Is anybody using a cloud-based solution?

Check out the WD mycloud. That might fit the bill for what you need. Its just money up front instead of monthly like most of the cloud stuff. I think their customer support is pretty good too! Its kinda handy, I have all of my reference photos on there, and can access em from multiple devices basically anywhere!

 

Our quickbooks is online through Citrix. We just switched to the online version and like it.It works great for us because we have multiple buildings at different locations, so it makes it easy to access. Also our accounting firm is used to working with QB and they can access it anytime to do our bookkeeping. If your on the road and need to generate invoices, it is a major plus...and of course the cloud back up.

 

I second A.J.'s recommendation. It's a solid solution.

 

Christie, I hope you won't mind me sharing my own personal views on this topic and please understand I am posting here, not as the maker of TAXIshop, but rather as anyone else who keeps important and private personal or business information on a computer.

Please also understand that I know you to be a well reasoned lady who always does her homework and applies due diligence when faced with any matter of importance. I also realize that the younger you are these days, all the more you've been de-sensitized to the dangers of putting your private stuff out there and the more willing you are to give up personal control and responsibility for your data in return for what seems like state-of-the-art convenience and the appearance of security. I urge you to take a step back, have another look, and reconsider this path; especially in onnection with any data you truly deem to be private and confidential.

I know how frustrating a computer crash can be (been there... and done all that) but it doesn't have to be a such devastating experience. Like any other machine, someday your computer is going to fail. Accept that! And plan for that event with regular backups of your important data! What I'm suggesting next is that you decide which data, be it personal or business data, is really private and/or confidential and should be protected from the possibility of unauthorized access. Backup the private data yourself and then, if you must, feel free to store anything else in the cloud.

I saw a portable Western Digital MyBook 1TB USB hard drive this morning on Amazon for less than a hundred bucks. These external USB hard drives come with easy to use pre-installed backup software that will automatically create and save a complete disk image of your entire computer and then regularly backup your important data on a schedule that's convenient for you. In reality, most users could do just as well and just as effectively by backing up a few files on a $20 USB flash drive at the end of each day, each week, or whatever your changing data demands.

True data security, especially your important personal and business data and perhaps that of your clients and/or employees, is your personal responsibility and I believe most securely accomplished in house! Like the taxidermist with an irreplaceable cape to be tanned weighing the convenience, and the quality, and the steller reputation of an outside tannery against the inherent risks associated with shipping such an important item both ways and the ever present possibility of damage or the loss of an irreplaceable item, many taxidermists choose instead to keep such an item in house in order to maintain complete control and responsibility for the security of the piece themselves. Is your private personal or business data any less important?

No matter what they call it, encrypted or not, "The Cloud" is nothing more than someone else's computer with an internet connection and thereby vulnerable and accessible to others. The Cloud was a brilliantly marketed concept, conjuring up visions of peace and serenity. The concept was necessarilly sold to us in small steps, and like the frog content to remain in a slowly simmered pot but would never stay put in a pot of boiling water, relied upon our prior gradual acceptance of regular routine use and benefits provided by the internet (despite its well known risks) and the explosion and convenience of on-line services, smartphones, and other high-tech interactive devices.

If you're really not paying attention to the server data breeches occuring every day in "cyber-space", just google-up "data security breach" and have a look at the results. Target, Ebay, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Microsoft, Staples, Home Depot, and Lowes, many Healthcare providers and Banks, and then there's the IRS, the NSA, DOD and the Pentagon to name a few more who's servers have been hacked and may be doing a little snooping around of their own. It's likely that many more such data mining events occur daily and go undetected and unreported. And these folks employ the very best talent and security techniques in the business when it comes to internet and data security! Are the "Cloud" servers you're considering any more secure than these were? Just this morning, Anthem Health Care's computer servers were reportedly hacked and the personal data of over 80 million more patients and employees was stolen. While I understand we can do little to control much of this exposure, do you really want to voluntarilly put your private personal and business data... in the cloud out there somewhere on the internet?

Admittedly, my kids do think I'm old fashioned but then again each of them personally knows someone who's been hacked or had their identity stolen. I also freely admit to believing that if you're regularly using popular apps and on-line services on a smartphone, Ipad, or other interactive device, you're probably putting too much of your personal information out there. Make no mistake, everything you do, everything you search for, click on, visit, email, talk or text about on these devices, plus where and when you did it from, is digitized, stored, shared, analyzed and marketed; and otherwise made available to others without your knowledge or legitimate consent; and everything stored on these devices, as well as the "clouds" they're connected with, are vulnerable to unauthorized access by others. But I digress...

I do understand we've all become comfortable with and quite frankly have come to rely on some of the conveniences and benefits provided by these hi-tech interactive devices. But there's a big difference between exposing your important private personal and business data to unauthorized access than risking an emailed picture of grandma with the kids at the beach, though even that might reveal to others that grandma is away from home. I can even understand someone with many gigabytes of wildlife reference pictures wanting to store them "in the cloud" or on an internet dropbox for easy access while on the road; but I would never consider exposing my own personal private, financial and/or business data to such avoidable risks.

Bottom line is if you want to protect and secure your private personal and business data, protect and secure it yourself. It's not that hard to do. Decide what data is private and then keep that data private. Backup your private data and other important files as part of a regular, if not daily, routine! To cover all bases, save multiple backups of important data on CDs, DVDs or USB flash drives and keep them in a safe place.

And by all means, if you can, keep the computer with your important data isolated from the internet altogether. Use a different computer, or at least use a different "user account" with non-admin priveleges, or create a virtual machine on your computer that can be easily restored to a prior state, for all internet access and browsing. Last but not least be careful what you open or click on when connected to the internet! Internet viruses and malicious software can permantly damage and/or prevent access to your important data just as badly as a failed powersource, motherboard or computer hard drive.

If you computer does fail... and it will someday... be ready for the unpleasant event with regular backups of your important private data as described above and it should be no worse than restoring everything from the cloud.