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BakCfg Questions and Answers
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What's New in Version 1.4?
The log file has been renamed from Bakcfg.txt to Bakcfg.log.

BakCfg now accepts a (viewLog) L parameter! Entering BAKCFG L causes
BakCfg to load the Bakcfg.log in the DOS EDITor for convenient browsing
of the contents of the current Bakcfg archive(s). BakCfg performs as
usual when run without the L parameter. See the FAQ for information
about how to use the L parameter.

BakCfg now has its own custom icon! A Bakcfg.ico file is now included in
the archive. This original 3-D effect icon transparency displays a black
floppy diskette with two intermeshed gears superimposed on it, and can
be attached to the Bakcfg.bat shortcut (Bakcfg.pif) to replace the
default MS-DOS icon if you have created a shortcut on the Windows 95
Desktop.

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How do I use the new L parameter?

From the DOS command line, enter BAKCFG L.

From the Windows 95 Start, Run line, enter BAKCFG L, and press OK.

If you created a shortcut to Bakcfg.bat on the Windows 95 Desktop,
right-click on it, open the Properties Sheet, click on the Program tab,
then on the "Cmd line:" window, add a question mark to the displayed
command line. It should appear as:

C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\BAKCFG.BAT ?

When you double-click the BakCfg shortcut, Windows will now prompt you
for a parameter. If you enter anything other than the recognized L
parameter, you'll get a syntax message. If you press OK without entering
a parameter, BakCfg will run the PKZip backup routine as usual.

Neither the BAKCFG filename or the L parameter are case-sensitive. You
can use upper or lower case.

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How do I attach the Bakcfg.ico image to my Desktop shortcut?

Right-click on the BakCfg shortcut, open the Properties sheet, click on
the Program tab, then click on the Change Icon button. Navigate to the
Bakcfg.ico file on your hard disk and select it.

Icon image manipulations are a lot trickier on Windows 95 than Windows
3.1x, because Windows 95 now stores icon images in a persistent cache
file, and often won't refresh the image even if you change it and
restart. I've read that deleting the ShellIconcache file and restarting
fixes the icons, but it didn't work for me. If you have problems, get
the free Microsoft Powertoys from www.microsoft.com. It contains a great
tool called TweakUI (user interface) which has a Rebuild Icons feature
that fixes "stuck" icon images.


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Does BakCfg make any changes to my Windows 95 system?

No, BakCfg does not modify Windows or DOS. The only changes required for
BakCfg to run properly, if they have not already been made, is that the
Pkzip.exe, Pkunzip.exe, Bakcfg.bat, and Excl.lst files be located in a
folder in the DOS path. The logical place to move these files is the
Windows Command folder, which is by default in the DOS Path, for
DOS-based programs which are normally run from the command prompt. You
can remove the BakCfg files and PKZip/Unzip without affecting your
Windows 95 setup.

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What are those funny garbage-like symbols in the Bakcfg.bat and
Bakcfg.asc files?

They're extended-ASCII characters which draw a box around the DOS-based
messages delivered by the batchfile. If they look like garbage, it's
probably because you're viewing the files in Notepad (or maybe even your
Web browser.) You can see these special characters as they display under
DOS by viewing (or editing) them in DOS EDIT.

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Can BakCfg be used to save multiple configurations?

Yes, you can use BakCfg to save an unlimited number of configurations
for later restoration. Since BakCfg was written to write to a removable
disk drive, e.g., the floppy disk drive, on subsequent operations, just
insert a new blank diskette when prompted for a BakCfg disk, instead of
a previously created BakCfg disk. You can keep on saving as many
configurations as you have diskettes. Each configuration can be
identified by the Zip file's timestamp in a DOS DIR listing. To see
timestamp information in Explorer, open the View menu and select
Details. I suggest making notes on an external disk label.

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Suppose I want to include alternate configuration files on my multi-boot
system, some of which are on other drives. Can I cause PKZip to search
out and archive additional configuration files on my system that aren't
currently being backed up?

Yes, you can customize and extend the BakCfg search for configuration
files on additional drives if you have a basic familiarity with DOS
pathnames and wildcards. Load BAKCFG.BAT in Notepad or DOS Edit and
locate the following two long lines:

PKZIP -whs -Jhrs -x@C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\EXCL.LST -rP -eX -o -bC:\TEMP A:\DOSCFG C:\COMMAND.* C:\IO.* C:\MSDOS.* C:\CONFIG.* C:\AUTOEXEC.* C:\WINDOWS\DOSSTART.*
PKZIP -whs -Jhrs -x@C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND\EXCL.LST -rP -eX -o -bC:\TEMP A:\REGDAT C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM.DA? C:\WINDOWS\USER.DA? C:\*.INI

After "A:\DOSCFG" or "A:\REGDAT" (these are the "target" ZIP files) the
series of wildcards that follows specifies the files which PKZip looks
for. Using the [drive:\wildcard] syntax, add a wildcard specification
for each new filetype or folder you want to include, separated by
spaces, on the same line.

Note that the -rP parameter which BakCfg uses causes PKZip to search all
subdirectories under the specified paths; therefore, the most
comprehensive wildcard search starts at the root directory.

If you don't have a firm understanding of DOS wildcards and pathnames
don't try to modify these lines. A basic DOS manual will teach you about
wildcards and pathnames, or your office guru, or a sympathetic support
newsgroup.


A Note About Notepad

Each command string in a batchfile must occur all on a single long line.
If you use Notepad to view and edit batch files, use Ctrl-W to turn
Wordwrap off, to ensure that you are viewing the command lines properly.

When you use the Ctrl-W toggle, you will see that most of the Bakcfg.bat
file (which contains hard linebreaks) is not be affected by changes in
the setting. But the two long command lines will alternately wrap around
or extend beyond the right margin. Notepad's wrap-to-screen wraps long
lines in the absence of hard linebreaks. This allows long lines to be
reformatted as paragraphs which adjust automatically to the size of the
Notepad window, a great feature for documentation, but inappropriate for
writing or modifying batchfiles, because with wrap-to-screen activated,
it's not always easy to see where the hard linebreaks actually occur.
Turning off Wordwrap allows you to verify that commands and parameters
are all written on one line.

A DOS-based EDITor may be more appropriate for writing batchfiles.

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When running BakCfg on my system, PKZip reports that there's not enough
space on the floppy diskette. Is there a way to save large BakCfg files
to multiple diskettes?

Yes. After the second PKZIP command (the line which specifies the target
file A:\REGDAT,) add the parameter -&v.

Example:

PKZIP -&v -whs -Jhrs ... A:\REGDAT ... etc

The "&" symbol turns on disk-spanning for backups to multiple diskettes,
while the "v" turns on DOS Verify, a security precaution recommended
when PKZip splits large work files to span multiple diskettes. The -&
parameter will not affect session-logging. BakCfg will continue to log
fully the contents of multiple-disk backups in the C:\Window\Command
folder.

NOTE: Because PKZip uses the diskette volume label to track
multiple-disk archives, the -& parameter may not be applied to both the
DOSCFG and REGDAT lines.

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