WELCOME TO BACKUP WIZARD! ------------------------ INTRODUCTION ============= The 'Backup Wizard' software is now installed successfully, and ALL the associated Programs have been placed in the Default directory, C:\BKPWIZ, or one specified by you. Please place this Directory in the DOS Path, especially if you wish to run go.bat (the only command NEEDED for making and retrieving Backups), README.BAT, ( to read all documentation) or Getpilot.bat from any Directory other than Installed directory. If you type 'Getdocs' at the DOS COMMAND-LINE and Press {Enter}, you will be able to access ALL the Documentation, through a simple Menu. IMPORTANT NOTE: =============== This is the Menu you were introduced to, right after installation, (from which you are reading this document, 'setinfo.txt') Any time, you wish to get back to that Menu, simply, 1. NOTE the Line number at the top, so that when you get back to this document, to continue reading, you can press 'L' to find the Line you were reading. 2. Press Escape Key. The file, 'OVERVIEW.DOC' will, as the name suggests, give you an overview of the important concepts involved and why this utility is truly 'Painless' and far more Powerful, when compared to any other so-called Backup/Retrieval software, whether tape, floppy or hard-disk based!! The document 'FEATURES.DOC' will introduce you to innovative features (copyright, 1995), such as, AutoPilot, Datestamping, Special Extension Backups etc. described therein. Many practical hints and tips are given in file 'Hintips.doc' which will increase your productivity with very minimal effort on your part! File, COMMAND.DOC will explain each command, its parameters, what they mean and a few comments about the 'easy to understand' syntax. Refer to it any time trough getdocs.bat when you have any doubts about any operation. **** AutoPilot (BACKUP WIZARD): ---------- This is a simple, elegant and the MOST PRODUCTIVE feature NOT availanle in any other so-called' Backup/Retrieval software. COPYRIGHT WARNING TO ALL USERS (Especially to software Authors): ------------------------------- The WIZARD uses the 'Batch file' INTERACTION with Windows, yielding UNIQUE productivity that no other software (Backup or otherwise) has been able to accomplish or will ever come close to! That is why it is 100% copyrighted (1995). Even an indirect violation WILL be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law. Same applies to the other features described below. =================================================================== WE PROMISED YOU THAT You wont have to do any Conventional, Full. Partial or whatever kind of Backups! BACKUP WIZARD, when set up correctly will accomplish exactly that, if the following Simple THREE steps are followed properly! If you do, it will be the Operating system (Windows) that will be backing up every SINGLE file you OR the Operating system modified, processed or operated upon in any way whatsoever (whether with or WITHOUT your knowledge) in the immediately preceding Windows (or DOS) session/s! EVERY SINGLE file will be traced by the WIZARD to the archive (compressed) file in which it is residing, and THAT archive file will be UPDATED with the new version of that file, whether you know about it or not! What this means is that even obscure (to you!) files that the Operating System and other software modify WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE, such as *.grp *.ini *.dll files in your Windows directtory, or the *.QAG and *.QAB files in Norton Desktop Directory, modified sporadically by Norton Desktop and so on, will get backed up as soon as you do the PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE, (explained below). Not a single file will remain without being backed up!!! We sincerely doubt if any other software can make that claim without burdening the user with less than a tremendous effort! Depending on the amount of work you do on your PC, the PM (Preventive Maintenance) can be scheduled as frquently as once every two weeks or as little as once in two months! It will take only a fraction of the time it takes to do a full or even a partial Backup with other software! A lot of software programs create their own unique databases, indexes and reference parameters which they keep modifying as and when 'THEY' deem necessary. There is no chance you will know about these files being changed! These are extremely important files for 'that' software and if their status is not 'acceptable' (when you 'recover' from the crash) that software may not only NOT run correctly but could mess up OTHEER programs or even the WINDOWS setup which is so touchy and fragile anyway! You may never be able to bring it back to the point it was operating when your disk crashed! For instance, losing *.qag and *.qab files used by NORTON DESKTOP can bring the entire WINDOWS system down to its knees! I have had that happen to me enough number of times and had to go building the system back up slowly and painfully! It will NEVER happen to me again. I do my PM (Preventive Maintenance) once every three weeks and have never lost a single qa* file or ANY OTHER to mess up the Norton Desktop or a *.ini file in the Windows 3.1 system. The PM is designed to 'catch' every single file that 'changed', no matter whether YOU changed it or the OPERATING SYSTEM! I apologise for this long lecture, but most users do NOT realize how PAINFUL and FRUSTRATING it is to lose these files until it actually happens. These files are simply IRRECOVERABLE, because you were not even aware of the EXISTENCE of these files in the first place and they never get backed up properly especially with the other Backup software! Here are the THREE ABSOLUTELY IMPORTANT STEPS you MUST take. I ...Making the INITIAL BACKUP: 1. Switch to the Installed directory. 2. Type 'Go' and Press {Enter}. 3. Choose Option 1 (Backup Entire Drive). 4. In response to the next prompt asking for the Drive to back up TO, type the letter corresponding to the BACKUP DRIVE you intend to use (NOT THE SOURCE drive to be backed up). Just type the letter. No colon needed, e. g. 'F'. This is where ALL the compressed files created from ALL the files on the SOURCE drive specified next, will be placed. 