Ever since I lost about 5,000 letters from my "Saved Mail" PFC file, I have been backing-up my letter files. These are really the only files on my computer which concern me. I routinely save my "Favorites" onto a floppy, but I don't have a way to save the letter files which gives me confidence. I currently have about 10,000 letters in my "Mail" PFC file. I periodically save the file to another location on my small harddrive, naming it "Mail1" or such, with the expectation that I could rename it back to "Mail" if needed, and proceed as if nothing happened. In fact, is this all there would be to it? Or would it be more complicated? I have also saved the "Mail" file onto a DVD, but I've been saving it as a data disc and not a bootable one. Does it really matter... as I find that .pfc files, because they use AOL's proprietary Rainman programming language, are unreadable by any means I can find on my computer? How would I replace a corrupted Mail PFC file from a DVD? I know of only one technician who feels comfortable moving files around, etc., in the "AOL realm"...... but he is no longer available. Other techs I've talked with just get very unhappy and want me to change to an MS or other system. I have also sent the Mail file to my other computer, but 10,000 letters, transmitted via dial-up computers, is a real chore. I know that there is a "restore" feature on newer AOL versions, but there must have been a technique for replacing a corrupted file with a back-up file, into the PFC, with the the older AOL versions. I would like to be armed with the procedure, if the need arises. OK....... I hear everyone saying "Go to 9.0, dummy !!". I am still on 5.0, and content with it. For at least 4 specific reasons: 1). I have about 1450 Favorites, all suitable arranged and sorted by category. I use hundreds of them each week, and wasted time Googling is not an option. I understand that my 1450 Favorites exceeds the number allowable on AOL 9.0. But maybe that's only a limitation for their server's saving of my Favorites. I don't want to have to try to choose. Not possible. 2). I like the plain text e-mails (I can still add accents, etc. if I want to), as I understand they are inherently safer from 'attack'. I receive a couple of hundred e-mails a day, nearly all in Digest formats, and seem to be relatively free from spam. Even before AOL instituted a filter, I was still getting only 2 or 3 of those unwanted mails per day. I can't see going to a newer, larger AOL version - just to "go back" to a plain text feature which I have already. 3). The saved mail on my hard-drive is simple, completely searchable, and free from the long arm of AOL interference. I don't have to move mail "to a different folder" to protect it, etc. All just a lot of unnecessary folderol, as far as I'm concerned. 4) Although I do have to endure the obtrusive large AOL Welcome screen - plus the blue Google-garbage on the left and the Buddy-garbage on the right (all easy to get rid of, though), I am still free from pop-ups and ads on my e-mail windows. So, I can't think of a reason to add more "special features" to my small, slow hard-drive. And that also accounts for my still being on Win98SE - and loving it. I'm on a slow dial-up, with limited RAM, etc., so I'm not a candidate for WinXP (nor am I a candidate for broadband - too far "up in the woods"). I try to keep my system as simple as possible. I spent 14 years in the 50's and 60's writing computer programs - - linear and non-linear programs, mathematical models, etc. ........ and don't want to go back to the obsession and stress of that career <gr>. But I would appreciate some comfort-talk on my concern over backup, and suitable procedures. Incidentally, I did "dump" my entire hard-drive onto a DVD - took only 45 minutes. That seems a bit extreme to use as a backup measure, though. And, of course, I don't have a clue what I would do if I needed it <gr>. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Pete Schermerhorn, in the glorious Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts