The first thing to do is make sure you have a good offsite backup. If it looks like a storm is headed your way, stop and make an extra backup and take it to a secure place. There is no such thing as too many backups.

You will also want to make sure that all of your computers that sit on the floor are placed on top of a desk. It doesn’t take more than an inch or so of water to completely destroy a computer sitting on the floor.

Make sure that the server and any other equipment is covered with a heavy duty plastic in case a leak develops in the roof above.

When you leave before the impending storm, turn off all equipment and unplug the power cables. Make sure that the network equipment is unplugged as well to prevent a power surge going through the data network and damaging the computers and servers.

The above items should be just a small part of an overall disaster recovery and business continuity plan. Help for developing a plan can be found at the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety http://www.disastersafety.org/ofbInfo?execution=e5s1&type=ofb_basic

The Chrome Web Store is linked to Google’s Chrome web browser that is stedily gaining popularity. Once you have Chrome installed you have access to a large number of web based applications. The apps are usually inexpensive or free and can perform a number of tasks from photo editing and mind mapping to drafting and just plain old time wasting (I’m looking at you Angry Birds).

One of the benefits to using web apps is that you dont have to install anything onto the hard drive of your computer and have 8 different free photo editing packages cluttering things up. Also since most of the apps are free there is not much to lose when trying them out and you can usually read revies and see what is popular with other users. The success of Apple’s App Store has changed the landscape a bit for finding quality applications and that has been applied here to thousands of web based applications making it easier to find the apps that meet your needs.