[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_puqPfnSGPU?controls=0&showinfo=0&w=560&h=315] System Protection is 'BackupAssist speak' for what you'll probably know as a bare metal backup or image of your server. It's also the backup type of choice for the vast majority of our customers. It's a popular option because it's a safe one. It guarantees your entire system is backed up in one hit with nothing left behind, but also still provides you with the ability to restore granular data should you wish, such as files, folders or mailbox items. In the first of a new series of videos designed to help new users get started, and existing ones brush up their knowledge, Neil gets behind the camera to walk you through the process of creating a job, explaining both the benefits and limitations as he goes. Over to you Neil!

MDaemon 17 MDaemon remains the leading alternative to Microsoft Exchange and Office 365, providing companies who need the security and control of their own mail server with easy to use features at a highly competitive price. 25 years on from MDaemon's launch, we see Texas-based developer Alt-N Technologies add yet more features to boost security and an update for Outlook Connector. Here are my highlights - don't forget, you can find the full exhaustive list of goodies in the MDaemon Release Notes.

Alright, so it's time to log in to that site you've not used in a while.  Username and password? Yep, no problem... 'Login unsuccessful' Blast. ....okay, what about B1ngoWozH1sNamo21? 'Login unsuccessful' Blast. It's a familiar tale in this wonderful digital age in which we live - we're surrounded by a bottomless pool of amazing websites and services, all climbing over one another to improve our lives, however, every one of the darned things requires a registration.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj0OJOplnso?controls=0&showinfo=0&w=560&h=315] Many ransomware strains such as WannaCry, already have the ability to remove both system restore points and your Windows backups altogether. Rather worryingly, experts also suggest that ransomware is expected to increasingly target backup files in the future With that in mind, we're particularly excited to see BackupAssist v10.1.0 go live today, as it includes CryptoSafeGuard, a free feature designed to tackle these problems head on.

In case you missed my early heads up, the public release of CryptSafeGuard for BackupAssist is now but a few weeks away. It's an anti-ransomware feature, it's ever so timely and best of all, it's free (provided you have valid upgrade cover of course!). The senior development team over at BackupAssist are excited to let you know just how great it is, and with that in mind, are running a free one-off webinar for resellers on Wednesday 9th August @ 9.30am.   If you can spare the time I highly recommend you attend as it's a terrific opportunity to learn about a feature that could really help your customers (and you!) out of a tight spot should the unthinkable happen and their files become encrypted. Not only that but it's a rare chance to provide your thoughts and suggestions directly to the people who write the software.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEpP8QH7Zzc?controls=0&showinfo=0&w=560&h=315] With 205 million messages being sent every day, email still remains one of the most popular ways to communicate, which means the mailboxes of many businesses today contain all manner of information concerning both customers and staff. Whether it's bank details, employment contracts, IP addresses or altogether more sensitive information, the introduction of the Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May next year will force companies to take the responsibility of managing this data seriously.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdodIycQgB4?controls=0&showinfo=0&w=560&h=315] When the Australian development team at BackupAssist let me know there would be an anti-ransomware feature available so soon after the recent high profile cryptolocker attacks, I have to admit, the timing seemed almost a little too convenient. Until any concrete evidence comes to light, we'll work on the basis they just know the market, but my investigations will continue nonetheless :)

Following on from the recent announcement concerning the reduced entry requirements for becoming a MailStore Service Provider, our colleagues over at the German developer have released a number of webinar dates over the coming weeks. These sessions are a fantastic opportunity to hear directly from the developer and to raise any questions you might have following the short presentation/ walkthrough. If you're thinking about building your own archiving as-a-service platform and becoming a MailStore service provider, this is the perfect way to find out more without any pressure or obligation to take it further.

We love the fact MailStore is such a versatile beast.

It's able to work with pretty much every mail platform on the market and satisfy the vast majority of requirements users throw at it.

However, if you've got a large mail server running multiple jobs, or lots of hosted mail accounts, for example, it's possible at some point that you could find yourself pushing the limits of your hardware or bandwidth. Optimising it isn't difficult and largely boils down to how fast and how often you need your new email added to the archive. The temptation when setting it up for the first time is to opt for the 'as fast as possible' approach, when in reality you may be hammering your resources unnecessarily. In this post, I'll look at that and provide some simple tips for optimising your MailStore installation around your business needs.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leOueJThtd4?controls=0&showinfo=0&w=560&h=315] Almost exactly three years after its release and with 320 service providers under their belts, MailStore today introduce a new and simplified price model for the Service Provider Edition of their popular email archiving software for Office365, Exchange, MDaemon and other mail platforms. The changes will be welcome news if you're an IT support company wanting to 'dip your toes' in the services market without a large upfront commitment. Plus existing customers should be pleased to see improved margins as a result of lower ongoing costs too.