Happy New Year everyone! New Years has always been my favorite holiday. I love reviewing the year past, and planning the year ahead. Staying up till midnight has become more and more difficult though! This year we'll be attending the formal party here at Palm Creek in Arizona. It should be fun! I'm hoping they'll be tuned in to the Time Square festivities and we can ring in the New Year at 10pm our time! Be sure to follow our travels and stories on our blog at www.geeksontour.blogspot.com.

In this newsletter

• Article #1 discusses Backup vs Archive, all about keeping your important files safe.
• Article #2 is about putting your photos on the web with Picasa Web Albums.
• Article #3 is about Windows Vista's best new feature (in my opinion.)

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Backup vs Archive

The point is to keep your important files safe. Some of those files you work with all the time, some of them you may not work with at all, but you want to keep them. The first type need to be backed up, the second should be archived.

Backup
I have a 250 gigabyte external hard drive that I use to back up every night. I use Windows backup utility to copy all my current files to the hard drive automatically. It happens in the middle of the night and, when I sit down at the computer in the morning, I see a message that the backup was successful (or not.) See the video to show you how to backup.

The purpose of this backup is to protect me from computer crashes or unintentional deleting of files. If my computer crashes, I could buy a new computer, install my programs, restore my data backup and be back in business right where I left off. Or, if I accidentally deleted one file, I could restore it from the backup.

Archive
When I'm done with a project I will copy it to a CD (or DVD) and put that CD in a safe place where it may stay for many years. I can remove it from my computer since I'm not working on it any more. I have it on that CD if I ever need it. I once had a client call me 2 years after I created a website for them. Their webhost went out of business and their website disappeared. Since I had a copy of it on a CD, they just found a new webhost and I restored their website.

I also archive my photos. Photos are the most precious thing on my computer. I want to keep them for years to come, even though I may go through many computers in that time. Every month I copy all the photos from that month to a CD (or DVD.) Actually, I make 2 copies - one set I leave at my Mom's house whenever we visit. I really, really, don't want to lose my pictures! My digital photos from 1999 - 2004 are not on my computer anymore, so they are not getting 'backed up', but I have archive copies on those CD's and DVD's.

Don't email pictures, make a Web Album

Many people are sold on Picasa because of the one-click-easy emailing capability. Just select the picture(s) you want to send and click the Email button. I think Picasa's one-click-easy way of making a website for your pictures is even better. It works the same way; just select the pictures you want on the web and click the Web Albums button.

The first time you do this, you will have to sign up for a Web Albums account. It's free. If you have a gmail address (google's free email), you just supply that, and you're all set. From now on, you should see an indicator in the upper right of Picasa to let you know that you're signed in to Web Albums.

Your web albums account allows you to set up as many albums as you like. After selecting the photos and clicking the web albums button, you specify the name of the album you'd like and click OK. Within a few minutes, your photos are on the web. Now, all you have to email to your friends is the web address. They can look at your pictures any time they want, and it won't be clogging up their inbox!

To see exactly how a web album is created, watch the Show Me Video on Posting Photos to Picasa Web Albums.

Windows Vista, where'd my stuff go?

If you've recently purchased a new computer, you probably have Windows Vista. The Start button is different. It doesn't say 'Start' anymore, but it is a button in the same location. When you click on it, the menus look different too. Let's say you were accustomed to clicking on Start / All Programs / Accessories and then, finally, Calculator. In Vista, the calculator is still in the Accessories folder in the All Programs list, but things aren't in the same order and the menus don't 'fly out' in the same way you expect from your XP experience.

Some people react to this change by wanting their old XP menu back. And, you can do that in the Control Panel by setting the Start menu to 'Classic.' I, on the other hand, am always game to learn something new. So, I spent a little time and found Vista Demos by Microsoft. I watched the demo called 'Programs' and learned about my new favorite feature: searching for programs. It doesn't matter that I don't know where a particular program is now, because Vista will find it for me! I no longer navigate thru folders, I just click on the Start button and start typing the name of the program I want. As soon as I click on Start, my cursor is located in a search field. I just typed 'ca' and was instantly presented with the list at right. Notice that Calculator is at the top of the list. Since that's what I was looking for, I need go no further, just click on Calculator and I have what I wanted.

Notice also that the search found web pages, files and email contacts. Anything I'm looking for, I can find this way. Let's say I just created a flyer for a New Year's get-together. I don't remember if I created it in Word or Powerpoint and I don't remember what I called it. But I do remember that I wrote the word 'champagne' in it! Just start typing 'champagne' after clicking the Start button, and, almost instantly I'll have what I need. It's amazing.

If you try this and it works slowly, or not at all, your document is probably in a non-indexed location. To learn how to add locations to the index, I suggest using Help. Click on the Start button and then 'Help and Support' - you'll see it directly to the right. In the 'Search Help' box, type 'add locations to index.' The first item should be ' Improve Windows searches using the index: frequently asked questions.' Click on that and follow the instructions under 'How do I add new files or locations to the index?'

That's all for now. Thanks for reading. Your next issue will be in 2-3 weeks. Any questions, please email us. If you like this newsletter, please forward it on to your friends! If you received this issue forwarded by a friend you can subscribe to get your own copy delivered to your inbox. To see the archives of past newsletters, go to www.geeksontour.com/newsletters.

Chris Guld
www.GeeksOnTour.com