Q. I am trying to save my e-mail addresses to a disk so when I reformat the hard drive, or for any other reason, I don’t have retype them in. How is this accomplished? A.E.G.Bates @urs2.net.
A. For computer e-mail users with the most popular mail programs, namely Outlook Express and Microsoft Outlook, which includes yourself, Mr. Q., there is an Export command in the File menu at the left top of the screen. When you click there, a wizard will walk you through saving the e-mail information on a floppy disk.
A companion Import wizard will restore your e-mail settings on a new machine.
As a side note, America Online e-mail users are spared this problem because AOL saves one’s address book information on AOL’s own servers, so it is always available when a customer signs on from whatever machine.
Q. I am so frustrated I could throw this computer out the window. I am trying to back up my computer onto a CD-RW disk in my CD-RW drive without success. When I insert the blank disk planning to do a backup, the Adaptec Create a Disk window comes up before I have time to go into Accessories/System Tools/Backup.
If I start with Accessories/System Tools/Backup, the Adaptec Create a Disk window comes up anyway. Please explain the process of backing up files onto a CD-R or CD-RW disk–or is it that my CD-RW drive is malfunctioning? Eric Quam @chorus.net
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A. In my entire career of messing around with computers, I have never been able to use the Windows (and DOS before that) Backup/Restore feature to deliver as promised. Something always, and I mean each and every time, has gone wrong.
The problem is that it requires a great many disks to hold all of the data needed to fully restore a computer, and the longer you use the machine, the more stuff you need to transfer. Even freshly out of the box, most of today’s PCs hold a whopping 2 gigabytes-plus of data with just the operating system and a few included applications.
It takes at least four CDs to hold that much stuff, and after a while you might need a stack of a dozen or more disks. Worse still is that fact that when you attempt a restore, your computer needs to move more data than in a branch library full of words as you feed in disk after disk.
Mostly something goes wrong somewhere along the way. Just a couple of missed characters among the billions being moved can cause a total failure. Then your stack of carefully protected backup disks becomes a bitter heap of frustration.
Here’s what I suggest: After you insert a CD-RW (rewritable) disk, choose the CD-RW panel in that window that pops up in the Adaptec software display. Then simply use the CD-RW disk as though it were another drive or a massive floppy disk. Keep all of your data in a few folders, and just drag and drop them to the CD using the file management software that pops up along with the Adaptec screens. This display is nearly identical to the Explorer in Windows 98/ME that you use to move files and folders about.
By keeping your data only on CDs, you will be spared the chaos of a bobbled restore that surely would happen down the road. You can always restore the operating system from the disk (or disks) that come with new computers, and you also can reinstall your software should the need arise.
Q. A while back you wrote about a screensaver download of a rotating Earth and dots of light where the cities are located. Very cool. I downloaded it and had it running on my computer. It crashed (not because of the screensaver) and our IT guys at work had to reformat my hard drive.
Can you help me find that screensaver again? I’ve done Internet searches and looked at my old saved e-mail but can’t locate it. Caroline Rueda @jps.net
A. Point your browser to http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap001127.html, Mr. C., and you’ll be back in business until the next time your IT staff gets an emergency call.
This absolutely amazing Web site offers a satellite montage photograph of the entire planet at night, and the lights of all the world’s cities twinkle in tandem.
Maybe even more awesome are the dark places, the vast reaches of oceans and the interiors of continents that even at the dawn of the 21st Century remain yawning remote wildernesses.
This photo was compiled from images taken as a satellite orbited the planet following the line between sunlight and darkness and it is one of the most awe-inspiring images ever created, in my opinion.
So go to the Web site and click on the image to bring up a browser page holding the photograph alone. Now right-click inside the image and select the Set as Wallpaper command that comes up.
Q. I would like to use Netscape with one ISP and Microsoft Internet Explorer with a different ISP on a relatively new computer operating Windows ME. If practical, how is this done? Randy Coller, Jackson, Mich.
A. I personally have both Netscape and MSIE running on my PC because using one browser for one type of activity and one for other pursuits helps me keep things straight.
In my case, I use Microsoft Internet Explorer for anything that tends toward entertainment, such as music sites and places with streaming video. I do this because the Microsoft Media Player built into the browser is hands down the best way to deal with multimedia material.
I then use Netscape to do the stuff that is more like work, like reading the news and doing research looking up information using Google.com, AltaVista.com, Britannica.com and such.
For MSIE I use the MSN.com site as my Web portal, while the Netscape browser comes up at Excite.com.
But keep in mind that while one can use both browsers at the same time, very few of us will ever use two different Internet connections at the same time, although that is possible.
For example, you can dial up America Online (which uses Microsoft Internet Explorer) by telephone, and then use another ISP, such as with a cable modem, with Netscape.
I can’t think of any reason why you or I would want to do that, but it can be done.
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Contact Jim Coates via e-mail at [email protected] or via snail mail at the baiduhai, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611. Questions can be answered only through this column. Add your point of view at chicagotribune.com/askjim.