The system configuration information is stored centrally in a hierarchical database called the registry. You can use the Registry Editor to add and edit registry keys and values, restore the registry from a backup or to default values, and to import or export keys for reference or backup.

A word of caution – incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should save a copy in a safe place such as, to an external drive or USB device.

The backup is done using the export function within the Registry editor. Export the registry file as follows:

Custom Search

1. Open the Registry editor by typing regedit in the Search text box from the Start menu
2. On the file menu, click Export
   
3. In the File Name, enter a name for the backup registry file and destination location, choose a removeable media if available
4. In Save as type, select the file type Registration files (*.reg)
5. In Export Range, check the option All to save the entire registry
6. Click Save

Importing the registry file

1. Open Registry Editor by typing regedit in the Search text box from the Start menu
2. On the File menu, click Import
3. Find the file you want to import, click the file to select it, and then click Open

Note: In Windows Explorer, double-clicking a file with the .reg extension imports the file into the computer’s registry.
Last warning: A restored file overwrites an existing one and becomes the active registry of your configuration and hence, any modifications done after the backed up registry are lost!

Last 3 posts by George

• Backup considerations for Microsoft SharePoint - July 26th, 2010
• What is Cloud Computing? - July 19th, 2010
• Is Cloud computing getting safer? - July 13th, 2010

In order to backup Sage Pastel Evolution one needs to backup the Microsoft SQL Server database as well as the appropriate registry entries. In this article I will not discuss how to backup Microsoft SQL Server Express or Standard edition—email me on chribonn@gmail.com if you are interested in a write-up on how to backup these products.

The Windows Registry

A word of warning about handling the registry: unlike many programs, the registry program does not have an undo or an undelete option and changes go into effect immediately. If you delete a file by mistake you can pull it out of limbo by visiting the Recycle Bin. If you screw up a document, pressing undo will take you back one action at a time until you reach the stage before the oops or, if necessary, you can abandon all changes done during that session simply by not saving the updated document. None of this exists in the registry so be cautious. 

How Sage Pastel Evolution uses the Windows registry

The Sage Pastel Evolution program is a thick client that makes use of windows registry to store customisations each user makes to the program. Module settings, what information is shown, how it is formatted and the order of columns are all examples of the type of information that one can find in the registry. This is the approach Sage used to give each user his own personalised environment. If a single Windows login is used by multiple sage users, each user can have his own tweaks.

Storing the settings of each user within a computer’s registry rather than as a record within the Microsoft SQL database is a debatable design decision especially since database technology constitutes a core component of this product. My reasoning is that if a user wants column A to come before column B and column C being hidden, he would want that on each and every computer he uses. A person who uses more than one computer must set the customisations on each computer. When a new account is created, there is no option to copy settings from an existing user to the new one. And, if anyone of the client computers fails, the settings have to be reprogrammed. This article will explain how to tackle each one of these scenarios.

Backing up the Registry

Sage keeps all program settings in the registry hive HKCU\Software\Softline. Backing up this registry key ensures that all customisations are available if the computer fails.

1. Run the program regedit either from the command prompt, by clicking on the Run option found in the Start Menu (this option is not visible by default in Windows 7) or by typing in the program name in the Search Program Files and options box that is situated at the bottom on the Menu that comes up when you click the Start Menu button (this is not available in Windows XP).
2. Navigate to the HKCU\Software\Softline hive. Select the option File -> Export…from regedit (1).
3. A dialog box comes up. Select the folder and specify the file name you want to call this registry entry (2). As shown in the diagram above, the selected radio button of the group Export rangeshould refer to the Softline registry branch (3).
4. Backup this file and update it whenever settings change.

You have to repeat the process above for each Sage Pastel Evolution user who logs into the computer.

Restoring the registry

You may need to restore the registry file you backed up either because a computer failed and had to be reinitialised or to transfer settings from one computer to another.

Because this program retains information in the HKCU part of the registry, the user must be logged into the computer before his registry settings are imported.

After the user has logged in, execute the program regedit.exe. This time round choose the option Import… from the File menu (1). Navigate to the folder where you had previously placed your backup and open the file (2). A final dialog box will confirm that the registry was updated with the contents of that file.