5. In response to the FOLLOWING prompt asking for the SOURCE Drive, again, type the letter (no colon) e. g. c, if C: is the Drive you wish to BACK UP. Make sure you have ENOUGH space on the BACKUP drive to hold ALL the compressed files from the SOURCE Drive. If not, you will have to use another drive (or Parrtition). When you need to switch to another BACKUP Drive, you will find the utility 'MOVEZIP' very handy.It will enable you to MOVE compressed zip files (even large ones) incredibly fast, WITHOUT having to back up ALL the directories of the Source Drive again to that drive! But please do NOT move them yourself, you may NOT be able to RECOVER the data correctly! (Press Esc and choose menu item, 'COMMAND.DOC'). A portable removable hard drive using cartridges are the best choice, for installing this software, since you do NOT want to lose this one piece of software, when you have a crash! For the same reason it also makes for an ideal Backup Drive! If you dont take this precaution, you may lose the backup protection for some very valuable Data! You have to perform the above 5 steps for every single Drive (or Partition) you have. This will complete the step one. ****** II ...Setting up the PILOT LIST (see the file named ^xlist): When executing the step one, the system will create a file named '^xDRVLS'where x stands for the SOURCE drive letter. It is a simple Ascii Text file. It lists ALL the First-level Directory Paths (Notice no subdirectories are listed) in the SOURCE Drive.This is a very important list. By just examining this list, with the help of a simple DOS Text editor, you will be able to select out and make up another much smaller list of Directories which contain files that get processed on a day to day basis. Name this new file as ^xlist. Do NOT use any other name! The first character '^' is an absolute MUST. Also, this list itself must end with characters "END". Study the example file ^xlist included. That is my ^xlist file containing the list of all directories which hold about 95% of all the files I deal with on a day to day basis. This completes step Two. III ...Setting up AUTOPILOT 1. Copy this file to the Installed directory, unless you edited my '^xlist' file itself (as you should). 2. Switch to that Directory. 3. Type GETPILOT and press ENTER. Now, follow simple prompts and it will create a file named PILOT.BAT. AUTOPILOT IS ON! Now, everytime you wish to start a windows session type "Pilot e" and press ENTER. It is assumed in this example that your BACKUP Drive is E:. If not, change the 'e' in the above command to the Drive letter for your Backup Drive. This way, if your current Backup Drive gets FULL you can switch easily to another Backup Drive. This is where Removable Cartridge drive comes in handy. Simply change the cartridge. You dont have to change the Drive letter! When the cartridge is full, simply label it and put it away! I use the Iomega JAZ drive with a gigabyte cartridge, which I never take OFF line! Even if you dont use Windows, this feature will still operate perfectly, as long as you simply run the batch file PILOT.BAT just BEFORE the close of operations for the day!!! After finishing these three steps, you must perform a PM (Preventive Maintenance). What is PM ? It is simply repeating step One above for ALL your Drives (Partitions). You can, of course split up your work and do one or two drives at a time at your convenience! But please make sure the interval is not too long for any Drive. This may scare you for a minute! Relax! After the Initial Backup is over, the WIZARD will simply go for the 'stray' files such as *.ini *.qag and so on, and UPDATE only the archives containing files that changed since your last PM, but NOT those covered by ^xlist (which should EXCLUDE 90 to 95% work anyway). The rest of the archives in that Drive will simply be passed over. That is the beauty and the efficiency (kudos! to PKZIP program!) You will be amazed at the speed of updating a whole Drive ONCE the Initial Backup is completed. Depending on the volume of your work on the PC, you decide how often you should do this P.M. But please do stick to your schedule! The BACKUP WIZARD WILL NOW DO ITS JOB! Every single file on your hard Disk will be backed up and remain backed up if you follow your PM schedule. That's all!! You may never have to make Backups manually again! REMEMBER, you can retrieve these backups for the ENTIRE drive, or the INDIVIDUAL directories ANYTIME. by running GO.BAT, from DOS or Windows File Manager, and choosing the obvious options! Again, you will be amazed at the speed of retrieval. Other COPYRIGHTED (1995) features are listed below. Date-stamping: -------------- Invaluable Protection (which no other Backuop software can or will ever be able to offer (from overwriting by the succeeding Backups) for any INDIVIDUAL Directory Backup, AT THE USER'S DISCRETION! This feature is a little too complex to explain here fully. (Press Esc and choose menu item 'Features,doc') *** Special Backups (and Retrievals) of Files with Specified File Extensions: ------------------------------------------------------------- How many times have you wished you had all the Windows files, such as *.ini or *.pif or *.dll (especially) and so on, in ONE place to deal with and process WITHOUT disturbing the disgustingly unstable Windows setup and operations? Well, now you can! (Press Esc and choose 'COMMAND.DOC'). There are MANY MORE features such as simple, intuitive, RECOVERY of one or more damaged, corrupted or even accidentally deleted files, groups of files, or even whole subs! This feature is described in detail in 'FEATURES.DOC'. (Press Esc and choose 'FEATURES.DOC'). No more fancy screens or menus to learn, no messy tapes or clumsy floppies to handle! Your Backups are literally at your fingertips, ready to be made and accessed at a moments notice, IF YOU NEED THEM and WHEN YOU NEED THEM! No Installation, Simple Operation: 1. Switch to the Installed directory, 2. type 'GO' OR 'Getdocs 'at the DOS command line and Press Enter. That's it!!! If you so wish, you may run the go.bat or getdocs.bat file through the File Manager or the Program Manager after creating an icon for them. If you have any comments or feedback (a wish-list maybe?) please drop an Email line to actuary@nmaa.org Your comments and suggestions are more than welcome, because they will help us bring you a better quality product. Thank You and Happy Computing! LEAVE THE BACKUPS TO THE WIZARD AND CONCENTRATE ON YOUR WORK! Please note that this is a 'shareware' program and NOT a Freeware program. It will NOT operate after the initial Evaluation period (a Fixed number of sessions) expires. If you wish to see this Introductory screen any time again, simply type 'getdocs' at the command-line, Press Enter and choose 'setinfo.txt'