pat

Dear Pat,

There is a way to backup Outlook express files and folders, it is just not easy to do.

Here are the directions to make a backup copy of your Outlook
Express e-mail files:

1. First, you need to find the location of the files. To do this, open Outlook Express, click on “Tools” in the menu bar, then click Options.

2. In the Options window, click on the Maintenance tab, then click on the button that says “Store Folder”.

3. A small window will appear with the location of your e-mail files. Highlight the folder location, and then press CTRL+C to copy the location.

4. Click Cancel, and then click Cancel again to close the dialog box. Close Outlook Express.

5. Now, you want to open the folder that contains your mail files. An easy way to do this is to click Start, and then click Run.

6. In the Run window, click in the box that says “Open” and press CTRL+V to paste in the location, and then click OK. The window containing your files will now open.

7. In the window containing your mail files, go to the Edit menu, click Select All. This will highlight all the files in the window.

8. Again, click on Edit, then click Copy to copy the files, and then close the window.

9. To create a folder to store your saved files, right-click any empty space on your desktop, click New, and then click Folder.

10. Type mail backup for the folder name, and then press ENTER.

11. Double-click the Mail Backup folder to open it.

12. In the open mail backup folder, click on Edit, then click Paste. The e-mail files will appear in the window.

13. Close the Mail Backup window, and burn the whole folder to a CD, or save to a thumb drive or some other type of external media.

The next step is to save the address book. We do this by exporting it.

1. Click on “Start” then point to “All Programs”, point to Accessories, and click on the “Address Book” icon.

2. In the open address book, click on File in the menu bar, point to Export, and then click Other Address Book.

3. Click Text File (Comma Separated Values), and then click Export.

4. In the Export window, Click Browse.

5. Locate the Mail Backup folder that you created.

6. In the File Name box, type address book backup, and then click Save and then click “Next”.

7. Click to select the check boxes for the fields that you want to export, and then click Finish.

8. Click OK and then click Close. You can now backup the file, or it will open in Word or excel and you can print it.

If the Address Book is shared with Microsoft Outlook, you are not able to export from within the Address Book on the File menu. This option is dimmed or not available.

Elizabeth

It’s Your Turn: What do you think?
…. Share your experience in the comments box below.

Pete

Dear Pete,

I am glad to hear that you have been backing up the files! So many people mean to backup, but never get around to it.

You will have to reinstall all her programs. The only way a backup would save you from having to reinstall programs would be if it was a full hard drive image, and you were putting the image back on the exact same computer.

Since you are transferring her files to a new computer, you will need to install the programs. While most of your programs should work in the new Windows 7 computer, some of them might need an upgraded version, and if your printer is as old as the XP computer, you might have to get yourself a new printer.

Once you have installed your programs, just access your backup files (you didn’t mention what kind of backup it is, so I can’t tell you how to access them) and copy the documents, pictures, music and other data folders to the new computer.

Elizabeth

It’s Your Turn: What do you think?
…. Share your experience in the comments box below.

As you know, I have been telling you about my new recipe program, Cook’n from DVO software, and how great it works. I have begun the process of gathering the recipes that I use the most, and putting them in my Cook’n program. I even have a few cookbooks that contain just a handful of recipes that I use, so I have been putting those recipes in Cook’n as well.

Last week, I received an email that the latest version of Cook’n was ready to be installed. I had been waiting for this version because it will, eventually be able to sync with my iPad which will make things even easier.

I downloaded and installed the new version, and when I went to run it, the program would not work. I was not too troubled, sometimes that happens, I just downloaded and installed it again. Well by the time I gave up, I had installed the program several times, and restarted it a half dozen times.

Here is the problem. Every time you close the Cook’n program, it makes a backup of all your recipe files, and saves the 4 most recent backups in a folder on your computer. Before I knew it, I had saved 4 corrupt backups, and lost the recipe book that I had been working on over the pasts few weeks!

I did not work at my computer over the weekend, but I found myself wondering if I still had all the recipes that I had put in the program, some, I had thrown away the paper copy after putting them in the computer!

Monday morning, I searched my whole computer looking for some place where those recipes might have been stored, but could not find them anywhere. Then, I remembered my automatic backup software, Mozy. I remembered reading somewhere that they save older copies of your files for 30 days in case you need to go back to an older version. With this in mind, I logged into my Mozy account and sure enough, they still had my backups from last week. I downloaded the files and was thrilled to find that all my hard work was restored!

