Computer question

[It'sasecret]

OK I am thinking of installing Windows XP to my computer. I currently use ME. My brother said I will loose any thing I have on my computer and that I would need to save it to a disc. What exactly is is EVERYTHING? MY files in word, AOL address book and favorites etc.., anything I have hooked to my computer such has my scanner, anything downloaded????? How do I go about making sure I have saved everything?

 

[Guru]

 

[It'sasecret]

OK maybe I sound stupid but I do I ensure I have saved everything? Do I click on every icon on my desktop? Is there a way I can save all my word documents in one action rather going and saving each individual document?

 

[Guru]

 

[Guru]

 

[Weird Harold]

OK maybe I sound stupid but I do I ensure I have saved everything? Do I click on every icon on my desktop? Is there a way I can save all my word documents in one action rather going and saving each individual document?

On your Start menu, select FIND (files and folders)

Search for *.DOC.

Select ALL and copy to a floppy or CD-RW disk.

PS: if you don't have enough floppies or a CD-RW drive, you can e-mail all of your Word Documents to yourself, install WinXP, and download your mail to recover the Word Documents. (Provided you have enough E-mail space on your server.)

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

You probably won't lose anything at all, but it is a wise idea to backup anything you can't afford to lose. The best way to backup important stuff is to a CDR disc. You should know where important data files are kept, but some programs, such as Outlook are not intuitive and actually hide their data files.

If you use Outlook, go to the "Tools" menu, select "Options" and select the "Maintenance" tab. In that tab there is a button called "Store Folder...". Pressing the button will allow you to see where the data files for Outlook are kept. You can copy and paste that file location into Windows Exploder and when Outlook is closed, you can copy the files to a backup location. You can also change the location, but that is a bit more complex - I did to make it easier to backup the files automatically.

Other programs may be similar, or they be more flexible and intuitive about where their data files are kept. It all depends on what programs you use. I regularly backup my files to CDR (each disc is only about $0.10 each in bulk, and can be read on any CD drive, whereas CD-RW discs usually require a CDR/RW drive and special software).

Whatever you need to do, backup your important files and then install XP. I would install it on a separate partition or drive, and have that partition be NTFS instead of FAT as NTFS is much better, more secure and more robust. Do not have the install overwrite a current FAT partition unless you are sure there is nothing of value on it.

Good luck - but you probably won't need it if you take the proper precautions and care.