Contacting Cousins help

[Norman]

Google how to backup email windows live

I don't know why anyone should lose data as a result of buying a new PC - surely they don't junk the old one (or if they don't have the space, at least they keep the hard drive)?

I'd already posted a link to that procedure. Keeping your old hard drive doesn't help if you don't know where the database is stored and if your new email program can't open the file.

Bob - Agreed, if you're using a web based email system (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo etc.) then you don't need to back up your email data. If you are collecting your web based emails in your local computer you certainly do. Unless you're not concerned with losing the data in the event of hard disk failure. Remember it's not a question of IF the hard disk fails but more WHEN the hard disk fails. I speak as someone who has had to replace 3 or 4 hard disks over the years - never lost any data though.

 

[peter]

The Pegasus Mail program I mentioned will run off a USB stick or a portable drive. Almost all email providers offer web access, though watch out for limits to storage space (Gmail offer 15gb free, which is enough to store every email I've ever sent or received).

The main advantage of using browser-based email as your primary system is the fact that it will work with almost any device. However you'll probably need an Internet connection to do anything, even view past mail, which is a disadvantage if - like me - you make use of long journeys to organise your email. There's also the risk of the your email account being hacked, something that's surprisingly common with Hotmail and especially Yahoo - some LostCousins members have lost their entire email archive.

 

[emjay]

Trouble is...yahoo is so user friendly especially compared to google which has 'conversations' rather than 'inbox' and 'sent'. Today another feature has been added 'smartview' in which 'starred' emails can be displayed as well as 'people' and other marketing type categories (that I will not be using).

 

[Bob Spiers]

Trouble is...yahoo is so user friendly especially compared to google which has 'conversations' rather than 'inbox' and 'sent'. Today another feature has been added 'smartview' in which 'starred' emails can be displayed as well as 'people' and other marketing type categories (that I will not be using).

I have no love for Yahoo (user friendly or otherwise) since my nephew had his contacts hacked -and had a knock-on effect with most of the family - but I do like Gmail. Mine still shows 'Inbox' & 'Sent' but they do show 3 categories: Primary, Social & Promotions which I like but it is set to Primary as default. They also allow for 'Starred' & 'Important' which although somewhat arbitrary (All Amazon emails appear under Important even though I have not qualified them as such) and have yet to 'star' any myself. I have always found Gmail ultra friendly to use and use it mainly when I buy online.

 

[emjay]

Bob,yahoo does seem to be vulnerable to hacking so I only have a contact list of commercial sites now, that I've used from way back. It would appear that such sites have adequate security because on the one occasion my mailing list was hacked,I received a long,long,list of notifications of failed deliveries from such email addresses. I also had an email from Peter telling me my yahoo account had been hacked....yes I was horrified and embarrased that I had not spotted the original rogue email. In my defence,or rather my excuse, I opened the rogue email when using my mobile phone.Needless to say I'm very much on my guard now and have spotted several of these dodgy emails over recent months. I will dump yahoo over a period of time as I inform all contacts such as Amazon of my new email provider. I usually use the 'star' feature to get back to later when I have the time or inclination to read an email,otherwise it may go unnoticed in a list(I rarely delete emails unless of no interest).

 

[Gillian]

I have always found Gmail ultra friendly to us

Good on yer, Bob. However, I'll look elsewhere for my friends, e.g. Windows Live Mail-

 

[Bob Spiers]

.Needless to say I'm very much on my guard now and have spotted several of these dodgy emails over recent months

Emjay you are not alone in succumbing to opening and actioning (the DANGER part) by clicking on a link in (unbeknownst to you) hacked or purposely dodgy emails. I think in my computer use lifetime (a fair few years now) I have had my email contact list hacked twice I believe, but have been on the receiving end of three or four others where contact friends have been involved and the email gets forwarded on to me with the added danger of knowing who sent it. Sadly it is the hard experience of life that wins in the end and now (hopefully) without exception if it looks in the slightest bit dodgy (containing a link) -irrespective of who sent it- I mark it as spam to alert the mail provider or ISP or delete it immediately. If in doubt throw it out!

 

[chrissy1]

Keeping your old hard drive doesn't help if you don't know where the database is stored and if your new email program can't open the file..

Very true and also, the reason for replacing my 2007 computer is because it is in danger of dying! In all likelihood it will be deceased by the time I get a new machine, as in 2007, though a work colleague did retrieve the most important data for me, but I couldn't ask him to find and save everything.

Regarding Pegasus - that was what we used prior to 2007 but we couldn't get it to work with the new computer - hence changing to Windows Mail which seemed to be already set up. I did keep the old computer and my work colleague somehow put the contents into a new box which worked intermittently, but trying to plug it back in to the existing screen and keyboard was more trouble than it was worth on the odd occasions I tried to use it.

Norman, I use Vista rather than Windows 7 and the link mentioned Windows LIVE mail only. I did try the link but then got completely lost - I didn't know if I was doing things right or whether it simply wouldn't work with vista and as above, if I don't know where I am saving it, I can't find it! Perhaps my best bet will be to change computers and stay with Talktalk (Tiscali in my case) and hope that the newer version of Windows Mail can find my old e-mails, then perhaps try to change providers at a later date and save the e-mails I require individually then. I have been getting far too much junk mail from Tiscali over the past few months, coincidentally since I put my tree on Ancestry and elected to block a couple of senders..................

