Retrieving data off floppy disks poses challenge

Q I bought a Macintosh Performa 636 in 1994, and I have kept using it without upgrades. I never connected it to the Internet, and have relied on a printer to make paper copies of about 1,400 poems and 18 short stories I've written using a program called ClarisWorks.

I backed up those document files on floppy disks, with the idea of transferring them to a friend's computer. But none of my friends' computers have floppy disk drives.

My resources are extremely limited. What can I do?

ROB SWART, MANKATO

A Your problem is one that many people have experienced. I still have floppy disks around, but no computer to read them. But I long ago converted the data I needed to save to a newer medium. You need to do that now by one of two methods.

You could get an Internet account and e-mail your floppy disk files to a friend as e-mail attachments. Your friend could then download your files to his or her computer, even if that computer lacked a program to read ClarisWorks documents. If you lost your files as a result of computer failure, your friend could e-mail the documents back to your new computer.

If you need help with e-mail, you can learn how to open a free Yahoo e-mail account at yahoo.com (click "mail," click "sign up"), and how to attach files to an e-mail at www.tinyurl.com/lnk6tf.

Or you could buy a new or refurbished Apple computer and buy a copy of AppleWorks, the replacement for the ClarisWorks program. AppleWorks was discontinued in 2007, but recent versions are available online if you do a Google search for "buy AppleWorks." For more information about AppleWorks, see www.apple.com/support/apple works. To move your files to the new computer you'd have to purchase an optional external floppy drive that could read your floppies.

Q My iMac is about five years old, and I've been having problems with the monitor. Sometimes when I turn on the computer, the monitor remains dark. Or if the computer goes into sleep mode, have to hit a key six times for the screen to light up. The problem seems to happen at certain times of the day. Could it be related to Internet congestion or my Internet service provider?

JUDY GERLOCK, TUCSON, ARIZ.

A No, your problems are inside your computer. Because your iMac is an all-in-one machine, in which the monitor and computer are one unit that can't easily be diagnosed or replaced separately, you should take it to an Apple dealer to see if it can be fixed or needs to be replaced. If it needs to be replaced, consider buying a more conventional computer that has a separate monitor you could replace if necessary.

E-mail tech questions to steve.j.alexander@ gmail.com or write Tech Q&A, 425 Portland Av. S., Minneapolis, MN 55488-0002. Include name, city and phone number.

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