For the July Weekend spot we looked at backing up your data. If you use a computer, you will lose data. So if your data has any value, you need to back it up.

Fortunately, the cost of storage has plummeted in recent years. So it’s cheap to backup, the important thing is to choose the right system for your needs. What a small business needs is very different to a home user, we look at the different systems on our website.

As usual we had a diverse range of callers, these included.

Stereo recording
Brian found he was having trouble recording from his digital camera in stereo. This is a classic software problem and we find many digital camera packages are not going to win many awards for being user friendly. All we can suggest is to go through every conceivable setting and trawling through the various newsgroups and website for advice on the specific package.

Errant Mice
With the boom in cordless mice and keyboards, we’re seeing a lot more weird problems with them. The most common problems can be traced back to batteries. The first thing to do if you are having any problems with a cordless mouse is to change its batteries.

Mick had changed his batteries, but was still having trouble. It is possible it some interference is causing the problem, if so, turning off other nearby wireless devices may help find the problem. Another common cause is rechargeable batteries that haven’t recharged.

Outlook Express messages
Where Outlook Express saves messages is a true mystery of the modern world. It can be anywhere. This makes backing up the messages difficult.

Brian called about exactly this problem. To find where Outlook Express saves it’s data open Tools, Options, Maintenance and then Message Store, this will show the location. We’d suggest Windows XP users should back up the entire Application Data folder to make sure they save all their favourites and address books.

The next Weekend spot hasn’t been scheduled as yet. We’ll update the website when we know. If you’d like to be told of the next spots, subscribe to our newsletter at subscribe@pcrescue.com.au