 

[chrissy1]

Google how to backup email windows live

I don't know why anyone should lose data as a result of buying a new PC - surely they don't junk the old one (or if they don't have the space, at least they keep the hard drive)?

Just keep the hard drive????? Not the box it's in?? HOW? and how on earth would you get it to work? I am totally inept when it comes to computers - as you know, Peter!

 

[Bob Spiers]

Just keep the hard drive????? Not the box it's in?? HOW? and how on earth would you get it to work? I am totally inept when it comes to computers - as you know, Peter!

I cannot but empathise Chrissy and you have a soul mate in my sister in Australia who asked the same when a friend told her to do the same when she changed computers. I have removed many an internal hard drive and it rarely takes longer than 5 minutes, from removing the side panel of the 'box' (and likely the front fascia), undoing the drive locating screws and removing the cable connectors (which can be tricky to reach). Even so I remember the first time I had to do same and I could hardly stop my hands trembling despite following a step by step instruction.

And even when you have it removed what then? It will either need to be installed as a second drive in a new computer or fitted into a caddy to act as an external drive to a new computer. In short don't go down that road unless you get a computer 'person' (professional or accomplished amateur) to do it all for you. I advised my sister to take it into a computer shop in a nearby town (Australian style some 20 miles away) and although there was a charge her old photos were transferred across to her new computer and she ended up with an external hard drive.

 

[peter]

You don't need to do anything with the hard drive other than remove it from the old computer before disposing of it. Anyone capable of wielding a screwdriver can remove a hard drive.

If you subsequently need to access data that you haven't previously copied over to your new system that's the time to ask someone more technically-minded to help.

Wiping the drive to get rid of the data is a much more difficult exercise (should you leave the drive in the old computer). You could pay someone to do it but you'd still be trusting them with your data.

 

[Bob Spiers]

Anyone capable of wielding a screwdriver can remove a hard drive.

True, but dangerous advice for a novice if I may say so Peter. There is the little matter of removing the power plug and peripheral connections, then knowing how to remove the side panel (they are not all as easy as in modern machines). You then have to know what a hard drive looks, finding its location screws; and that's just for starters. No your subsequent advice to ask someone more technically minded to do the whole work -or oversee at the very least - is the right and only advice.

 

[chrissy1]

You then have to know what a hard drive looks, finding its location screws; and that's just for starters.

That would have been my next question....what on earth does it look like? I am the person who couldn't even find my way into the Lost Cousins Forum for 3 days and needed step by step guidance!!

I am sure it would be easier in the long run to go through all the invoices and e-mails I might need and print them out on paper - that would probably only take me about a month or so!! Question is, can I really be bothered? Computers are such a hassle and even if I needed access to my old data, I would never be certain what I wanted was actually still there or whether I would be able to find it or indeed if the old computer would still work! I lost all my previous contacts etc when I changed computers in 2007 as Pegasus Mail refused to work again. Short of copying everyone's e-mail addresses out on paper, I knew of no other way of keeping them. I even bought a new computer desk to keep the old computer running for a while, but then it died.

I have a Lacie share plugged into my current computer and from time to time it says it is backing up data, but there is no evidence it has actually copied or backed up anything. The only things that seem to be there are copies of things I have tried to back up myself (photos, family history etc) and a load of file folders that I have no idea what they are.

 

[peter]

True, but dangerous advice for a novice if I may say so Peter. There is the little matter of removing the power plug and peripheral connections, then knowing how to remove the side panel (they are not all as easy as in modern machines). You then have to know what a hard drive looks, finding its location screws; and that's just for starters. No your subsequent advice to ask someone more technically minded to do the whole work -or oversee at the very least - is the right and only advice.

I don't agree - if the old computer is going to be junked there's nothing to be lost by having a go. The computer users most likely to run into problems are the ones who always rely on others.

 

[peter]

That would have been my next question....what on earth does it look like?

If you type 'hard drive photo' into Google you'll get lots of pictures of hard drives. But it's usually going to be directly above or below the DVD drive - you really can't go wrong, whatever Bob might say.

I am the person who couldn't even find my way into the Lost Cousins Forum for 3 days and needed step by step guidance!!

You're seriously underestimating your capabilities. As I recall you were prepared to persist for 3 days when anyone else would have given up, and the feedback you provided enabled me to make some key improvements that have made the forum much easier for other newcomers.

Pegasus Mail refused to work again

That's a surprise - Pegasus has worked for me on every Windows PC I've ever owned, from Windows 3.1 to Windows 10. There's a support forum which has helped me on the odd occasions when I've run into difficulty.

 

[PhilGee]

.... if it looks in the slightest bit dodgy (containing a link) -irrespective of who sent it- I mark it as spam to alert the mail provider or ISP or delete it immediately. If in doubt throw it out!

I rarely use web-mail, so "process" dodgy e-mails by saving them to a file (usually without opening first) and then inspecting them with a text editor (such as notepad, though in my case it's kwrite as I don't use MS windows). If they pass inspection then I look at them, otherwise delete them.

Phil