To get up to speed, hunt down Lotus Notes for Dummies or similar books on Amazon or at a local bookstore. I also strongly urge you to make friends with somebody knowledgeable about the system at your new office.

I have been religiously backing up my Macintosh-based computer for months and now have a huge problem: my hard disk drive has crashed. I must restore everything but the software I used to back things up does not seem to work any more. (I was using the Apple Backup software that comes with a Mac account.) It looks as if I may have lost everything. Any suggestions?

Name and address supplied

DQ: A quick search on the internet shows few people value Apple's Backup software. One of its biggest failings concerns the 'restore' feature. The first thing you need to do is check for any new versions of Backup. Next, you ought to copy the actual backup files.

There is a little-known trick with Backup files that may help you. If you hold down the control key while clicking once on the file name, a menu will appear. The third item from the top is 'Show package contents'. If you click on that, a window will appear with a folder called 'Contents'. Double click and you will see four items inside, one of which - again - is a folder called 'Contents'. Inside this folder will be a file with the name: 'Backup.

sparseimage' (the name may not be exactly that but it will be close). Double-click and an image of the file - resembling an external disk drive - will appear on the desktop. You can access it as you would any other device. This may not solve all your problems but if you know what to look for, you will be able to save a great deal.