run a backup manually with a double-click on that shortcut.

LojiklSweep’s built-in restore manager can be used to display differences between the backup and backed up locations. The program will tell you “what is new, what has changed and what is missing”.

One of the few aspects that can be seen as a negative is that the program is not displaying storage size information when selecting folders, files or data on the system. While it is for instance possible to select the current user profile for backup, it is not possible to determine in the program if a Dropbox account would have enough space available to store the backup. That’s something that the developers need to work on.

The second issue that I personally have with the backup software is that the serial that you get is only activating the application for a year. It is likely that the developers will at one point in time make the decision to release the software as a commercial application. It is not clear if and how you can then use the program to restore previously created backups.

Interested Windows users can download LojiklSweep from the developer website. The software is offered as a 32-bit and 64-bit application for the Windows operating system.

This happens completely in the background. The attacker does not have to enter the account credentials to initiate the synchronization. The original user furthermore will not be notified about the transfers, and the new device will not be added to the list of allowed devices in the Dropbox account settings.

To make matters worse, there is only one option to block the attacker from synchronizing and downloading files from the original user’s Dropbox: By removing the original device from the list of authorized devices in the Dropbox account. But for that, the owner needs to know that the computer was compromised. Changing the account password does not invalidate the config.db file, it can still be used to synchronize data.

One could say that the original user has other problems if someone managed to get access to the computer, and that’s definitely true. With that access, one could easily transfer data from the local Dropbox folder, access mounted True Crypt volumes or access other files like mailboxes that the user has access to.

It does not however make it less worrying that the reliance on config.db for authentication is inherently weak. One step in the right direction would be to implement safeguards, for instance by linking the file to the system it has been authorized on, and by using a notifications system to inform the user of new devices that have established a connection with the Dropbox account.

You can check for unauthorized access manually on the Dropbox website, but there is no notifications option available. And even then, the attacker’s device would not appear in the list of devices.

But what about encryption? If you encrypt your Dropbox data you are safe right? Encryption is not really an option either, considering that an attacker who got local access to a computer system could very well have the means to log the decryption on the local system. And it would render the file and folder sharing on Dropbox useless.

So what is it that you can do right now? You could for instance make sure that you do not host important files on your Dropbox, and if you do, you should consider encryption as it adds another layer of protection around the Dropbox files. But as we mentioned earlier, it is not a complete safeguard.

You could also start monitoring the config.db file or try to change the rights of the file so that it cannot be accessed by standard system users.

The underlying insecurity, as rare as its exploitation may be, needs to be fixed by Dropbox. You can read Derek’s article and several interesting comments on his personal website.

The basic concept of the service has not changed at all, and I suggest you take a look at our initial AVG LiveKive review for a detailed feature walk through.

Only that much here: LiveKive is only available for Windows and Macintosh, which is the biggest limitation at this point in time. Windows or Mac only users should not have a problem with it but if you want to access and backup data from your Linux box or a mobile device then you cannot really use LiveKive for that.

The first 5 Gigabytes appear to be still free for everyone, even new users who sign up for the service now after the launch of the backup service.

Options to upgrade the account are presented to you in the account options after you have signed in on the LiveKive website.

You can increase the storage space to 25, 50 or unlimited Gigabytes at the moment. The unlimited option is a promotional subscription right now which will not be available forever. Prices for an upgrade are $49.99, $59.99 or $79.99 per year. Keep n mind that you only get 20 or 45 additional Gigabytes in the first two subscription plans.

If you compare the pricing with other online backup services such as Amazon CloudDrive, Dropbox or Sugarsync you will come to the conclusion that the 25 Gigabyte price is a bit on the high side, the 50 Gigabyte price about right and the unlimited price a bargain if you look only at the per Gigabyte pricing.

I have made a small chart that visualizes the storage costs at several popular online backup services (all prices per year)

The unlimited deal is a lot cheaper than the top of the line products offered by Dropbox, Amazon Cloud Drive or SugarSync. But there is a catch. If you open the Terms of Service you read under g) Fair Usage Policy.

The vast majority of AVG’s customers (that is more than 95%) of this online backup facility will not use the Services excessively. AVG will determine from time to time what is deemed excessive usage in relation to typical uses of the Services. Currently the usage range per customer is estimated well below 500GB of online storage space. This estimate is subject to periodic review based on future consumer behaviour and usage of the Services, and if amended, will be posted on the relevant AVG product specific webpage. In the event you chose an unlimited storage option for the AVG Paid Services, your usage of the Services if in excess of 500GB may at AVG’s sole discretion be subject to additional usage fees..

