All computers will, at some point, fail.
They won't start, they won't recognize the hard drive, they get infected with a virus to name just three scenarios. Often it's simply age - the components start to fail.
Think of your computer like your car, there comes a time when it's not worthwhile trying to keep the car going and it's time to get a new one. Of course you knew this and planned for it, so the change over is reasonably smooth.
It always surprises me how many people do not plan for their computers failing and leave their data at risk.
The Wessex Pricing Program has been around long enough for a number of computers that it is installed on to have failed. So, what happens?
In an ideal world you download the program from the Wessex website onto your new computer, get a new enabling code from Wessex Bournemouth branch, and import the 2 data files that you've backed up from your old system. About 10 minutes including the phone call.
The real problem comes when those 2 data files ("V3.mdb" & "user.xml") have not been backed up.
Is it possible to rescue the situation?
If you can access the old hard drive then you will find the 2 files in C:/ProgramData/WessexPictures/wpp4.
Copy them onto a usb stick and import them into your new set up.
If you can't get into the old hard drive then you are faced with starting all over again with a fresh database and trying to remember all the labels and their associated values you had - not good.
So how do you plan for your computer failing?
Simply by making sure there is a copy of your data somewhere other than on the computer.
One way of doing this is to keep a portable hard drive plugged into your computer and schedule a backup frequently.
Another way is to use cloud storage such as Dropbox, Onedrive or Google Drive.
So far as the Pricing Program is concerned I have tried to make it as simple as possible to create copies (backups) those all important two files, "V3.mdb" which contains the database of your mouldings, customers and worktickets, and "user.xml " which contains your labels and the values that go with them.
Ideally you will set an automatic backup, so everytime the program is shut down the two files are copied to your backup location (I have a usb stick always plugged in).
To set this go to "Setup" > "Options" and choose the "Netwk/BkUp" tab. Tick "Use automatic backup" and then set where you want to backup to.
Alternatively you can manually copy the two files. ("File" > "Export Database", and "Setup" > "Values" and click the "Export" button).
But whichever way you do it - DO IT NOW!