Changing Agents

This section is highly technical and should only be performed by people who understand and are comfortable tweaking the Windows registry. An error could, at the very least, end up making this program stop functioning.

Each Sage Pastel Evolution user is known as an agent. A user who logs into this program using the user name Chris would have an entry in the registry starting at HKCU\Software\Softline\Evolution\Agents\Chris. Assume that you would like to copy Chris’s agent setting to those belonging to Mary so that Mary does not have to make the changes already done by Chris. Use the following steps:

1. Ask Chris to log into his computer and using regedit export the registry hive HKCU\Software\Softline\Evolution\Agents\Chris.
2. Open the exported registry file within a text editor such as notepad and change all instances of [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Softline\Evolution\Agents\Chris to [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Softline\Evolution\Agents\Mary. Save the modified registry file.
3. Ask Mary to log into Windows with her credentials and install the program on her PC if it is not already functional.
4. Test that she can log into the program.
5. Import the modified registry file created in point (2) into Mary’s Sage.

Conclusion

If you have any comments or observations or would like to request or share information on how to backup a particular program, send me an email on chribonn@gmail.com.

Last 3 posts by chribonn

• When Green Is Bad - July 5th, 2010
• What your backup solution should be and do - June 27th, 2010
• Securing your online backup archives - May 12th, 2010

Backing up the data file

The folk who decided on the default location of the Outlook data file chose a location that is difficult to figure out.  Also when installing Outlook (or when running it for the first time) there is no way to specify a different folder.

Changing the default location

The first thing I am going to demonstrate in this tutorial is how to move your existing Outlook files to a more humane location under the Windows 7 Documents (or Windows XP My Documents) folders.

Open Outlook which I am assuming you are already running.

1. Right click on the Personal Folders entry (1) and choose the option Properties for ‘Personal Folders’ from the short cut menu that comes up. If your folder has a different name, Personal Folders will be called differently.
2. A dialog box titled Outlook Today – (Personal Folders) Properties comes up. Click on the Advanced… button (2).
3. This brings up yet another dialog box titled Personal Folders. The Filename: entry (3) depicts the location of where your Outlook data file currently resides.
4. Copy the directory location from the Filename: entry and paste it into a Windows Explorer window.
5. Click OK on all the dialog boxes you have just opened and shut down Outlook.
6. Move the folder that contains the Outlook files to a more appropriate location. I would suggest under %USERPROFILE%\Documents if you’re using Windows 7 and %USERPROFILE%\My Documents if you’re still happily using Windows XP.

Click on the Microsoft Outlook 2007 icon to run the program. Since you have moved the original location of the data file, you will get a message box telling you that Outlook can no longer find the pst file in its original location (1).

Clicking OK on the dialog box brings up a file selection screen that allows you to specify the new location where you had shifted your Outlook data files. Move to the new location, click on the pst file and hit the Open Button (2).

Another message box comes up to tell you that Outlook must be restarted. OK that.

The second time onwards Microsoft Outlook 2007 will automatically find your files no questions asked. And the directory where all your important emails reside is now in an easy to find location in your Documents folder together with all your other important stuff.

Backing up the registry

Microsoft Outlook retains your email account settings within the registry. This means that when the time comes to reinstall your computer, unless you have saved your registry Outlook settings you will have to re-enter all the email accounts you process using Outlook 2007. If you happen to have a single Gmail account this might not be that much of a problem (provided you still remember how to do it) but if, like me, you have almost a dozen email accounts flowing into your Outlook remembering each mailbox’s parameters can be time consuming.

A word of warning about handling the registry: unlike many programs, the registry program does not have an undo or an undelete option and changes go into effect immediately. If you delete a file by mistake you can pull it out of limbo by visiting the Recycle Bin. If you screw up a document, pressing undo will take you back one action at a time until you reach the stage before the oops or, if necessary, you can abandon all changes done during that session simply by not saving the updated document. None of this exists in the registry so be cautious.

In Windows 7, type regedit in the Search Programs and Files to run the registry program. With Windows XP, type the same command in the Run… box. Both options can be accessed from the Start Menu. Windows 7 will bring up a dialog box asking you to confirm your action. You should say yes in order to run the program.

