Bill Hopkins is the Webmaster of PhotoSourceFolio* (www.photosourcefolio.com) and a regular contributor to PhotoStockNotes. Send comments via Email to wh@photosourcefolio.com. Fax: 1 818 831-0916. Or US Mail: PhotoStockNotes. (*Display 6 of your images on our Web site!) For on-line marketing questions, contact him on the Kracker Barrel at www.photosource.com/board

When it comes to protecting your programs and data from loss (whether it be theft or a hardware/software failure), there are three key points to remember: backup, backup, backup. You can use streaming tapes, removable drives (such as ZIP, Jazz, etc.), the newer LS120 "super" disks, another computer, or even your Web site. Windows 95/98, with its long filename capability, has introduced a wrinkle into any backup process. It's like this: Windows allows long filenames such as "norton antivirus," "norton utilities," and "norton crashguard," for example. But there is also a DOS component, and thus your files (or folders) will also appear as "norton~1" "norton~2" and "norton~3." (If you've never seen this, open up a DOS window, type "DIR" and press Enter.) No problem, except that the Windows Registry (and other places) may have stored the shortened folder name in some of the registry keys. Thus, one key trying to point to "norton antivirus" may have been stored as "...norton~1." When you restore your files after a failed hard disk to a new disk, the new folder long filenames are the same, BUT depending on the ORDER that the new folders are created (something you can't control), "norton antivirus" may now be "norton~2" and you can see where that can lead! The registry key trying to find a file in "norton~1" (where it was before the crash) that is now in "norton~2" (after the crash) won't find it. How do you protect yourself? Ensure that the first 6 characters of any folder (or files within a folder) is unique. Thus, "Photos of Yosemite" and "Photos of Carlsbad" should instead be called "Carlsbad Photos" and "Yosemite Photos."

National Park Photography

We've always said that "it's YOUR park," paid for by your taxes. Still, you may run into NPS personnel that are unaware of the current rules governing photography in our National Park System. The North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) has a number of items relating to permits in NPS-controlled locations on their Web site, www.nanpa.org/nanpa.htm. To read the current NPS policy, check out www.nanpa.org/news/npsltr.htm. Many photographers have found it beneficial to carry a copy of this policy in their camera bag while on NPS grounds.

Microsoft Security Patches

In response to newly-discovered security holes in their products, Microsoft has released two patches to address these issues. These patches plug potential security breeches relating particularly to malicious Web sites and/or Email attachments. These fixes should be downloaded immediately and installed if you have Word97, Office97, Outlook98, and certain other Microsoft applications. For further information and to download the patches, visit http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/downloaddetails/wd97sp.htm and http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/downloaddetails/fm2paste.htm.