SECURE DATA WITH THE BACKUP UTILITY

Windows 95 comes with the Backup utility. Here's a look at some of the less familiar features of this built-in application.

BACK UP WORD DOCUMENTS

To regularly back up all the Word documents on your computer, follow these steps:

1. Launch MSBackup.exe, located under Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools, and select the drives you want to include in your backup.

2. Go to Settings | File Filtering.

3. Choose Select All to select all the registered file types.

4. Click Exclude to copy these to the Excluded list in the window below.

5. In this bottom window, highlight the .doc extension, and then click Delete. The .doc extension is no longer excluded from the backup.

6. Choose the destination for the backup and save the file set.

Now, when you want to back up your Word documents, run Backup, select Open File Set from the File menu, and choose the file set you just saved. The backup program will then back up all your .doc files to the destination you specified.

FREQUENTLY BACK UP A SPECIFIC GROUP OF FILES

To make frequent backups of a certain group of files, save the file set onto the Windows desktop. By default, Windows associates the .set extension with the Backup program, so when you double-click the File Set icon, Backup automatically launches to back up your selected files. The backup is then sent to the destination you indicated for that particular file set.

Alternatively, you can create a shortcut to the MSBackup.exe program on the desktop. To start the backup, simply drag the file set onto the Backup shortcut.

MOVE FILES BETWEEN NONCONNECTED COMPUTERS

The Backup application not only works with tape drives, but it also lets you back up to folders across the network or on your own computer. If you have a number of files to move between nonconnected computers in your organization, compress them with Backup so you can transport the data via disk.

Before you begin, make sure that the Backup program is installed on both computers and that they both have a functioning floppy drive.

1. Select the files you want to transfer.

2. Specify the floppy drive of your computer as the destination.

3. Insert a formatted, blank floppy and start the backup.

4. At the destination computer, insert the floppy, launch the Backup program, and follow the Restore screens.

RUN INCREMENTAL BACKUPS

Suppose you want to run a full backup of a set of files at the beginning of a week, and then back up only the files that have changed on the remaining days of the week. Here's how:

1. Create a file set that selects the files and performs a full backup, and then run that backup.

2. Open that file set again and go to Settings | Options | Backup.

3. In the Type Of Backup section, switch from Full to Incremental.

4. Click OK, and then save the file set.

Run the file set again as needed, which will only back up files that have changed since the full backup was made. When you need to start the backup cycle again, change the file set to make a full backup, run the backup, and then change the file set to run incremental backups.

To make a full restore of the backups, both the incremental and full backups are required. For more information about the Backup utility, click the program Help file.