Navigate to the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles (1). Each profile you have defined will appear under this key. In my case there is one profile called Outlook.

Right click on Outlook and choose the option Export from the menu that comes up. I suggest that you place the registry snippet you are saving in the same location as the Outlook data files. This ensures that all your Microsoft Outlook related data is in one easy-to-backup folder.

End of part 1 – Conclusion

By backing up the folder to an online backup service you can rest assured that whenever something happens to your computer all your emails and the mailbox settings can be retrieved with ease. If you add a new email account or remove one you no longer use, you should export the registry settings again.

When backing up your Outlook data files, Outlook should be shut down.

Although I have not mentioned Windows Vista, the procedure for Windows 7 is almost identical to that of Windows Vista.

Next time I will describe how to use the information you have saved to restore your Microsoft Outlook 2007 in case of corruption. I’ll also throw in how you can use this backed up data when upgrading your computer from Windows XP to Windows 7.

We all appreciate how important emails are to us. Back them up regularly.

Last 3 posts by chribonn

• When Green Is Bad - July 5th, 2010
• What your backup solution should be and do - June 27th, 2010
• Securing your online backup archives - May 12th, 2010

External hard drives: An external hard drive can easily be attached to your computer using a USB port. External hard drives can be stored in a location that’s separate from your computer, which can help protect your backup. You need to connect it with your computer every time a data backup is done and is usually slower than internal hard drives.

Writeable CDs or DVDs: CDs and DVDs are relatively inexpensive and are easy to find in stores. Practically, all recent computers have CD/DVD burners installed. You can store the CDs or DVDs in a location that’s separate from your computer. Depending on how much data you have, it might take several CDs or DVDs to hold your backup while CDs or DVDs can become corrupted over time.

USB flash drives: USB flash drives are relatively inexpensive and can hold a fair amount of data. You can store a flash drive in a location that’s separate from your computer. It could fill up quickly as typical sizes are still small.

Network locations: If you have two or more computers connected together, a shared folder or drive on one computer can be a convenient place to save your backup. Ideally, the network share is protected with a username and a password while backup time depend on the network devices’ transfer speeds.

For the most flexibility, my recommendation is to save your backup to an external hard drive :)

Last 3 posts by George

• Backup considerations for Microsoft SharePoint - July 26th, 2010
• What is Cloud Computing? - July 19th, 2010
• Is Cloud computing getting safer? - July 13th, 2010

Health, good fortune and prosperity are the common form of wishes we bestow upon one another. And since I do not want to break with tradition I would like to bestow them onto you. Yet with all of these there is little we can do to determine the outcome. What destiny has in stock for each and every one of us will be revealed at the appropriate time. Some of the wishes can be even considered to be dangerous. For example I would never suggest to a friend to take on gambling so as to increase her prospects of getting some good fortune.

Yet I can safely wish you a year without any loss of data. The simple trick is to backup your data regularly, ideally in a manner that is automated and does not necessitate you having to remember to do it. If the process is automated there is a great chance that you will succeed in not losing any critical information if your computer takes all the data with it when it dies out.

Last 3 posts by chribonn

• When Green Is Bad - July 5th, 2010
• What your backup solution should be and do - June 27th, 2010
• Securing your online backup archives - May 12th, 2010

Punched cards also known as IBM or Hollerith cards were the medium used for input and output. Different codes would be represented by the presence and absence of holes in predefined positions. Programmers would have their program punched into a stack of cards. They would submit the program deck, followed by cards that held the data on which the program worked. The operator would load these cards into the card reader (together with other jobs). The operator would use a special language called the JCL (Job Control Language) to make the computer read the program into the computer’s memory and execute thereafter. The JCL instructions themselves would be entered on punched cards. Data used by the program would be loaded in a similar manner. Output from the program would be to paper if it needed to be human readable or to new punched cards if the output would have to be processed again. Today’s equivalent to punched cards is files stored on the hard disk.

A punched card was a stiff piece of paper. They came in a variety of colours allowing colour coding of different sections of a deck such as JCL, programs and data.  Punched cards did not originate with the computer industry; they were first used in the 19th century for controlling textile looms and for operating fairground organs and related instruments.

