| I got a virus the other day, Thursday I believe | | | | The software is called "NTI Backup Now 4 Deluxe |
| and since then I have been making FRANTIC | | | | Suite" and it is so straightforward that even a |
| efforts to save all my info. | | | | tech dummy like me found it simple. |
| The most important thing for me to save are my | | | | Again you can use the full version for 30 days |
| Outlook Express emails and my Roboform | | | | free: |
| passwords. That way I can at least access all the | | | | I added my Roboform ( passwords, my Internet |
| places I need, to download and re-install all the | | | | Explorer favourites, my Outlook Express backup, |
| software I use. | | | | my Microsoft Money backup files (For accounting |
| Thankfully I was able to still access my Laptop | | | | purposes), as many software installation files as I |
| and very, very slowly (the system was painfully | | | | had and most of the files and folders that I have |
| slow because of the damge done by the virus) | | | | used recently. |
| start a process of trying to save my system | | | | Of course what I also ralised is that I have not |
| without having to reformat the whole disk. I say | | | | kept the Install files of loads of the software that |
| thankfully because after a virus attack not | | | | I have on my Laptop. Bad mistake! This means |
| everyone is able to even access the system. | | | | that I will have to go search for these again to |
| I tried anti-virus software, I attempted to fix | | | | download to my reformatted system. |
| things using the various "malicious advertising" | | | | What I will do in future is save every Install file in |
| expulsion applications (Ad-aware, Spybot etc.). All | | | | it's own folder with passwords, serial numbers and |
| to no avail. After almost three days I resigned | | | | any other useful info in a notepad file alongside |
| myself to the fact that it would have to be a | | | | them. |
| re-format which means restoring my Laptop to | | | | The hard lesson I have learned is to make sure in |
| factory settings. What a nightmare! | | | | future I do frequent backups of my system. I |
| First of all I made a backup of my Outlook | | | | have been online since 1998 and never had any |
| express email software, emails, account settings | | | | major problems. This is the first and I foolishly |
| etc. For this I downloaded a great little free trial | | | | underestimated the damage a virus could do. |
| software application called Outlook Express Back | | | | My next step is to get an external drive to use |
| Up Wizard, a free trial can be downloaded here: | | | | as a backup and as I mentioned to use it |
| This software met by needs better than others I | | | | frequently. |
| tried. | | | | I hope this has given you some food for thought. |
| If you don't use Outlook Express then you can | | | | As I sign off here I am going to insert my |
| download others by searching here: | | | | Toshiba Product Recovery CD-Rom. |
| The I did a search for some backup software to | | | | If I had taken the necessary precautions I |
| back up the files that I could and also to use for | | | | wouldn't have just lost three days of my time. |
| future occasions. After trying a few that either | | | | Three days I could have been putting to better |
| wouldn't work on my system, or didn't back up to | | | | use. |
| the medium that I wanted (CD Rom Discs) I | | | | Ah well, there is positive in every bad situation. Or |
| found a great tool that just did the trick and in | | | | at least that's what I keep telling myself:-). |
| fact I plan to buy as soon as the free trial is up. | | | | |