Last week I said that I would write about Robin of Harrisonburg’s second question.  Basically, that is why should you keep all of your files in the “My Documents” (“Documents” in Vista) folder?

One reason is for organization.  If they are there you know where to find them.  Another reason and possibly even more importantly is that if you ever have a hard drive crash it would be good.  It has happened to yours truly several times.  And a friend had it happen recently to them.

When a technician has the dying drive up and running their most important task is to retrieve the owners’ important files.  This is a standard procedure. 

When the drive is going you quickly take all of the users “data” files and save them to a new hard drive.  That way you have all of your tax-returns, business letters, leases, rental agreements, financial statements, etc. on your new drive. 

Get the picture?  This is all of that important documentation that you will most likely need to use after the old drive is gone.

My friend’s problems started when he didn’t know exactly where he had stored all of the “essential” documents.  He knew they were somewhere on their computer but not exactly where.  Their 1996-03 tax returns were in the “My Documents” folder (where they should be), but the ones from 2003-2007 were somewhere else.  But he couldn’t remember where!?!?  He lost a lot of their family’s data due to the fact that the repair technician could not find it all…the user didn’t know where to tell them to look.  History…poof…gone…up-in-smoke…nada!

You know Bill Gates and his buddies don’t always do the absolute best in their software design (although some of us would tend to differ) but “My Documents” was a stroke of genius.  Your “My Documents” folder is where you should keep all of the important data that you have on your computer. 

After looking at the above case study you should realize why.  If your computer’s hard drive goes kaput, the person trying to fix it will know where to find all the important data and rescue it for you.  It is just that simple.  You can load up the folder with an almost unlimited amount of sub-folders and files, so size isn’t a consideration. 

Also, if you ever have to use “System Restore” to bring back your computer to a previous point in time, “My Documents” items are treated with tender loving care.  “System Restore” allows your computer to be set back to a previous time before a “bad” program was installed on your computer causing tribulation.  When restoring your system the “My Documents” folder is left alone so that none of the files in it are damaged.

A great couple of questions came in from Robin, in Harrisonburg this week.  The first one she asked I had written about in August but she needed more details.

Robin said, “At home when I type in a user name to sites that I have visited before the browser starts filling it in immediately - then when I finish the user name the password automatically pops in?”  This is called, “Auto Populate”.  She went on to say that while she is at her work computer she has to type in both each time she logs into a site and nothing auto populates.  “What’s up with that?”

I will cover the answer in the two most popular browser formats.

For Microsoft Internet Explorer you start with TOOLS then INTERNET OPTIONS.  Once there choose the “Content tab” and your settings will be found under “Auto Complete” where you then click “Settings”.  You have several choices as follow:  “Web Addresses”, “Forms”, “User names & Passwords on Forms” and “Prompt me to save passwords”. Forms are basically web sites and the text boxes in them.  I check all four items which are pretty self-explanatory.  The reason I check the last one about prompting is that I really don’t want someone to easily use my bank password if they happen to be on my computer.  That feature allows you to avoid that issue with sites you choose.

With Firefox it is slightly different and (sorry MS lovers) seems more complete than the offerings in MSIE mentioned above.  In FF go to TOOLS then OPTIONS and then select the Security tab.  Now about halfway down the window that opens under Passwords you have three choices, “Remember passwords for sites”, “Use a master password” and “Saved passwords” button.

The first should be clear.  The master password allows you to set one “master” password that has to be entered for the other ones to be auto-entered.  This feature gives you more protection against someone using your computer and logging into your sites.  They have to have the master to make the others work.  The final very interesting item, “Saved passwords” allows you to view all of the sites that passwords have been saved for and even view the actual passwords if you wish to.

All of the other modern browsers allow similar functionality.  Just look at their options to find them or contact the vendor if you can’t.

Next week, the other good question from Robin.

Apparently some of my readers are really into not using Microsoft products.  A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a replacement for Microsoft’s Live Mesh, or cloud computing application named Jooce. Next, I told you about two MS Office replacements, Open Office and Lotus Symphony.