You effectively get 500 Gigabytes. After that it is up to AVG, they may charge you $15 for every 10 Gigabytes in exceed of that figure. (via)

AVG reserves the right to apply additional charges for your excessive usage of the AVG Paid Services which amounts to (the equivalent of) 15 USD per annum per 10 GB pro-rated for each month of excessive usage and/or to apply a Restriction.

It is not only about how much you can store online, but also about other factors like reliability, the software or speed.

New users who are not sure if LiveLive is the right service for them should sign up for a free account first to play around with the backup interface and service.

AVG announced the LiveKive service in February and promised that a beta would soon follow. The beta has just started and everyone who participates gets 5 Gigabytes of free online storage for a year.

The LiveKive beta is limited, and places are served on a first come first serve basis. You can head over to the beta signup page right now to grab your spot before someone else does.

The beta runs under the codename AVG AirSpace. Users need to register a free account over at the beta signup page after filling out a small survey about online backups. The software client is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, sorry no Linux or Mac support in the beta.

AVG LiveKive Review

Installation of the 16 Megabyte setup file is straightforward and requires no user interaction. A setup assistant is launched after installation. Here it is necessary to enter the email address and password that was used to register the beta account at the AVG website

and enter a name for the PC or device the software is running on

It is optionally possible to click on Data Encryption Settings to create a custom passphrase for the application. AVG LiveKive will create one otherwise automatically.

The main application interface divides information on five pages and subpages that can be reached via tabs at the top.

The status tab displays backup, sync and share activities, queued files, actions that are currently performed, a log and statistics.

The backup tab suggests five pre-defined categories that can be backed up. The categories are desktop, documents, movies, music and pictures, all part of the my documents folder structure.

A click on advanced displays the computer’s folder structure with options to select additional folders and files for backup. A search is provided to find specific files or folders, and a switch to display hidden files and folders as well in the file browser.

The View Restore tab displays all backed up files and folders with options to download or restore selected files or folders. Files and folders are restored by selecting them first in the browser, and clicking on the Download icon afterwards. This opens the page below with options to download or restore the selected files and folders.

The sync tab offers configuration options to synchronize files and folders between different folders. The folders can be located on the same local computer, for instance an internal hard drive and external drive, or two different computer systems.

Data synchronization is setup in four steps: You select a name and optional description in step one. The two folders are selected in the next step. Only folders that have been added to the backup process can be synced. The interface lists all folders and the devices that have been setup for backup.

Files that should not be synchronized are added in the third step. You can add file names and extensions that should not be synchronized. The last step displays a verification of the settings. A click on Start Sync synchronizes the selected folders for the first time. Synchronizations can be scheduled in the status or options.

Share finally can be used to share files and folders with friends, colleagues or business clients. Individual share links can for instance be created in the View / Restore tab.

You can also create a publicly accessible, protected, url that you can use to share data. To do that you need to define a name, password and share folder that is then accessible via a newly generated url. Users can then access the files online if they have the right password.

Users with permission are then able to download folders and all files within, or individual files from the shared space. The owner of the files can change the password at anytime, and delete the share if it is no longer needed.

The preferences contain several interesting options. It is possible to define file size and age limitations, exclude files or folders with wildcards, schedule backups, syncing and sharing of files and configure network settings.

A local copy of data that is backed up can be saved by AVG LiveLive automatically. The local data is prioritized whenever files or folders need to be restored. This improves the speed of large restorations, and can also be beneficial if no Internet connection is available, or if the AVG servers are not reachable. The local copy of the backup needs to be activated in the Copy preferences.

Data that is exchanged with the help of the backup program is encrypted from start to finish, from the user’s computer to the AVG server and the other way round. Data on the AVG server remains encrypted so that no one can access the data on the server without the password.

AVG LiveKive In Short

AVG LiveKive is a file backup, synchronization and sharing solution in the cloud that is currently in beta. Beta users get 5 Gigabytes of free storage space for a year, and can install the software on PCs that run Microsoft Windows.

All activities can be scheduled to run regularly from the Status tab or the Schedule preferences in the program options.

Beta Verdict

No word yet on the pricing. The Get More Space button in the interface leads to a non-existing page on the AVG website. It is apparently not possible to save more than 5 Gigabytes of data in the beta.

