I've heard "Backup, backup, backup!" since DOS 3.1, and I'm still guilty of losing data-- it's easy to forget that stuff when you are preoccupied with other systems problems.
You can "import & export" cookies, bookmarks, and email addresses to another file or disc, using the options in IE or OE... in IE, it's under the "file" tab, in OE it gets tricky-- you have to open the "address" folder and then poke "file" to find it.
Just some random thoughts on computers, data, and misc. tech stuff
( and I'm just getting up to speed, my @#$^! old dog got me up a while ago to go out, saw a cat [ Hate kitty! HATE kitty, kill, kill! ] and I'm trying to get everybody calmed back down... )
Always save stuff you can't replace to some other storage device outside of your computer- floppy, tape, CD, an old spare hard drive, or another computer. As long as it's on something else in a readable form, somebody can get it back for you. I clone the drives on the home PC's simply because it's easy for me to do it, but you can get USB or firewire standalone drives to do the same thing.
If you have to do a bare-metal recovery ( wipe the drive & reinstall ) be aware that format is not enough-- you have to fdisk the drive-- write zeroes to the whole thing. Needless to say, your old data will be long gone.
When "bringing a new machine up from a bare-metal recovery," the first thing you wonder is, "how do I get on the web, and get all the updates and patches, without getting reinfected by malware."
Well, gee! That's a really nasty question- last time I did it, 4 viruses jumped right in the PC while I was on Microsoft's site updating the OS.
Get as much stuff as you can offline, first. MS will send you a free ( except for shipping ) update for the OS, which is the first line of defense.
Get AVG, MSantispyware, and Kerio's personal firewall via another computer and save to separate discs or drives. A Jump Drive ( RAM stick on a USB port ) is very handy for that.
Once you have antivirus, antispyware, and a firewall in place, you can get on the web, update all the anti stuff you just installed, rescan, and go from there. Yes, it's a pain. I hate the vermin who propagate malware- they should be horsewhipped in the public square.
The online scans are worth running from time to time-- they always have the latest definition tables, and sometimes catch stuff others miss.
Between you, your wife, the dog, ear drops, and the various maladies, I get a lot of laughs. Maybe we have a similar sense of humor, or maybe it's just me, but whatever the case, I find some of your comments to be hilarious. Were you in the FR 'room' on a voice/text program called FireTalk back in the Spring and Summer and on through the highly contentious Presidential election of 2000?
Fire fox, does look good. I can't download spybot. I had it once on this computer a long time ago but deleted it. It won't let me fire it back up for some goofy reason.
I messed up royally a few times and lost Yahoo, messenger, IE, and fire fox. System restore is our friend.
I don't know what I should do and haven't done yet but, I'm sure this computer will let me know when the time comes. So many programs are Dependant on each other in order to run.
This thread just goes to show what great people Free Republic has on it.
The writing is so tiny now my eyes are hurting. I used to remember what buttons to push to make the words larger, but my brain is over taxed for now. LOL