EASIER WAYS TO SAVE YOUR SYSTEM

In my last column I ended with:

Another option with Outlook is to use the Save Settings wizard in the tools folder to backup your settings. For example, settings include your rules, accounts, and the accessibility of your address book. Yes the .pst file will restore it as will the folders above, but the settings will restore them just the way you had them. It worked for me.

Since then I found there’s a tool to save your settings for all the applications in Microsoft Office 2002 or 2003. That includes Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Microsoft Access (for those of you who use this great Departmental-sized database) and Microsoft Excel.

Click your Start button on the left hand side of your taskbar at the bottom of your screen, and let your mouse hover over All Programs.

When all the programs appear in a window, scroll to Microsoft Office. A submenu will appear. Scroll to Microsoft Office Tools. A third menu will appear. Scroll down to Microsoft Office Save My Settings Wizard and click.

I want to note that this tool is available only for Office XP and Office 2003.

(As an off-topic matter I urge you to look into Microsoft Office OneNote 2003. In close interaction with Internet Explorer and Outlook it’s the best Information Manager I’ve come across. I won’t digress further. There’s a full review in PC Magazine .)

A window will open telling you the obvious – that the wizard will enable you to save your office settings. Click next.

Notice you have two choices. To save the settings – which is the default choice and what I’m discussing now; and to restore the settings, which is what you’ll do after you reformat your disk and reinstall Microsoft Office.

I probably haven’t emphasized something enough in my two previous columns on reformatting and reinstalling your system. To restore your settings and use the drivers you’ve saved, you have to take them off your computer before reformatting the disk. More on this later.

For now, click Next.

Your path will probably be to the C disk. But wherever the settings file is, take note. After you click finish, make a copy of the file, send it as an attachment to your Yahoo email account, and along with similar files, burn it to a CD-ROM or DVD.

When you restore the settings after reinstallation, you’ll have to tell the wizard where the .OPS file can be found. You’ll use the browse button to the right of the cursor in the screen shot above. The file may be on a CD you’ve inserted. Or, you may have read the file back on to the hard disk.

As long as I’m on the topic of making copies of the file and saving them off the computer, let’s go back to my last two columns on reformatting and reinstallation.

In my first column on reformatting and reinstalling (“When It’s Time To Reformat Your Hard Disk” TTP, July 15, 2004), I wrote:

If you want to see what the inside of your computer looks like, look no further than Belarc Home Advisor , which will instantly analyze your PC and deliver a full report crammed with information and statistics that will help you reconstruct things when and if the time for reformatting comes. You can download Belarc for free.

The program also lists installed memory, disk information, software versions and, where relevant, software licenses and product keys, including your Microsoft operating system license. The program saves all this information in its web file, which you should coy onto another medium as soon as possible.

But — I forgot to tell you where Belarc stores this information! It’s in a several layers deep subfolder of your Windows Program Files Folder. On my system that is:

H:\Program Files\Belarc\Advisor\System\tmp

On your system it’d probably be C:\……

Not very user friendly, but it is free. Navigate there.

Double-click the .html file on the left:

I’m only showing you part of the report. I’m keeping the program versions and licenses private.

As with many free programs this isn’t the most useful format in which to output the details. Hard to copy, hard to reinsert. Still, Belarc is a real time-saver. Send the .html file to your yahoo.com email address and copy it onto a CD. Perhaps print it out as well. That’ll make it easier to type in the serial numbers as you’re reinstalling the software.

Unfortunately, there’s not enough time and space to cover many other points to make the process of renewal as painless as possible. We’ll continue next week.

Dennis Turner