Keeping documents that you generate, and
the records you download in your
"My
Documents" folder is a good
way to make
sure that you include all of
them in your
backups. There are other things
that are
probably just as important, but
more elusive.
Email items in particular. Each
email client
(program) or service presents
its own unique
backup puzzle. The three things
you'll want
to back up are settings, messages
and addresses.
Here's how to do it for Outlook
Express (Windows
98). If you use something else,
use this
process as a starting point.
You may also
get help from the program's Help
facility.
Back up Outlook Express
- Messages: A good way to back up your messages is to close Outlook Express,
"copy" the "Email" folder,
and "paste" it where you want to
put the backup. Locate your E-mail folder
by clicking Tools > Options > Maintenance
tab > and finally the Store Folder button--
you'll be given the current location. (Click
Cancel to back out without changing anything.)
To restore your messages, simply reverse the process.
You will lose all messages between the time
you made the backup and the time you restore
your E-mail file. Because of that, you may
want to temporarily rename the current Email
folder to "E-mail-archived" or
something similar before replacing it with
the backup. Then, after a few days, if things
are back to normal, you can delete the archived
folder. Even if the old E-mail files are corrupted,
you might still be able to dig some of them
out with a text editor.
- Addresses: Open the Address Book. Click File
> Export > Address Book (WAB) >
pick the location > click Save. Click
File > Import > AddressBook (WAB) to
restore it.
- Settings -- account(s): Click Tools >
Accounts > Mail tab > select the account(s)
(by clicking) > click Export > pick
the location > click Save. Use the Import
option to restore the account(s).
Back up Web mail
It all depends on the service.
Most Web mail
services back up your messages
for you automatically
every day. (Not any deleted ones,
just the
ones still in your mailbox.)
But they still
lose everything sometimes. At
the very least,
put messages you want to keep
in a folder
(some services just delete messages
still
in your inbox a few weeks after
you've read
them). If you have a particularly
important
message that you want to back
up, simply
use the "File > Save
as..."
option in your browser to save
it as a Web
page to "My Documents"
or other
appropriate folder in your computer.
Back up Internet settings
There's no way to back up Internet Explorer
settings directly. There are a few obscure
ones that you can copy and save in a text
file. Other than that, these settings reside
in the ubiquitous Registry. So backing up
the Registry does serve to back up these
settings, but not in any easily restorable
way. That's the way it is with settings for
many other programs as well.
Back up application (program) libraries
| I used to use a word processor (AmiPro) that
had separate libraries
for icons, macros,
styles, etc. It relatively
easy to back up
application libraries like
this. Just back
up the folder(s) that the
program keeps them
in..
It's usually better to move them to some
convenient location first if you're able.
That's what I do for applications that were
willing. My "Data" folder contains
sub-folders for programs that generate application
data. These applications may also generate
documents, but I usually direct those to
"My Documents" or something appropriate
for actual document.
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