| One of the inherent design features
of 4HPlus! and FairPlus! is protection from data loss. This is accomplished
through safeguards and processes that automatically create backups
and duplications of of your data. When problems arise, these design
features provide opportunities to recover that data.
While no software can provide 100% data protection, if the users
of 4HPlus! and FairPlus! follow these rules, the chances of a major
data loss greatly minimized. These rules are:
- Save your work
- Backup your data
- Properly process upgrades
- Save your work
- Backup your data
- Properly process upgrades
- Save your work
- Backup your data
- Properly process upgrades
- Never, ever, re-install 4HPlus! or FairPlus! (well almost never,
ever)
Saving your work
In the "early days" of computers, (when many of us were
learning to successfully use a computer) a former Extension Educator
by the name of Peter Scheffert used to say that his top three rules
for happy computing were (yep, that's where I got the idea for this
web page):
- Save your work
- Save your work
- Save your work
One reason that he stressed this as being so important was the
incredible frustration that happens when a person works for hours
typing up a complex document or perfecting the formatting on a complex
newsletter, and then, the computer crashes or the power goes out.
If the person has not saved their work, all those hours of effort
are completely gone. A two second click on [File] [Save] would have
preserved all their work.
The same is true in 4HPlus! and FairPlus! A user can spend hours
and hours entering data, and if they have not saved their work,
it will all be lost if the computer crashes, freezes up, etc.
So how do you save your work? 4HPlus! and FairPlus! does not have
a [File] [Save] option available. Instead, it has "Update Disk
(or Database Files)", which happens whenever the program is
exited normally, thereby saving all your work that has been done.
But what if you are entering data for hours on end, without closing
out? In those cases, the user can "force" their data to
be saved by clicking on the [Update Disk] command, which is found
on the main screen. Additionally, the [Update Disk] command can
be found on any "picture screen" in FairPlus!
Backing up data
The above procedure will ensure that the data you have entered
will be there next time you start up 4HPlus! or FairPlus! What it
does NOT do, is protect your data in the case of a major malfunction
of your computer, which would require that either the software be
re-installed, or installed on a different computer.
In these cases, your best bet is to have a backup file on a floppy
disk, containing all your data. The backup file does not contain
any of the program - it simply contains all the data in a text format.
Backups are most often created manually by clicking on [Goto] [Archive]
[Backup]. Both 4HPlus! and FairPlus! have built-in reminders prompting
you to go and make a backup. In FairPlus!, you can set the interval
for this reminder to various time periods, as appropriate.
As part of your backup routine, it is recommended that you use
more than one floppy diskette. That way, if one floppy goes bad,
or if there is a problem during the creation of the backup, there
is another backup to fall back on.
In addition the manual backup process just described, there are
also automatic backups created. In both 4HPlus! and FairPlus! a
backup is automatically created when the version is upgraded. In
FairPlus!, a backup is created after working in the program for
approximately 20 minutes and then returning to a “picture screen”.
This backup process is evident by the presence of an hourglass when
returning to a picture screen after the 20 minutes. Be sure to allow
the computer time to create this backup file! After the hourglass
clears, you can proceed.
Processing upgrades
There are three basic steps to upgrading :
- Downloading
- Unzipping the downloaded file
- Processing
The most critical part of the process is the Processing phase.
Processing happens the first time the program is started after unzipping.
There can be very little happening, or there can be major things
happening at that point. Therefore, when processing an upgrade,
it is STRONGLY recommended that:
- All other applications are closed
- Enough time is allowed for the computer to process the upgrade
Details on Properly Processing an Upgrade are available on this
website by clicking on the Topic "Upgrading
the Plus! software"
Never, ever Re-install 4HPlus or FairPlus!
Although it be tempting try re-installing 4HPlus! or FairPlus!
when the software isn't working, it nearly ALWAYS better to attempt
to repair the program, rather than re-install.
Re-installing will overwrite one set of your data file, and it
will also overwrite all archived data. Instead, contact 4-H
Software Support for repair alternatives. There will be rare
occasions when it is best to re-install - but these situations are
extremely rare.
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