I also heard back from the folks at DVO software that they are aware of this error in Cook’n and their development team is working on solving this right now. For now, I am content to have all my recipes back on the old version of Cook’n.

Elizabeth

It’s Your Turn: What do you think?
…. Share your experience in the comments box below.

Thank you very much, Betty

__–__

Dear Betty,

You didn’t specify how you made the backup disks, so I am kind of taking a shot in the dark with my answer. Here is my best guess as to what is going on.

The first question to ask yourself is, what program did you use to create those backup disks.

Chances are, you don’t have that same program, or the same version of that program on your computer now that you have returned your PC to factory settings. Let me give you an example.

Let’s say, you used Roxio Creator to make your backup CDs. When you returned your PC to factory settings, Roxio was removed, and until you install it again, you won’t have the software necessary to read the compressed files. In this example, the problem will be fixed as soon as you re-install Roxio Creator.

I hope this example will help you figure out the answer to your problem.

Elizabeth

Thanks, Shirley

__–__

Dear Shirley,

After doing a little bit of research about Carbonite, I have found that they use the same type of online security that most banks use.

This means that if someone outside of the Carbonite company was to get ahold of your information, it would probably be because you either shared your password with someone, or did not have a very secure password.

I think that what you are really asking me is about the company itself. Carbonite is located in Boston, MA and has an A rating with the Better Business Bureau. If they were to have a policy of accessing their customer’s information, that would be the end of their business.

You asked if they can use your information… they probably can access it, although I would guess that the encryption key is not available to all employees. In fact, you can opt to store the key on your computer instead of on their system, but then if you lost the key, your data would be gone forever.

Would they access your files? I would say that it is highly unlikely.

Elizabeth

Any help is appreciated, Thanks Donna

__–__

Dear Donna,

When backing up information on your computer so that you can transfer it to another computer, or onto the same computer after Windows has been re-installed, you are able to backup documents, photos, videos, songs and things like that, but not the actual programs like Microsoft Office and your CD burner program. When you are transferring to a new computer, or re-installing on a new computer, you would just install the programs from the original disks that you used to install them in the first place.

Your question is about a slightly different situation. You want to prepare for a hard drive replacement on your computer. This is a wise thing to do, since all hard drives will fail eventually, it is just a matter of when.

Since you want to be able to restore all your programs, and the updates that you have installed for these programs, I would suggest that you get set up with a good disk image program, and either create DVDs with them, or an even better solution would be to save the image on an external hard drive that is at least as big as the hard drive on your computer.

I looked around, and Acronis True Image Home 2011 is a nice program that will create an image for you. It is not terribly expensive, but has features that will allow you to make DVD images of your hard drive. It will also create backups to an external hard drive while you work, and keep the backups updated.

Norton Ghost will also create an image on DVDs, but costs $20 more and has fewer features than Acronis.

Elizabeth

This is what the second type of backups that I use, an automatic, online backup service, does for me.

Some online backup companies require that you manually copy your files to their web site, I tried one of these, at zdrive.com, for a little while, but in the long run, I totally forgot to update the files, and didn’t even remember what I had put on there. In addition, I had to back up my files one at a time. I don’t know about you, but I have hundreds of files in “My Documents”, it would have taken me forever to back them up. While zdrive is free, and my files were safely stored away from my physical location, it was not the type of service that works for me.

I eventually found a service that works automatically, at Carbonite ( http://tinyurl.com/2wxdjo )

This is how Carbonite works:

1. You download and install a small program from Carbonite at:

2. You manually select the files and folders you want backed up OR…

3. You can let Carbonite select the files and folders for you (they do a pretty good job)

4. Give the program anywhere from a few hours to a few days to double encrypt and automatically upload your files to their secure internet servers.

5. If the service works for you during the 15 day free trial, just purchase a subscription to keep on using the program.

Once you have completed that first backup (mine took several days) any time you make changes to a file or create a new file, Carbonite detects these changes and automatically updates your backup within 24 hours.

