Skip to content

backup

Export your PST folder

Lately I have seen several people who use Microsoft Outlook to manage their calendar, email, memos and to do lists.

Microsoft Oultook is similar to the Outlook Express program that comes with all Windows computers, but it adds more features. It is essentially a Franklin Planner for your computer.

One of the great things about Microsoft Outlook is that it is so easy to backup everything at once, you just have to go through a series of steps.

Following this process allows you to backup your email, contact list, calendar, memos, and to do list all as one file.

Here’s what to do:

Nothing more important in computing than backup…

Destiny played its hand today in choosing my topic for my first installment of "Riding Shotgun". Riding Shotgun is the brain-child of Adam and I. We wanted to create a daily snippet of the things we see, learn, fix, and experience in our daily travels from office-to-office and home-to-home fixing computers and helping people learn about the computers.

Backup, or the lack of a backup, played a big part in my day today. One of my client’s today was a business where their computer would not boot up any longer. Upon arriving on the scene, I learned that their backup was not complete and panic ensued. After looking over the system it was apparent that it wasn’t coming back to life no matter what kind of CPR I performed. So, I pulled the hard drive out of the computer and took it to my office, where I was able to backup their data and transfer it to a CD.

Picasa 2

What can you do with Picasa 2?

Picasa 2 is a free program made by Google that allows you to organize your photos without any effort on your part.

Besides organizing photos it also has some great creativity tools including gift CDs, slide shows, and blogging tools.

HOW TO GET PICASA:

1. Download Either click on this button, or go to www.picasa.com and click on the Free Download button.

What should I back up?

Recently, you have heard me talk a great deal about flash memory drives and there usefulness for backup. One of our listeners/newsletter readers, recently asked what files are important to backup.

So, tip number one in backup is to backup only those files that you create. These include but are not limited to:

  • Financial program data (Quicken, Money, etc) 
  • Email and other address books 
  • Saved email messages
  • Important word processing documents, spreadsheets and/or databases you have created 
  • Calendar/appointment information 
  • Digital pictures (from digital cameras AND scanners) 
  • Internet favorites or bookmarks 
  • Genealogy research 
  • Downloaded programs or utilities (backup the original installation file) 

You get the picture. Anything important to you that you have created and don’t want to lose, should be backed up.

Programs (with the exception of downloaded programs as noted above), do not need to be backed up because you can rebuild them with original installation CD’s and disks.

For even more information about backup use our site search engine to search for backup for even more specifics about backing up your important data.

How to Format Your Hard Drive and Reinstall Windows

WARNING:  I have done my best to outline the steps in this somewhat arduous task, but undertake this procedure at your own risk. Because of the vast differences in hardware and software, I cannot possibly cover every nuance. Please use this Tip as a guide and not the end all. AND BE SURE TO BACKUP ANYTHING YOU DON"T WANT TO LOSE PRIOR TO UNDERTAKING THE TASK!

Since many of the sites that I used to refer listeners to regarding this subject have either disappeared or no longer have the information, I am starting a multi-part tip outlining the steps to reformat your computer. In this week’s tip, I’ll explain the what, why’s, and when’s?

What does it mean ‘format my hard drive’? Formatting a hard drive erases all current information (for all practical purposes) and let’s your computer start with a clean slate. Formatting deletes all applications AND data from your computer. The process itself requires very little technical know how. What comes after the format involves the techy knowledge.

Why would I need to format my hard drive? If your computer uses Windows 95/98 or Me, I recommend formatting and reinstalling Windows at least every two years as a maintenance routine. Performing this routine purges your computer of any little errors and irritations that have cropped up and thus makes your computer feel and run like ‘new’ again. You also would need to format and reinstall if you have encountered innumerable error messages or encounter a runaway virus.

When should you perform this purging and restoration of your computer? I answered that question along with the ‘why’ above….at least every two years for any Windows version but Windows XP. Windows XP appeared almost two and a half years ago and has proved to be quite stable and resilient so I’m reserving judgment as to how often it should be done for XP.

If you use a name brand computer like HP, Compaq, E-Machines or even some Gateway systems, they come with a disk or disk set (on CD’s) called "Restore Disks". These disks make the process very easy. Put the disk in, shut your computer off, turn it back on and follow the on-screen instructions. REMEMBER, this will erase all data on your computer, so backup anything you don’t want to lose.

Backups: Don’t try to double-click on them

I received many emails this week thanking me for the tip on how to back up your address book. Don’t forget that I also have past tips on how to print your address book as well, check out the archives below. However, I also received many questions regarding why when you try to double-click to view a back up file an error occurs.

When you backup a database from within a program (like Quicken, Quickbooks, your address book, genealogy programs, etc), using the File –> Export or Backup function, the program performs two functions. The first step transforms the original data file into a proprietary file format for storage. Secondly, the program compresses the data so it takes up less space. By performing both of these functions, the file becomes unreadable by simply double-clicking on it. At this point, it is known as an archive file.

Saving Pictures from Email II

With scanners built into sub $100 printers and the onslaught of digital cameras, more pictures are being sent via email than ever before. Search through our archives on the most efficient ways to send your digital photos and ways to resize photos that were sent to you too large.

Today’s tip, however, focuses on the recommended method of saving those precious photos from getting lost. One thing I do not recommend doing is saving old email with attachments just so you don’t lose your photos. I don’t recommend this for two reasons; 1) Most emailers don’t back up their email and 2) it takes much longer to look for and view your photos if they are still attached to an email.

Printing your email address book – Netscape/Mozilla

Many people would like to print their address books as a backup. However, a better backup is to save your address book periodically on floppy disk.

Netscape Users

1. Click on Communicator from the menus, click on Address Book.
2. Click on the File menu
3. Click on Export
4. Click in the “save in” box and choose Desktop
5. Name the file address
6. Click in the “save as type” box and choose tab delimited
7. Click on Save
8. Close the address book
9. Click on Communicator from the menus, click on Navigator
10. Click on File from the menus
11. Click on “Open Page”

Keep your system running clean

It’s easy to become a digital pack rat. However, using all this space on your computer can contribute to slower performance.

Here are some tips of how to keep your system clutter free.

* Use the Disk Cleanup utility (Windows 98 and Me users) to delete temporary windows and Internet files.
* If you use a digital camera or scanner, archive your older images on a ZIP disk or CDR (also important for backups).
* Keep your email folders cleaned out…especially delete unwanted Sent messages and don’t forget to empty your deleted email folder as well.
* Speaking of email, also delete any unwanted email attachments you have received (AOL users look for your downloaded files under the C drive, then AOL, then Download folder)