Backing Up Your Computer and Owning Up to all The Crap You've Purchased and Stored On It

I'm into day three of backing up my computer so that I can ship it to the east coast and have my wonderful, and I mean wonderful (that's in case he actually reading this blog post) brother strip it to the bones, reconfigure it and reload a few of the many programs I currently own before he hands it back.

I thought it would be an easy task to do this feat and I'm realizing it's much bigger than I had ever thought.  Of course in the middle of this our printer died.  So it looks like I'm not reinstalling those drivers rather getting a new printer.

I've also re-discovered some things that I bought and forgot about.  Most are best left forgotten and have simply allowed me to be mildly distracted during this process.

How I'm managing the backup and restore to my computer:

1. I made a spread sheet in excel to manage the shift.  I highlighted each program / application once all of the data was in it so I knew I was complete.

2. These are the questions that I've needed to answer during the past few days so that I can comfortably have my brother wipe off my hard drive.

• do you know how many software programs you own?
  • not all programs are neatly stored under "program files" many create their own directory
• which programs and applications are not worth your time to re-install?
  • I have to admit over the past 7 years I have purchased some great stuff and a lot of crap that I will be glad to have a reason to get off my computer.

• do you know how many need registration keys?
• for programs with CD - check the jewel case
• for programs you downloaded it came in the "thank you email"
• before you delete any programs make sure you find out the keys, I have a few programs that I didnt' have a jewel case or a thank you email that I saved to the note section of outlook, rather the key is within the a specific place near the help part of the toolbar in the application

do you know how many need user names and passwords?

• some programs use the multi step registration
• often these are software applications that you purchased for $20 to a few hundred dollars

do you know how many have discs and where the discs actually are?

• remember that once you load these programs you'll want to go online and look for updates.

do you know where to find all of your programs and applications you bought through some miscellaneous link as well as the corresponding user names, passwords and registration keys?

do you know which programs have databases you will want to back up and restore once you reload the program?  Do you know which directory the program stores this database?

EMAIL:  If you use outlook, do a back up and then search for the .pst files - you'll find 3 (the main file, one that says backup which contains the same info as the main file, and an archive.pst)

• I'm currently importing this backup onto my laptop so I have a current copy of my mail
• I use the pro version of Plaxo which is an online application that for $49 per year saves your contacts, calendar and tasks - this allows you to access this information from any where as well as sync it to your mail (another form of a back up).
• I also use Squirrel Mail online and  Thunderbird for another piece of my business which has a backup you can download and save the .pcv file

Wireless Networks

• most likely you have some software that will need to be reinstalled for your modem and router to work
• We also have a network of 3 computers in our house that share files - part of this will need to be re-set up

Browser:  I mainly use Firefox but also use explorer for things that don't work well in firefox.

• Fortunately there are some great plug ins, unfortunately I'll need to make sure I get all of them up and going. 
• Some of my favorites are:
  • Fire FTP -
  • Sage - RSS reader for blogs (which I can't seem to get the xlm file to import properly on my laptop.  This would be a disaster of loss of time productivity if I loose all of my feeds.
  • Foxmarks which syncs my bookmarks between my laptop and computer
  • 1 clickweather - because Seattle weather is never what it seems it will be

I also have a separate hard drive that I've back information up to...just in case as well as I use Online File Folder from GoDaddy.  Which is a relatively inexpensive back up system for your day to day files.  I started to use it when I traveled so that I could access what I wanted without needed to bring my laptop.

After investing all of this time up front and God knows how much time to reinstall and tweak every thing how much time will I save?  Well, I really can't answer that, but I do know I look forward to being error free and not having my screen freeze all of the time and need to force programs to close because 40 minutes have gone by and I'm still waiting for some thing to happen and when it does it's generally an error. '

Over the past couple years I've upgraded ram, memory and have sworn that this computer was a lemon, but when I mentioned I was getting a new one due to all of the issues my lovely brother that was traveling out here on business took a peak, rolled his eyes and told me I must have hired some computer people that didn't know much more than me.  I've been labeled as dangerous:  knows enough to get into trouble by moving or deleting things I should not touch (yes I've leaved a few tough lessons) but doesn't quite know enough to get out of the mess.  So I"m taking his advice and looking forward to seeing him in action as I peer over his should and shoot the breeze.

I figure that in the next few months or so I'll make up for this in productivity!

Any way, I wanted to give you some food for thought when it comes to the organization of your own computer and business. Quite possibly it's time for some spring cleaning of your own.

How does this tie into conscious spending? Think about it...time = money.  How are you using your time effectively?

Regards,

Michele Corey, writing for Knee Deep:  A dose on insight and a little crap from your not always average home based business and Internet mom and Money Wise Women: A Blog for Women that are ready to get their financial house in order