What do you need to have for this kind of backup service? Really only two things…

1. A high speed internet connection

2. A subscription with the backup company of your choice

Lets look at the advantages of this type of backing up:

1. Your backed up files are always up to date

2. You don’t have to remember to do the backup, it is automatically done for you

3. Your files are stored away from your physical location, protecting them from theft, fire, flood, or natural disaster.

4. This particular service is VERY easy to use

5. Files that you delete are stored on the server for 30 days just in case you change your mind.

6. You have nothing to lose with the 15 day free trial.

Once you have installed this type of backup program, there really is nothing that you have to do to keep it working. I like the fact that Carbonite marks my files with a little dot. A green dot means that the file is all backed up, a yellow dot means that the file is scheduled to be backed up.

Let me give you an example. Yesterday, I was creating some new Word documents, they were class descriptions for some of the courses that I plan to teach this fall for Noble Adult Education. After I had created about 5 documents, I was looking in the folder that I had saved the files in, and noticed that the first file had a green dot meaning that it was already backed up, and the rest had a yellow dot, meaning that they would soon be backed up. When I checked this morning, all 6 files I had saved were backed up.

When I saved these files, I was not thinking about backing them up, but because they were Word files, and they were located in my “Documents” folder, Carbonite automatically backs them up. That is the kind of backup that works for me!

Elizabeth

Thank you in advance, Pat

__–__

Dear Pat,

If you want to back up all your personal files like pictures, music, documents, etc. you need to make sure you have a flash drive big enough to store all your data. I found my original article, and since it has been about a year since it was first published, I am going to repeat it here for you.

For many people, backing up files to a USB Flash Drive will more than meet their needs. Today, I am going to explain how to get started backing up to a USB Flash Drive, also known as a thumb drive, or data stick.

Before you go out and purchase a USB Flash Drive, you need to know what size you will need.

Most people store their important files in the “My Documents” folder in Windows XP. This is the best place to store your documents, since if you ever need your files retrieved, that is where most technicians will first look for your files. Here is how you check the size of your “My Documents” folder in Windows XP:

1. From the Windows XP desktop, click on “Start” and then click on “My Computer”.

2.In “My Computer”, double click on your hard disk labeled, “Local Disk”. This is usually your C: drive.

3.In the Local Disk drive, you will find a folder named “Documents and Settings”. If you do not see that folder, and you have more than one hard drive, go back and try on another hard disk. Once you have found the “Documents and Settings” folder, double click on it to open it.

4.In the Documents and Settings folder, you will see a list of users on your computer. Find the folder that has your user name, and double click to open. If you are not sure, you can try this on more than one identity.

5.In the folder you have opened, look for the folder named “My Documents”. Sometimes it is named after the user, for example, “Jeff’s Documents”. When you find this folder, right click on it, and on the menu that appears, click on “Properties”.

6. This will open a new, “My Documents Properties”, window. It may take a few minutes for the new window to index the folder, but when it is finished, it will tell you the size of the documents in the folder, the amount of space it is using on your disk, and the number of files and folders contained in the folder.

7. You want to know the size on disk measurement. If your size on disk is 2.8GB, then you would need a USB Flash Drive that is at least 3GB (Gigabytes). If your size on disk is measured in MB (megabytes) then a 1GB drive will be plenty. You should be able to get the idea.

8. When you are done checking the size, you will be able to close all the windows, and go shopping!

Once you have your USB Flash Drive, here is how you will back up both your documents, and Favorites:

1. Insert the flash drive into a USB port on your computer. It should slide right in, but only goes one way, so if you are having problems, flip the flash drive over and try again.

2.If this is the first time you have put this drive in your computer, it will take a minute or two for the computer to load software for the drive, and get ready to use it. Once it is ready, a window should appear asking you what you want to do with the drive. Just click on “Open folder to view files” to open a window for your drive. On some computers, a window will automatically open for your drive.

3.If no windows automatically open, you can still open the flash drive manually using “My Computer”. Just click on “Start”, then “My Documents”, and then double click on the drive.

4. Keep that flash drive window open, but move it over to the side of your screen if you can.

5. Now, you need to open a second window that shows your documents folder. Follow the directions above to find your documents folder. Don’t double click or right click on the documents folder.

6. Now, you need to be able to see both windows that you have open. The easiest way to do this, is to right click on a blank spot on your taskbar (at the bottom of your screen) and from the list that appears click on “Tile Windows Vertically”

7. Simply point your mouse to your documents folder, and drag the whole thing from one window to the other. Your computer will automatically create a copy of the whole folder on your flash drive.

