Copyright: INIBAK Copyright ® 1994 by Neil J. Rubenking


Contents
Protect your INI files with INIBAK

INIBAK protects up to ten INI files by keeping backups in a special directory. Each time you start Windows, it compares each protected INI file against its most recent backup and warns you if there have been any changes.

The main INIBAK Window

Overview

INIBAK Menus

File Menu

Levels Menu

Help Menu


File Menu

INIBAK maintains multiple backups of the files it protects.  From the File menu, you can add or delete files from the list of protected files. restore one of the backups, or trigger INIBAK's file-checking mechanism.

File Menu Choices

Add INI File to List

Delete INI File from List

Restore INI File from Backup

Check INI Files Now


Levels Menu

Some Windows INI files change frequently, so a single backup might not be enough.  INIBAK maintains at least three backups for each protected file, but you can set it to keep up to 12 levels.  Just click on the desired number of backups in the Levels menu.

If a given INI file has the current maximum number of backups and you then reduce the number of levels, INIBAK will ask if you want to delete the backups older than the new limit.  You can answer YES to delete them now, NO to leave them alone, or CANCEL to cancel the change to the backup levels.  Note that if you answer NO, the older backups will still be deleted the next time you add a new backup of the corresponding INI file.


Add INI File to List

INIBAK can protect up to 10 INI files.  The arbitrary limit of 10 is imposed because INIBAK's file checking takes time.  Note that PROGMAN.INI should not be protected, because if you have Program Manager's Save Settings menu item checked, PROGMAN.INI will change every time you restart Windows.

If you attempt to add an 11th file to the list, INIBAK will tell you to remove its protection from one of the other files first.  If you attempt to add a file that's already on the list, INIBAK will inform you that the file is already present.  If you attempt to add a file that doesn't have the INI extension, INIBAK won't do it.


Delete INI File from List

Deleting an INI file from INIBAK's list doesn't delete the file itself, of course.  It simply deletes any backups of that file, and removes it from INIBAK's list of protected files.


Restore INI File from Backup

Selecting this option will bring up the Restore form, which lets you choose a backup file to restore.  The same form is invoked when INIBAK displays the Warning Form to warn of changes and you select Restore File From Stack button.


Check INI Files Now

Normally you will install INIBAK in your Startup group, or add it to the RUN= line in WIN.INI.  The first time it runs during a given Windows session, it will automatically check all of its protected INI files for changes.  After that, you can minimize it or simply terminate it.  If you run it again, it will not jump automatically to checking INI files, but you can select this menu item to trigger that behavior.  You may want to do this after a major software installation, so as to quickly get a new backup of any changes to WIN.INI and SYSTEM.INI.


Help Menu

The Help menu activates INIBAK's help system.


File List

The File List displays the files protected by INIBAK, in alphabetical order.  During the process of checking files for changes, the file currently being checked is highlighted and its name is displayed above the list.  Use the File Menu to add or remove files from the list.


Overview

Windows programs use INI files to store all kinds of information about user preferences.  For example, WINFILE.INI contains the most recent screen coordinates of File Manager and of any open directory windows.  Certain INI files affect the workings of your entire Windows setup, specifically WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI,  and to a lesser extent CONTROL.INI.  If anything happens to one of these essential INI files, Windows may not work at all.

Windows INI files are dynamic, often changing from session to session, so you can't just make a backup and put it away in a drawer.  You need a program that will automatically detect changes to INI files and make backups if necessary.  That's INIBAK!

When INIBAK extends its protection to an INI file, it makes a copy of that file in a special directory, changing the extension to 000.  If it's necessary to make another backup, INIBAK renames the first backup to have the extension 001 and gives the new backup the extension 000.  Each time a new backup is added, the existing backups get "pushed down" one number.  If the number of backups for a given file exceeds the limit (from three to twelve, set by you) INIBAK deletes the oldest.


Warning Form

INIBAK warns you if one of its protected INI files isn't the same as that file's most recent backup.  It displays the changed lines in two list boxes, one showing lines that were added since the last backup and one showing lines that were deleted since the last backup.  Changed lines show up in both lists.  You then have four choices:

 Add Changed File To Stack

 Overwrite Top File Of Stack

 Restore File From Stack

... or you can IGNORE the changes, in which case you will have to deal with them the next time INIBAK checks files.


Add Changed File To Stack

INIBAK's warning form shows you the differences between the current INI file and its most recent backup.  If you judge that both the current INI file and its most recent backup are valuable, press this button to add the current INI file to the stack.

Here's what happens.  First, INIBAK fills in any gaps in the file extensions of this file's backups, so they run 000, 001, 002, and so on, with no gaps.  Next, if the maximum number of backups are already present, it deletes the oldest one.  It renames each file to the next higher extension, so they now run 001, 002, 003, and so on.  Finally it copies the current INI file to the 000 slot.


Overwrite Top File Of Stack

INIBAK's warning form shows you the differences between the current INI file and its most recent backup.  If you judge that the current INI file is more valuable than the most recent backup, you can simply replace the most recent backup with a copy of the current INI file by pressing this button.

Why would you do this?  Suppose you already have the maximum number of backups for this file (as selected from the Levels menu), and all of the backups are important.  Now INIBAK reports that one minor item has changed in the INI file.  If you selected Add Changed File To Stack, the oldest of your INI files would be deleted.  By selecting this button instead, you retain all of your important backups and also keep your most recent backup current.


Restore File From Stack

INIBAK's warning form shows you the differences between the current INI file and its most recent backup.  If you notice massive deletions, or if the added lines seem to be garbage,  your INI file has been corrupted.  Now INIBAK is earning its keep!  Simply press this button to restore bring up the Restore form and restore one of your backup INI files.

If you're not sure which of the backups to restore, you can choose Ignore at this time.  After examining the backup files, just select Restore INI File From Backup from the File menu to restore the one you've selected.


Line Change List Boxes

When INIBAK compares the current INI file with its most recent backup, it notes any differences by adding lines to one of the line change list boxes in the warning form.  The upper box holds added lines - lines that are present in the current INI file but not in the backup.  The lower box holds deleted lines - lines that were present in the backup, but are not in the current INI file.  Changed lines appear in both boxes.

Every key line in an INI file has the form key=value, and it appears in a particular section.  The section headings are contained in square brackets, like this: [Section heading].  When INIBAK displays a line, it prefixes the key line with its section heading, like this: [Section heading] key=value.


Restore Form

This form appears when you select Restore INI File From Backup from the File menu.  It also appears if INIBAK displays its Warning Form and you press the Restore File From Stack button.

The backup list box on the left lists all the backups for this particular INI file, and the file information panel on the right displays information about the highlighted file.  Most of the time you'll simply select the 000 (most recent) backup, but you can choose any of them.  If you choose a file other than the 000 backup, the file you selected will be moved into the 000 position.  Press the Restore Selected Backup button to copy the selected backup over the current INI file.


Backup List

This list simply shows the available backup files, starting with the 000 backup and going up to from 002 to 011, depending on how you've set the number of backup levels in the Levels menu.


File Information Panel

The file information panel lists the file date/time stamp and file size for the backup that's highlighted in the Backup List.


Restore Selected Backup

When you press this button, INIBAK copies the highlighted backup file over the current INI file.  The selected backup is promoted to the 000 (most recent) position.  Then INIBAK gives you the option of restarting Windows, because many INI file changes don't take effect until you restart Windows.


Backup Directory

INIBAK stores all of the backups it makes in a special directory below your Windows directory.  The name of this directory is INIBAK¢¢.¢¢¢.  Please don't add, change, or delete files in this directory!