Keeping your work safe
Viruses pose several threats to your data:
- Direct threat
Viruses can infect your files and in most cases the only solution is to delete them. For example if a virus gets into your IN mailbox there might be no alternative but to delete it. If this happens you will lose all the messages in your IN mailbox. Other viruses can delete or over-write important files.
- Indirect threat
Most viruses can only be fully eradicated from your system by wiping your disk clean and re-installing Windows completely. If this happens your data will have to be restored from backup. In some cases it will not be possible to take a fresh backup before wiping the disk clean.
The suggestions below will help you keep your data safe:
- Take a backup of your documents and data regularly, at least once a week.
- To simplify matters, keep all your documents and data in your "My Documents" folder
- Configure Eudora to keep your Eudora data folder inside "My Documents".
- Don't allow messages to build up in your Eudora IN mailbox: transfer messages to other mailboxes, or delete them.
- Don't leave attachments to build up in your "Attach" folder: either delete them or, if you need them, file them in an appropriate folder.
- A recordable CD (or several CDs) should be suitable for most people's backups .
- Archivable material (documents that are no longer liable to change) should be saved on CD and excluded from the weekly backups; so you need to identify archivable documents and keep them separate, or delete them from your hard disk once they have been archived to CD .
- A workable backup policy depends on a well-thought out document retention stratgegy: don't keep emails and documents longer than necessary.
- Make sure you have the installation disks for all your applications software (eg Microsoft Office).
- For applications that you downloaded from the Web, either keep a copy of the installation files on CD or keep a note of where you downloaded them from.