The punched card cannot be thought of a backup in the modern sense of the word. Important programs and data cards could be duplicated just in case anything happened to the working set.  The punched cards would be stored offsite and being made of stiff material proved to be quite durable.

We’ve come a long way in the world of backups, the technologies may have changed but the purpose and scope have remained fixed.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

Last 3 posts by chribonn

• When Green Is Bad - July 5th, 2010
• What your backup solution should be and do - June 27th, 2010
• Securing your online backup archives - May 12th, 2010

Last 3 posts by George

• Backup considerations for Microsoft SharePoint - July 26th, 2010
• What is Cloud Computing? - July 19th, 2010
• Is Cloud computing getting safer? - July 13th, 2010

Important Note - a drive needs to have system protection enabled in order to be included in a restore point and in order to have the previous copies of files and folders functionality!

You launch the System Protection box from the control panel: (Click Start\Control Panel)

1. In the Control Panel Click System and Security
2. In the System and Security window click System
3. In the System window click System Protection – now you have the System Properties window open with the System Protection tab selected

  4.   Select the drive you want to set and click Configure
  5.   After you make the required settings click OK

Required settings:

Restore system settings and previous versions of files

This is the default setting for the system drive or volume. Do not change this default setting, since restore points here hold system information and user files that are present in the user profile. Disk Space Usage depends on how much space is used for user files. If your files reside in this drive or volume then 20% to 40% should be ok. If the drive is set to hold just system files then 10% should be enough.

Only restore previous versions of files

You normally use this option on drives or volumes that contain user files only such as, a second disk drive for data storage. A value of 40% of Disk space usage would give you a large number of previous versions of your files.

Turn off system protection

This would be the setting for external backup drives or USB disks that hold backup file sets. The main problem with USB drives is that they are normally formatted using the FAT file system. Remember that System Protection works only with NTFS formatted drives!

Last but crucial point is that old previous versions of files that were overwritten due to a low Disk Space Usage setting will not become available by increasing the Disk Space Usage percentage! Then, you need to revert to a restore process from a backup set!

Last 3 posts by George

• Backup considerations for Microsoft SharePoint - July 26th, 2010
• What is Cloud Computing? - July 19th, 2010
• Is Cloud computing getting safer? - July 13th, 2010

Over the past few months I have been trying to educate myself on the topic of backups. So during one or two breaks I would try to get answers to the following questions:

1.  Have you ever lost data on your computer?
2. Do you know what a backup is?
3. Do you regularly take a backup?
4. What would be your ideal backup solution?

Have you ever lost data on your computer?

Many people reply yes to this answer. In a number of cases, the loss is related to a genuine hard disk failure. On the other hand I have been told stories of computers being wiped clean without taking a backup first simply because the computer would not boot Windows or to remove an insidious Malware infection. In many such cases, I learnt that the computer owner is a self-made computer technician who has just graduated the 101-Format-and-Install-Windows-from-scratch course—and knows nothing else. Others would have taken their computer to their son’s friend or to some amateurish setup that seem able to eradicate the problem only if they format the computer. Sadly no one ever bothered to make a copy of the My Documents folders on the problem computer beforehand!

The stuff lost normally always includes digital photos. On those computers in which at least one of the users is in school, such a loss is associated with lost assignments (sometimes very critical). People also mention emails as being something they severely miss after a loss. Although not as important as the other items I have mentioned, a lot of people find that re-entering ISP settings, setting up printers and other devices, remembering web site addresses and passwords and the process of making a computer function as it did before the event is a hassle.

Do you know what a backup is?

Everybody knows that a backup is a process in which important files are copied to a separate medium just in case the computer breaks down or one deletes a document by mistake. The majority of people know that they can backup their important files to CDs, DVDs or USB sticks. Few people know whether their operating system comes bundled with a backup program and fewer people can mention by name a company that sells a backup solution or at least the name of the backup program itself.

Do you regularly take a backup?

