If you have followed all the Computer Clinics so far, you have a wealth of healthy medicines - and many free downloads - that can help to keep your PC in high-level health.

     OUTLOOK EXPRESS - you know how to clean out the junk - Clinic 8

     DISK CLEANER - helps keep your PC clean and clutter free - Clinic 15

      INTERNET EXPLORER - I.E. Repair is good preventative and corrective medicine

      AVG - preventing virus disasters - Clinics 9, 10, 11 and 21

    AD-AWARE - preventing trouble caused by spyware - Clinic 17

     SCANDISK - repairs a host of hard drive and file errors - Clinic 7

      DEFRAG - helps to keep the computer working better - Clinic 20 

     REG CLEANER - helps to remove junk from the registry - Clinic 30

The regular use of all these programs and techniques goes a long way to keeping your computer in good shape - and really helps to prevent disaster.

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 THE BASICS OF BACK-UP

Here are some basic "back-up rules" that should be followed:

• Never save downloads, programs or documents in your Windows folder. Some of you have created folders on your desktop to save documents in e.g. your Computer Clinics. However, the Desktop is really a sub-folder under the main Windows folder. If you loose Windows in a disaster, you loose all those documents and files as well. The only things on your desktop should be shortcuts. If you have any folders on your desktop, transfer them to your main C drive. This could be on the root, C drive itself, OR for example, under your main "My Documents" folder.
  
  
• Back-up critical documents (e.g. important letters) and very important e-mails AS SOON AS you have completed them or received them - "next week" might be too late!
  
  
• If you have a CD-R or CD-RW you can back-up a great deal of data. If not, you may be surprised how many e-mails and documents CAN fit onto a floppy! Full details on how to save to floppies is in Clinic 8
  
  Make absolutely sure you write down your Dial-up Networking details. These are the details you need to connect to the internet. It is of little use only saving them on your computer - if you loose everything, you loose all those details as well. You need to write down the name of your ISP, the web-site address of your ISP, the full telephone number you need to connect, and your Username and password.
  
  
• For EACH e-mail account you have, write down the Username, Account name (sometimes the same, but not always) Password, and the critically important POP3 and SMTP settings. For full details on where to find all these, please look at Clinics 28 and 29
  
  
• Make sure you save your Address Book - regularly! The full "how to" is in Clinic 27
  
  

• Many of you will want to save your Favourites folder. To do so, open up Windows Explorer. On the LEFT side, click on the + sign next to the Windows folder to expand it. Still on the LEFT side, find your Favourites folder, and left-click just once over it. Now, on the RIGHT, you will see a full list of all the folders and shortcuts. Look on the top menu-bar and click on "Edit ... Select All" - and everything on the right side will be highlighted. Pop in a floppy disk. Hold your mouse anywhere within the highlighted (blue) area - RIGHT-click, and a menu pops up. Click on "Send to ... 3 1/2" floppy"

• This method is far better than simply saving the folder itself. The reason will become clear IF you ever need to restore that backup into a new installation of Windows!
  
  
• After moving any important folders out of Windows and onto the C drive, three important things still remain under Windows - your Address book, your Favourites folder, and all your e-mails. The methods above have backed-up the first two. But, what about all your current e-mails and drafts?
  
  

• For extra protection, move your e-mail "store" out of the Windows folder and onto your main C drive. Let's learn how ...

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MOVE E-MAIL TO A SAFER LOCATION

Most times, you can recover from a disaster WITHOUT formatting your hard drive - and loosing absolutely everything! This can be done simply by "inserting" a new copy of Windows. BUT ... you might loose all your current e-mails and drafts. Here's how to move them to a much safer location.

• Open up Windows Explorer. Make sure the contents of the C drive itself is showing on the right
• Click your mouse on any blank space on the RIGHT side.
• On the menu that pops up, click on "New ... Folder"
• A new folder is created - usually right at the end of that long list!
• RIGHT-click over that New Folder and select "Rename"
• Rename it to something short and sweet - like OEMail (Outlook Express e-Mail)
• Close Windows Explorer.
  

Well, that was easy, wasn't it! Now for the next steps ...

• Open up Outlook Express
• On the top menu bar, click on "Tools ... Options"
• On the box that pops up, click on the "Maintenance" tab.
  
• Look for the button "Store folder" and click on that
• A box pops up telling you where your present store-folder is. Click on Change :

Your present store folder Click on CHANGE

• The following box pops up. Find your new OE Mail folder and click on that to highlight it. Then click on O.K

Find your new OE Mail folder Click on it to highlight it Now click on O.K.

• You will now see this box ...

YES - that's right. Click on O.K.

• Finally, you will be told that the new location will come into play after you close down and restart Outlook Express. Click on O.K. Now, close down all open boxes, then close down Outlook Express.

Click O.K.

And that's that! Well done!

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Well - we've covered a lot of ground this time. No need to master it ALL within the next few minutes! Take it slowly ... master each step ... and when Clinic doors open again, you will have completed everything. Please get into the healthy habit of looking after your PC on a very regular basis - and making back-ups even more regularly!

Please, also make sure you have a Windows Startup/boot disk - and make sure you can access your CD-ROM drive from this disk.

Once you have your startup/boot disks, please make absolutely sure you have worked through both Clinics 13 and14

Windows 95 users, please click here :

http://forums.spodnet.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5575

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Thanks for joining me at my Clinic. Next time ... Disaster Recovery itself - (but master sections 1 and 2 above first) All the very best ... Dr. Mac