The application is a bit slow reaction-wise sometimes. It happens that a click takes a few seconds to process. Not all the time but sometimes. This is likely a beta quirk that will be resolved in the final product.

AVG LiveKive adds a few interesting ideas to the online backup world. Especially the option to store a local copy of the backup is interesting as it offers several advantages and a fallback option. The developers should add the option to create custom categories, Windows Explorer integration, support for other operating systems and devices, and easier options to access backed up files.

The pricing, and the availability of a free account, are the two factors that make or break the product. Users who are experiencing problems should take a look at a sticky post in the AVG LiveKive support forum which lists several issues and fixes.

There are two main online backup services: Mozy and Carbonite. Both offer a similar service: they upload files differentially and incrementally (as they are updated or made) to a server and those files can then be retrieved. Both are now also available for Windows and OS X. Prices are similar, although Mozy does offer users 2GB free of charge.

Carbonite offers a 15 day free trial, where you don’t even have to input your credit card information. This, like a regular subscription, allows you an unlimited amount of storage. Unlike a paid user, free trial users can’t upload music or movies, quite understandably. Paid users have no issue though.

I personally use Carbonite, but wouldn’t advise anyone against Mozy. Carbonite was quite simple to set-up, my only complaints are that it didn’t automatically configure the OS X firewall or my ports and a few minor user interface issues. I expect that it is much more polished on Windows, as their OS X version is a recent release.

Carbonite also provide remote access, so you can access your backed up files anywhere. This is useful if you need a file off your home PC at work, for example.

Uploading is fairly fast. After I configured my firewall and ports correctly, I managed to get a couple of gigabytes uploaded in one night. That is impressive considering I’m on a relatively slow (2Mbps downstream) ADSL2 connection.

Carbonite’s customer support solved any of my problems but I felt a lot of the dialog was scripted and for some reason it all seemed a little impersonal. Still, they provided me with solutions in a reasonable timeframe in a courteous manner.

Now, pricing. Carbonite is $55/year and Mozy (for home users) is $4.95/month. However, it is possible to easily save 20% on this through using Subscription.com . A couple of extra clicks can save $11 on Carbonite and 15% on Mozy. Go through this page for a Mozy and Carbonite offer code. I did this and found it a remarkably easy process.

Disclosure: Subscription.com reimbursed my purchasing a Carbonite licence under the condition that I reviewed it on my personal weblog. I was in no way required to show bias or blog about Carbonite on gHacks, I simply chose to as it’s a good service.

The drawbacks can be minimized by choosing the right online storage solution for your needs. A college student who wants to backup his mp3 collection needs more space than the mother who wants to store baby photos on an online drive or the professor who likes to store copies of his upcoming books safely on the Internet.

The professor on the other hand might have special needs that the other two do not have. A secure connection to the online backup provider for one to make sure that no one can snoop on his traffic and grab his manuscript before he publishes it.

The following is a list of services and features that should be checked before selecting an online backup provider.

File Storage space:

• How much online file storage space is provided?
• Are there restrictions, e.g. file size or file type limits, bandwidth limitations?
• In which country are the data centers of the service. (Important for jurisdiction, privacy..)
• Is it possible to share files and storage space with other users?
• Is it possible to store Internet downloads right away on the servers?
• Is it possible to backup data from multiple computers using one account?
• Is the online file storage scalable if the need for additional space should arise?

Software client, web interface and connection:

• Is a client provided for the user’s operating system(s)
• Does the client support SSL connections?
• Where are the data centers of the service
• Is the software providing the functionality needed? (Backups, incremental backups, restoring files)
• Are additional connection types supported (ftp, ssh)
• Is it possible to map the storage space to a drive letter
• Is the functionality of the drive limited?(some online file storage providers allow to map the storage space to a drive letter but provide only read access or limited access)
• Is the web interface providing the functionality needed?
• Is the web interface user friendly, does it provide a search?
• Is the download and upload speed sufficient?
• Are automatic / real time backups supported?

Online File Storage Company

• For how long has the company been operating their online file storage solution?
• Is it a reputable company that has a long history or a brand new startup?
• What happens if data gets corrupted or lost?
• From which country is the company operating?
• Is the company offering technical support? Which channels are offered? What are the reaction times, business times for the technical support? Do they charge for technical support?

Price plays a big role as well. Several online file storage providers offer free accounts and upgrades to those accounts if the user requires additional space, priority technical support or functionality that is not offered in the free version.

Is there anything else that you are looking into before selecting an Online File Storage provider?