8. While you have both windows open, you can also drag the “Favorites” folder to easily backup your Internet favorites as well.

Once you are finished, you can take the flash drive out of your computer and store it in a safe location.

Elizabeth

I run vista and was wondering how to do a complete backup
Thank You Juanita

Dear Juanita,

Before I start explaining how to do a complete backup, we need to define what a complete backup is.

In my mind, a complete backup is a backup that copies every single file on your hard drive. When you do a complete backup with the right backup program, you would be able to restore the files and your computer would be exactly the way it was when you took the backup. This type of backup has advantages and disadvantages.

One advantage is that your installed programs are also backed up and restored, so you would not have to spend the time re-installing all your programs.

A related disadvantage is that any corrupted files or virus infected files will be copied as they are and would be restored the same way.

Complete backups take quite a bit of time to run, and because of this, they don’t get done very often. If you have files that have been changed or added since the last complete backup, they would be lost when you restored your computer.

I like to do a complete backup when the computer is fairly new, or at least in good working condition, and then suppliment that backup with data file backups. In the event of a problem, you can restore the complete backup, and then restore the most recent data backup.

Your first step is to have something to back your files up to. If you plan on doing this type of backup on a regular schedule, I would suggest an external hard drive that is at least as big as the hard drive on your computer. You should be able to find a good hard drive that connects to your computer by a USB2 connection at a decent price. I used to have two external drives and I alternated backing up to one and then the other every week.

You can also backup to DVD-R disks if you have a DVD-R drive, but each backup will probably use several disks and it will take even longer to perform the backup.

Next, you will need a backup program.

One program that I have used with great success is Nero BackItUp & Burn.

This program allows you to backup files or your entire drive. It comes with step by step directions in the manual, which you can also download from their website in PDF form.

Another program that works good is Roxio’s Back on Track software.

This program gives you even more options for backing up than Nero, but you need to be careful because some of the options (Instant Restore) will also slow older computers down a little bit. Their disaster recovery program will back up your entire hard drive, including all your applications and system preferences to a disc or external hard drive. The exact disk image can then be restored in case of hardware failure or theft.

I hope these options will help you with your backup needs.

Elizabeth

Robert

Dear Robert,

Many people have a folder full of itunes on their computer, and are looking for an easy way to transfer the songs to a new computer.

I am not really a user of itunes yet (I will probably become a user of iTunes when I save up enough money for an iPad) but I do have a lot of experience backing up the iTunes music folder for my customers.

Since you stated that you have an external hard drive, you are already on your way to backing up your music.

The first thing you want to do is locate your iTunes music folder on your computer. There are a couple of locations to check. First is the “My Music” folder under your identity. Let me give you and example…

If you log into your computer under the user name, Robert, you would navigate to that user folder.

1. Click on “Start” and then click on “My Computer” (or just “Computer” if you are using Vista)

2. Double click on either the “Users” folder in Vista, or the “Documents And Settings” folder in XP.

3. Double click on the, “Robert” folder, or whatever your user name is. It could be anything from, “Default User”, Dell Customer, to a nickname that you specified when you first set the computer up.

If you don’t know what your user name is, you can just check the contents of each user folder listed.

4. Once in your user folder, double click on the “Music” or “My Music” folder, and look for a folder named, “iTunes”. Don’t worry if the iTunes folder is not in the first place you look, it can be in one of several locations.

5. If you don’t find the iTunes folder in your user folder, check the “My Music” folder in the other identities, and in the “All Users” or “Public” folder. I often find the iTunes folder in the “Public Music” or “All Users Music” folders.

6. Once you have located the, “iTunes” folder, keep the window open, and move it to one side of your screen.

7. Now, open a window for your external hard drive. Make sure the drive is connected to your computer, and turned on, then click on “Start” and “My Computer”.

8. In the “My Computer” window, double click on the external hard drive icon to open it.

9. Move the external hard drive window to the opposite side of the screen so that you can drag the iTunes folder from one window to the other. This will create a copy on your external hard drive.

10. Once you have a copy of the iTunes folder on your external hard drive, you can use the same dragging technique to copy it to your new computer.

Elizabeth