I’m hoping this will be my last (sort of) anti-Microsoft column for a long time, since I am a MS fanboy.  Even though there are replacements, I like MS products best.  However, money is a big factor so I understand people’s reluctance to plunk down hundreds of dollars for a program that may get limited use at home.

I received several emails this week about how people tried them both out and were happy with the change.  They, along with one of my readers that I ran into at the grocery store also consistently mentioned another issue.  That issue is they liked the office replacements but, “…where is a replacement for Outlook the email program?”

Now, Outlook is the email app that I much prefer over any other so I am biased on this topic.  Yes, I know it is expensive, being listed on the Microsoft site for $109.95 by itself.  You may also purchase it along with Office.  It is still the best in linking with different smart phones, etc.

Now, let’s look at some Outlook replacements.  Please note that I have tested each with good results; however, I do not continue to use them and have uninstalled them so I am not a pro on them.

Outlook Express - This would be my #2 choice and came free on all MS Windows computers until Vista.  However, MS no longer produces it.  It may still be downloaded for free.  If you search for it, make sure you get version 6.0; the most recent.

Windows Vista replaced Outlook Express with Windows Mail, which is my last in line for a replacement.  I just don’t care for it and it is only available for Vista (at this time).

Windows Live Mail is a replacement for Vista’s Windows Mail and is in the cloud.  It does the job well and is an adequate replacement for Outlook.  But if you really just want to get away from MS please note that all of these mentioned so far are Microsoft products.

Next, I have experience with two non-Microsoft replacements for Outlook.

First, Thunderbird which was created by the developers of the Firefox browser.  This is an excellent replacement and it still has full support from Mozilla so it will be safer to use as time goes on.  If you want a change get this one first.

Finally, Evolution was originally designed to be used in the Linux OS but is now available for Windows.  Good choice too.

Happy hunting as there are hundreds of others but these are my choices.

Well wouldn’t you know it? Last time I mentioned one person being anti-Microsoft and this week I heard from several others. I will respond to one question I got from you since it was a reasonable question and was asked by several unique readers.

Also, I will ignore you Apple/Mac lovers since that is a war that I get tired of fighting. And if you admit it we all already know that if it hadn’t been for the iPod they would have already been ancient history.

The question went like this, “I like MS Office OK, but it costs so much I can’t afford it, especially with gas, food, health insurance, college and most everything else being so high.” OK, I added the last part but that is what some referred to – especially the gas, but this is a computer column so I’ll get back to it.

There are actually two excellent replacements for Office and both are free, “Open Office” (www.openoffice.org) and “Lotus Symphony” (symphony.lotus.com).

In my opinion, Microsoft Office is the best office product on the market; however, its cost is prohibitive to most home users. You can find it from around $600 retail to about $60 but only if you are a student.

I would like to discuss Open Office which is currently owned by Sun Microsystems and was formerly known as Star Office (when it cost a bundle), and Lotus Symphony owned and developed by IBM (it used to cost a bundle too). To be honest I have tested Open Office extensively and if I didn’t own MS Office I would switch…especially for that price.

They both have dynamic word processing capabilities along with replacements for Excel and PowerPoint (along with a couple of extras from Open Office). So why doesn’t everyone use them – one word? Business.

The part of society that runs the business world simply rules for office type products. Those who rule, chose Microsoft Office long ago and continue to stick with it as their processing system.

Is that bad for those of us with shallow pockets? No. We just need to give one or both of the freebies a try.  Both can be downloaded from the links above.

Don’t fret over compatibility with the Microsoft world. Both products will easily integrate with MS products. If you create one in one of the office suites they can all be used in the others so that isn’t a problem for us.

I also pointed out Google Docs a while back which also incorporates the world of Microsoft but not quite flawlessly.

Give the competition a try and maybe one day Microsoft will be free too. OK, I don’t think that is likely in my lifetime anyway.