Instructions for Transferring PAR to a New Computer --------------------------------------------------- The following assumptions are made: * The new computer runs Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP. * PAR is installed on the C: drive of the old computer and is to be installed on the C: drive on the new computer. * The floppy drive is A: on both computers, if present at all. Substitute your own drive letters if the above assumptions are incorrect. There are 2 basic methods for transferring files from one computer to another: 1. Using a CD or a Memory Stick (flash drive). 2. Using floppy disks. Transfer using CD or Memory Stick --------------------------------- 1. On the old computer, open Windows Explorer - Press the 'Windows logo key' and 'E' simultaneously, or Click Start, and in Win95 or Win98, WinNT, click Windows Explorer from the programs list (in Win2000 or XP look for Windows Explorer under Accessories). 2. Put a writable CD in your writable CD drive, or insert the Memory Stick into a USB port. The entire Par program and data can be copied to the CD or the Memory Stick with a couple of clicks. 3. In Windows Explorer, click on My Computer and then your Local C drive icon to display the folders in the C drive. Right click the Par folder and choose Copy from the popup menu. 4. Find the icon for your CD drive or Memory Stick (usually called Removable hard drive) in the Windows Explorer list (it will be in the same column as the C drive icon). Right click CD or Memory Stick icon, and choose Paste from the popup menu. This will copy the Par folder and all its subfolders to the CD or Memory Stick. 5. Put the CD or the Memory Stick into the new computer. 6. On the new computer, open Windows Explorer, and find CD or Memory Stick icon. Right click the CD or Memory Stick icon and choose Copy from the popup menu. 7. Right click the C drive icon, and choose Paste. This will copy the entire Par program to the new computer's C drive. 8. Confirm that the transfer was successful by clicking the Par folder and running the Par program on the right hand pane of the Windows Explorer window. To run Par, double click the Par.exe file (don't worry about the small size of the window for now). To view the files in the Par folder in a list form, click the View Menu at the top of screen and choose Details. Par.exe may simply be shown as Par with a square white icon with a blue border and the word Application beside it. 9. You will now need to install the Windows Printing (winprint) and Teleplan (parinet) programs (see below). Transfer using Floppy Disks --------------------------- All the instructions below are carried out from a DOS prompt. 1. To get to a DOS prompt: In Windows 95, 98 or NT, click the Start Button, choose Programs and click the MSDos Prompt. In Windows 2000 or XP, click Start, Run and in the Run box, type: command. In Windows 3.1 or 3.11, double click Main Group icon to open it, and double click MSDos Prompt icon. In either system, you should end up at the C:\WINDOWS> or C:\Documents ...> dos prompt. 2. To setup the new computer go to a DOS prompt and change to the root directory by typing: cd\ . Create the PAR directory structure on the new computer by typing (in order): MD PAR CD PAR MD DR MD HELP MD TEMP MD UTIL MD FORMS 3. Get programs and data from old computer: Copy the contents of each of the 3 directories from the old to the new computer. You can use pkzip for this. Go to a DOS prompt on the old computer, have some empty floppy disks (high density, 1.44 meg) available. You will need 2 or 3 plus the number you currently use for backing up par. Put Disk A in the floppy drive and at the dos prompt type: copy \par\util\pkunzip.exe a: \par\util\pkzip a:util.zip \par\util\*.* \par\util\pkzip a:forms.zip \par\forms\*.* (may do nothing if forms doesn't exist). Put Disk B (and others as requested) in the floppy drive type: \par\util\pkzip "-&w" a:par.zip \par\*.* Put Disk C (and others as requested) in the floppy drive and type: \par\util\pkzip "-&w" a:dr.zip \par\dr\*.* This will copy the contents of the par, util, forms and dr directories to floppies. Disks B and C may consist of several disks. 4. Put programs and data on new computer: Go to any dos prompt on the new computer and put disk A in the floppy drive and type: copy a:pkunzip.exe \par\util \par\util\pkunzip a:util.zip \par\util \par\util\pkunzip a:forms.zip \par\forms Put the last disk of the disk set B in the new floppy and type: \par\util\pkunzip a:par.zip \par and follow the directions. Put the last disk of the disk set C in the floppy drive and type: \par\util\pkunzip a:dr.zip \par\dr and follow the directions. 5. You will now need to install the Windows Printing (winpirnt) and Teleplan (parinet) programs. Installing Winprint and Parinet ------------------------------- 1. If you transferred the Par program using a CD or Memory Stick, it is likely that you already have the installation programs on the new computer. To check, open Windows Explorer and open the Temp folder under the Par folder. If this temp folder does not contain 'winsetup.exe' and 'tpsetup.exe', you will have to install these programs as described in step 2, below. If winsetup.exe is in temp folder, double click it to install winprint choose all default options and confirm that the installation target is 'c:\par\' - if not change it). Now, double click the tpsetup.exe file to install parinet (again, choose all default options and make sure it gets installed into the c:\par\ directory). When finished, go to www.specialtysoftware.ca and check that you have the latest versions of the winprint and parinet programs. If not, update these programs by following the Update to new version instructions (you don't need to uninstall the existing versions before updating). 2. If par was transferred using floppy disks, you will have to install the winprint and parinet programs from www.specialtysoftware.ca. Choose the 'Add windows printing' option and follow the 'First Time Installation' instructions. Then, choose the 'Add Teleplan internet' option and follow the 'First Time Installation' instructions. Setup up Desktop ---------------- Create icons on the desktop for the par, submit and backup programs. This procedure is described in PAR DESKTOP SETUP. Backing Up ---------- 1. The preferred method of backing up the Par data, is to use a Memory Stick. When a memory stick is inserted into a USB port, Windows assigns it a new Drive letter (usually the next available one). As an example, suppose the memory stick was assigned the letter 'F'. Backing up would require a backup program to copy the Par data from the hard drive to the F: drive. The Par directory constains a number of 'parbackX.ba' files where X represents a Drive letter. In the above example, the 'parbackF.ba' file would be used as the backup program. To turn this file into an executable program, it must be renamed with a 'bat' extension. To do this, right click the parbackF.ba file, choose Rename and add a 't' to the end of the name so it becomes 'parbackF.bat'. When you do this, the name may change automatically to 'parbackF' and the icon will contain a little yellow gear. This is the program that should be used for creating the ParBackup icon on the desktop. 2. The next best method, is backing up to a CD. You must do the backup each time by copying the Dr folder to the CD. The easiest way to do this is to open Windows Explorer, right click the Dr folder (under Par), choose Copy and then right click your CD icon and choose Paste. 3. Backing up to floppies. The Par folder contains a file 'parbackA.ba'. Rename (see step 1) this file to 'parbackA.bat' and use it to create the ParBackup desktop icon. It is important to have at least two different sets of backup media (i.e. 2 memory sticks, 2 CD's or 2 sets of backup floppies), and alternate them with each backup. This way, if a backup is damaged or a backup is done after data becomes corrupted, the other backup will be nearly complete.