Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Restoring Word 95 files on Windows 95 after crash

Some of us are still using Windows 95. (Probably none of "us", as I doubt any of those systems is able to surf the net ;-) Mostly on machines that need it ... as nothing newer runs. And, of course, for these systems, there is only Word 95 and companions. Also, these machines still have floppy drives. Not to forget -- most of the users of these systems are a bit digitally ... challenged. Now, there is a user who thought saving files on a floppy disk would save them ... in case of a system/harddisk crash. Not as a backup, but for working on the file. Well. As saving on a floppy takes some time, it's usually not done that often. And computers crash. So, we have an hours old file on a floppy, a rebooted system, and an old version of office that may or may not have auto-recovery files. And if it has those, where are they stored, if not in the working directory? Which is a floppy. 3/4 of an hour telephoning later, the file was found in c:\windows as "Sicherungskopie von ...". Rename it to .doc, and open it ... there it is. Wait ... first, we need to explain, still via telephone, how to make windows show the extension ... otherwise, you can't change its extension. Well, I should just send the bill for nearly an hours work ... probably the same as a new old computer for the user ;-)

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