Your Questions
Answered
By Cate Eales
Appeared September 4, 2008 on castanet.net
This week, more answers to the questions I am most often
asked: Backing up email, getting photos from your camera to your PC, and
playing those PowerPoint files you get in your email.
How do I back up my email?
There are several good, free programs you can use to back up your email.
Amic Email Backup will handle Outlook Express, Outlook, Incredimail
and six other formats, but not Windows Mail or Thunderbird.
Mail Store will
back up and restore Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Outlook, Thunderbird,
and Sea Monkey. It also claims to back up your Gmail or AOL mail, although
I have not tested this myself.
MozBackup
will back up Thunderbird, Sea Monkey and even your Firefox browser.
You can do the backups manually, if you prefer. To back up Outlook
Express, follow the instructions here. Outlook
users can check the
documentation from Microsoft, here. (Remember that Outlook and Outlook
Express are not the same thing!)
To back up Windows Mail, follow the steps in the
tutorial on this page.
Thunderbird users can simply copy their Thunderbird profile to another
drive or folder. (Be sure to close Thunderbird first!)
Whatever solution you choose, be sure you know how to restore your email
once you've backed it up!
My camera software isn't working. What should I
do?
This one has a really simple answer: Uninstall it. If you haven't
installed it yet, don't.
Every digital camera now comes with a disk containing software. If you are
running Windows XP or Windows Vista, you don't need software to transfer
photos from your camera or your storage card to your PC. Both versions
have that ability built right in.
If you're running Vista, there's a good chance that the software that
comes on that disk was meant for XP, and it won't work on Vista. But even
if you're using XP you don't need any special software to make that
transfer. Simply connecting the camera with its cable or placing the
camera's memory card into a card reader should open up a window in XP or
Vista. Select the option that involves using Windows to make the transfer,
follow the prompts, and those photos are going to your hard drive.
If you want another application to edit and organize your digital photos,
I recommend Picasa (XP or Vista) or even Windows Live Photo Gallery
(designed for Vista but available for XP also.) Both applications are
free. Get Picasa here.
Windows
Live Photo Gallery is available here.
Why can't I view PPS or PPT email attachments?
These attachments "belong" to Microsoft PowerPoint. If you have a version
of Microsoft Office that includes PowerPoint, you're all set.
If you don't have PowerPoint, you can download and install a free viewer
from Microsoft that will let you view these files.
The link is here. You don't even need Microsoft Office to use it.
Whether you have the PowerPoint Viewer or the full version of PowerPoint,
you won't be able to view the attachments in your email program --- you'll
have to "detach" them first.
Open an email with the attachment, and Save the attachment to your
Desktop, or at least to somewhere you can easily find it. Then, run a
virus scan on that file just to be on the safe side. How you do this
depends on what anti-virus program you use, but with most of them you
should be able to right-click on the file you just saved and select the
item that will scan the file for viruses.
If it is clean, open PowerPoint viewer (or PowerPoint, if you have it)
Start | Programs | Wherever you put it | PowerPoint Viewer (or
PowerPoint)
Then, either drag the file into PowerPoint Viewer/PowerPoint, or from
within the viewer:
File | Open | Navigate to where you saved the file | Open
Your presentation should play!
Do you need help with your computer? Something else interesting to ask or
tell? I'm here to help you and your computer get along! To ask a question,
make a comment or suggestion, or schedule a visit, email
cate@rlis.com. You can read previous columns
here. If you'd like to
subscribe to this column by email,
please visit this link. It's easy, and free. If you'd prefer the
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Links
Amic Email Backup
http://www.amictools.com/v-amic_email_backup.html
Mail Store
http://www.mailstore.com/en/
MozBackup
http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/
Tips
http://rlis.com/columns/column68.htm
Back up Outlook Email
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA011030811033.aspx
Back up and restore Windows Mail
http://itinfo.mit.edu/article.php?id=8455
Picasa
http://picasa.google.com/
Windows Live Photo Gallery
http://www.microsoft.com/nz/digitallife/services/windows_live_photo_gallery.mspx
Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=048DC840-14E1-467D-8DCA-19D2A8FD7485&displaylang=en
Getting Along With Your Computer Column Archives
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---
Cate Eales has been helping people make online computing safe, accessible
and fun for over 20 years. She lives in Kelowna with her husband, Eric,
and her dog, Sandy. Cate is a partner in Real Life Internet Solutions,
helping individuals and small businesses with virus, spyware and malware
eradication; personal computer training and management; digital image
management; music transfer; and website design, hosting and management.
Email Cate at cate@rlis.com with your
comments, suggestions, or questions. To browse the column archives, visit
the Real Life Internet Solutions website at
www.rlis.com.
©
Cate Eales 2008 – All Rights Reserved
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