Computer Info – December 22, 1999

This Week’s Program
John Watkins is hosting the program again this week. He plans to do a quick refresh on Zip drives and

then show how you can copy the batch file from the handout to your desktop to make a single click feature for backing up. And then on to newsgroups.
NetZero
        NetZero is a free internet service and they have recently been upgrading everyone to their new ZeroPort software. This upgrade was done automatically. This has caused many to be unable to get into their email or browse the web.
        The new software is not compatible with NON-INTEL CHIPS.
Re-Cap of Last Week’s Meeting
Remove the >>> from a forwarded letter
        To remove the >>> from the beginning of each line of a forwarded e-mail, highlight the area that contains the portion of the message that you want to keep, re-send, etc.. To highlight it, move your mouse to the bottom right corner of the area, press the left mouse button down and hold it down while you drag the mouse to the upper left corner of the area. This area should all turn blue. Now, right click on the blue highlighted area and choose COPY from the menu.
        Now you can open WordPad (this is a small word processor that everyone who is running Windows has). To find WordPad, go to the START button – then PROGRAMS – then ACCESSORIES – then WORDPAD. Right click in the area where you write your letter and choose PASTE from the menu. The area that you highlighted in your email should now be seen in WordPad. To remove the >>> - go to EDIT then REPLACE. Where it says Find What – type > -- leave it blank where it says Replace With. Click on REPLACE ALL. The >>> are now removed.
        The next step is what to do with it. If your purpose was to send this message to someone else without all of the extra names appearing on it and no >>> on it, then you can go to EDIT – SELECT ALL --- then EDIT – COPY. Go to your email program and open your message composition window (where you write someone an email). Right click in the area where you write your message and choose PASTE from the menu. Your email now just needs someone to send it to and a brief subject and then you are ready to press the SEND button.
Snowman.Exe
        This was a small program that John demonstrated where you get to design your own snowman – give him a top hat, a belt, coal eyes or sunglasses, carrot nose, etc. Some more Christmas entertainment. It is located in the Fun-Stuff folder at http://www.hdprint.co.uk/ftp/out-going . You can download this program by following the instructions in last week’s handout.
Installing an External Zip Drive
        The Zip Drive that was demonstrated connects to a parallel port (that’s your printer port). A Zip Drive is a removable drive made by Iomega and has nothing to do with compression. For the computer to recognize that the Zip Drive is connected to the computer, you run an small program from a floppy disk in Drive A: called Guest95.exe. Once the drive is recognized, then it works just like a small hard drive.
Using the Zip Drive to Backup Files
        Go to MY COMPUTER and double click on the removable drive (the Zip Drive) to be able to view what files are on the zip disk that you have in the removable drive. Click on the center icon in the upper right corner (between the minimize button and the close button). This button is a toggle between maximize the window and restore the window. You want it in the restore mode. You can now move your cursor to the edge of the window and you will notice the shape change to a black double headed arrow. When it does this, then you can hold your left mouse button down and drag the window to change the shape --- what we are trying to do is make the window fit on only one half of our screen (the right half).
        Now, go to MY COMPUTER again and double click on C:\ (your hard drive) This will allow you to see what files are on your hard drive. Click on the center icon in the upper right corner. This is a toggle between maximize and restore. You want it in the restore mode. You can now move your cursor to the edge of the window and you will notice the shape change to a black double headed arrow. When it does this, then you can hold your left mouse button down and drag the window to change the shape – what we are trying to do is make the window fit on only one half of our screen (the left half).
        Now it is time to copy files. As we have suggested, MY DOCUMENTS (or whatever folder you have that you are keeping your Data in) is one of the folders that you probably will wish to back up. So, locate the MY DOCUMENTS folder and right click on it – keeping the mouse button held down, drag your mouse over to the other window (the Zip Drive window). Release the mouse button and choose COPY HERE from the menu. Your files will now start copying.
        Other files that you might want to copy over would be a DOWNLOAD directory containing the upgrades and software that you have downloaded from the internet – your email address book – your bookmarks – your mail folder – or anything else that you would not be able to replace if you had a problem with your hard drive or had bought a new computer and wished to transfer the information to it.
Using WinZip to Back Up to Floppies
        If you don’t have a zip drive, you can use WinZip to back your data up to multiple floppy disks. These instructions are assuming that you have WinZip installed on your computer – if not, follow the directions in last week’s handout to download and install WinZip.
        From the desktop, double click on MY COMPUTER. Then double click on your hard drive. Locate the folder that you would like to back up and right click on it. From the menu, choose ADD TO ZIP. This will open up your WinZip program. Click on I AGREE in order to use the program. The name of the file that is going to be created will be highlighted in blue under ADD TO ARCHIVE. If you hit the HOME key on the keyboard, your cursor will move to the beginning of that line and you can then change the C: to an A: (the program was assuming that you were going to write the file to your hard drive – but you wish to write it to your floppy drive). As soon as you type the A:, you will notice that MULTIPLE DISK SPANNING is no longer grayed out – it will probably now say AUTOMATIC in it. You should probably change this to AUTOMATIC + WIPE FIRST DISK PROMPT (this will then prompt you that data is on this disk and it will be deleted if you wish to continue – this saves you from having to delete all the files on the disk before you can use it). Also make sure that you have a check mark in front of INCLUDE SUBFOLDERS. Be sure you have a floppy in Drive A and then press the ADD button. You will be prompted when you replace the floppy.
Create a Small Batch File to Help You Back Up Your Files
        A batch file is a series of commands for the computer to follow. To create one, open Notepad or Wordpad and type the following commands.
                    CD\
                    XCOPY C:\MYDOCU~1 S:\MYDOCS /S/E
                    XCOPY C:\DOWNLOAD S:\DOWNLOAD /S/E
                    XCOPY C:\DATA S:\DATA /S/E
Here is a description of these commands are -----
        CD\ (change to the root directory)
        XCOPY C:\DOWNLOAD S:\DOWNLOAD /S/E (copy what’s in the first listed directory to the second listed directory --- /S/E means to copy subfolders even if they are empty)
        Since these commands are being executed in the DOS mode, then we have to follow the DOS conventions of naming files and directories. In DOS, no spaces are allowed in the name and the name can only be up to eight characters long. That’s why the folder MY DOCUMENTS is called MYDOCU~1 in DOS.
        You will have to change the S:\ to correspond with the letter for your Zip Drive.
        When you save the file, you must be sure that you change the SAVE AS TYPE to a text document (.TXT). Save it in the root directory – which is C:\ Name the file BAKKUP.BAT
        If the directory you are copying to does not exist, then you will be ask if you are referring to a DIRECTORY or a FILE (ex. "Does Download specify a file name or directory name on the target"). When you answer DIRECTORY, then the directory is created.