Many of us like to think that we know a lot about computers. After all, we spend many hours throughout the day working with computers for our careers or in our daily life. However, there is a clear distinction between knowing how to use a computer and how a computer works. In most cases, knowing how to use a computer will meet most of our daily needs. Computers are designed to have robust hardware and efficient software. However, once we encounter a problem with our computer, such as a virus, then we are now at the mercy of the computer’s architecture. In situations like this, our skills may not be enough to debug the many issues that can arise. Problems that could threaten the integrity of your computer’s security may require a cloud backup or erasure coding. If these methods sound unfamiliar to you, then it may be time to hire a professional.

There are many available IT services that offer data protection programs. A good company like ASA Computers data center consulting will help reduce operating and management costs. Many data protection companies specialize in a range of storage operations for dealing with large amounts of data. Many of us generate large amounts of data by sending large emails, saving complex files, and many other activities that create a lot of data.

Data protection services are increasing in demand due to a growing number of cyber-crimes related to stealing or corrupting personal information, such as data breaches. Although the technology behind computer security has advanced, this does not make them impenetrable to events involving hacking, phishing, or other cyber-crimes. Data protection programs use special processes to recover computers from data corruption, data loss, or other malicious attacks.

One of the ways this is accomplished is through a process known as encryption. During the encryption process, data is scrambled around using a mathematical formula. This makes the data more secure and harder to access. Many data protection services use detailed reporting, where they archive large amounts of data into specially formatted files. These files can hold more data than a standard computer’s hard drive, and therefore are very useful for backing up large files.

Many services allocate data to an entity known as the cloud, which consists of a network of servers dedicated to storing data. Most companies will offer several cloud services to choose from. Regularly backing up files is necessary for maintaining device performance. Computer and other electronics will slow down over time if the hard drive is near full.

Having too many complex programs open at once can also comprise device performance. Computers use Read Access Memory or RAM to process information in real time and read it into memory. If a computer ever slows down dramatically, it’s most likely that the computer’s RAM is near full capacity and cannot handle any more. Repeating this will hurt the device’s hardware. Data protection services can restore a computer to peak performance by customizing the infrastructure.

Data can get erased or lost for several reasons. Sometimes the data cannot be retrieved through a device’s time machine. This is where data protection services come in. They will combine a series of processes and technologies to recover data. This usually involves a real-time failover or near time recovery. The company will mirror the original state of the computer to recover most to all the lost data. The three categories include hot, warm, and cold sites. As the names may imply, each technique varies in how involved the process is. More computational complex services may be more expensive.

Data protection services can be used by individuals or businesses. Their services can also serve as a learning tool. Computer architecture is a complex subject, but having a thorough understanding is a useful skill for working with your computer.

Understanding the basics of computer architecture goes beyond data protection. There are many elements that make up a computer. Many of these elements can be modified to meet more demanding needs. For example, the hard disk a computer is responsible for how much data the computer can store. This can be switched out for a hard disk that offers more space. Data protection services can offer more suggestions about how to optimize storage space.

We have updated the post where we announced the Tekedia Business Innovation Webinar which comes up next month. Registration remains ongoing at N5,000 (or $15).

Dates: Friday March 22 2019 (repeat, Saturday March 23, 2019)

Venue: Online.

Time: Time: 10am – 12noon (Webinar); 2.00pm-4.00pm (Questions/Answers). All time Lagos (Nigeria) time

Speaker: Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe, Chairman, Fasmicro Group

Who Should Attend? Everybody

Why You Should Attend: This webinar will provide tools to make this 2019 the best business-readiness year ever for you.

Register: There are two ways to register (you need to pay to value my time); please email tekedia@fasmicro.com after payment to set up your account:

• Use Paypal and pay $15 here

• Pay into any of the Nigerian bank accounts (N5,000) listed here.

To accommodate those that cannot make the event specifically on the noted days, the webinar will be replayed (on-demand) over a week now. Also, we have explained the structure for the Question & Answer section. We do hope this structure will enable more people to participate.

• The webinar will be available for a week so that people can watch it later when they have time. So, if you cannot make the noted dates/times, do not worry – you can easily watch the contents when you have time.
• Every participant has access to the exclusive section of Tekedia. We will have a page for this event which our team will send you a link later. You can post your questions via the Comment section or you can email us. All questions will receive answers – depending on the questions, we can also answer via posts in the Tekedia exclusive section which every participant has access.
• To ensure we can be effective during the live Q/A, we want everyone to post Questions within the breaks as noted, using the Comment section on the link to be sent later.
• All contents will be available for those that cannot make the event live.

By Nnamdi Odumody

The recently postponed Presidential and National Assembly elections in Nigeria cost the electoral umpire INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) headed by Professor Mahmood Yakubu a loss of N6.23 billion. The total cost of polling agents for a day election is about N42.7 billion which has also been lost while the impact on GDP is estimated at N191 billion bringing the total cost on the economy to N239.93 billion based on the current exchange rate of N360 to a dollar.

The general elections have been postponed: February 23 for presidential and National Assembly elections and March 9 for governorship and state assembly elections. Once again, Nigeria has shown our level of incompetence but I give INEC credit for simply saying that it was not ready instead of blaming one clandestine intelligence report.

In a global village anchored on technology as its pillar, it is still surprising that we are yet to adopt technology-driven elections. In 2017, the Electronics Development Institute, an arm of the National Agency For Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), developed a solar powered electronic voting machine with a cloud based election result collation system which incorporates facial recognition, Radio Frequency Identification Device Options of voters identification in addition to thumb print and card reader.

The device has provision for real time election result as voting progresses and diaspora voting to include the over 30 million Nigerians outside the shores of the nation who wish to participate in determining the kind of government they deserve. Also, the device eliminates the common problems we always face with our elections: ballot box snatching, multiple thumb printing which renders the vote cast as invalid, failure of card reader and alteration of data between polling units and collation centers.

When this innovation was presented to the current INEC Chairman by the Hon Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, the INEC stated that Nigeria wasn’t ready for such. In a nation where over 80 million citizens use mobile communication for their day to day activities, and over 30 million account holders in banks are associated with Bank Verification Numbers for efficiency in the financial system, INEC may not be overly right in its assessment.

If INEC is really ready to conduct a free, fair and credible election better than what the then Federal Electoral Commission under Prof Humphrey Nwosu organized on June 12 1993 that was won by late billionaire Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, then it should create a system where everyone can vote irrespective of location once a Nigerian citizen with mobile phone number and National Passport ID, BVN Number, National ID number or Permanent Voter ID number for verification.

It will be programmed to accept only one vote and powered by blockchain technology so that political parties will not have access to steal voters’ information for fraudulent purposes. This way everyone votes and economic activities are not disrupted while the results are transmitted as they are collated in real time and the winner is announced.

INEC needs to adopt technology to conduct elections which will be credible, non-expensive and strenuous on the election personnel and voters in line with global best practices.

Nigeria’s INEC Votes Incompetence