Less than five percent of the people I have spoken to claim that they regularly take a backup. My definition of regular for the home user would be at least once a week in those quite periods, at least daily during that time when the user is using the computer for a critical task. I would consider critical any of the following situations: a thesis or project that could pass or fail a person or that could increase the person’s overall score; a work related project that may be mentioned in a performance review; a task assigned by the voluntary group the person is associated with that is important for the group; any home related part time work that is done on the computer; any photo or sound clip of a person or persons covering a past event; any document that is currently being updated and into which one has put months and years to create and which, if lost, would probably never be recreated. I need to point out that this short list sums up many of the stories of data loss I was told by my students. Many of those who have performed a backup use the Windows Explorer program to drag files from their original location to the CD or DVD icon or to the USB drive. Issues related to media spanning or a single file being larger than the media on which it is to be backed up constitute an issue for many. In the case of the latter scenario many people simply do not back up the file. I once had a student who told me that she would back up her files onto a USB stick but would erase the USB drive every time she needed the gadget for something else—not the best backup strategy around!

The remaining ninety five percent of people do not take regular backups or have never done so. The group that has never taken at least one backup tends to be those who have never suffered a data loss. They tend to be relative newbies to the world of computers. The impression I get from speaking to people who have taken at least one backup is that backups are like New Year resolutions; a lot of drive and determination at the beginning that fizzles out over time. Taking a backup tends to be bound either to a recent data loss or to the energy and drive that normally accompany the beginning of an important project that demands the use of a computer.

What would be your ideal backup solution?

From the hundreds of people I have spoken to on this subject I have come up with the following definition of what an ideal backup should be.

“A Backup should be a solution that is easy to setup. When I open the program it gives me a Windows Explorer-type list that allows me to choose the directories I want to backup. The backup should be over the internet so that I do not have to fiddle DVDs and CDs. The backup solution should work in the background monitoring my selected directories and should automatically backup changed files without any involvement on my part although it should have an icon on the desktop which when clicked will run the backup manually. The backup should keep files I delete for at least 7 days just in case I deleted a file by mistake.

If something happens to my computer and I lose everything, I want to be able to install the program again and after typing in my username and password, the program automatically downloads saved backup setting so that I do not have to recreate them. I want to have a Restore icon on my desktop that, when clicked, will allow me to restore individual files, complete directories or deleted files. The interface should be similar to Windows Explorer.”

System Image Backup

However, in Windows 7 you can use the Wbadmin command-line utility to perform scheduled clones (snapshots) of your PC!  The normal backup rules need to be observed before using this utility and these are:

• The destination location should be a second internal hard drive, an external hard drive, a network shared drive or multiple DVDs – not recommended/feasible
• The destination drive should be formatted with NTFS file system – windows 7 default
• Adequate space is available on the destination drive – equal to the source data size (Actually, even less than that!)
• The utility needs administrative privilegese

Now, let’s see how easy it is to create an automated task that initiates a System Image backup of the c: drive and saves it to another drive :) Assuming your system volume or drive is the c: and your destination drive is f: (where f: can be a second hard drive or a network share). Save the following text in a file with an extension .bat Ex: SystemSnapshot.bat

wbadmin start backup -backuptarget:e: -include:c: -allCritical -quiet

This wbadmin utility will start an image backup of your c: drive and system/boot volumes if not specified while it saves it to the f: drive.

As with any script, you can then create a schedule job using SCHTASKS ( Windows Task Scheduler command) as follows:

SCHTASKS /Create /SC weekly /D sun /TN “Imagebkup” /TR c:\scripts\SystemSnapshot.bat /ST 22:00 /IT

where the task scheduler will run the Image backup script every Sunday on weekly basis at 22:00 hours. Assuming the user is logged on and have administrative rights! However, I do recommend to use the native Windows 7 Task Scheduler Utility to set a schedule as this utility is much improved in this new OS :) Check for errors if any in the history tab of your scheduled task. An error return code of O means ok!

A folder structure is created on the destination drive together with a number of files. The most important file is the .vhd one where in Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate editions, you can restore all your data and applications. How to mount this image and restore your computer will be explained in a future article :)

Click Back up files button

Alternatively, you can create a complete backup of your entire computer by clicking the Back up computer button and follow the simple wizard :)