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What happens to my song files when I uninstall NoteWorthy Composer?

In general, your song files are safe when using the uninstall utility. If you do an "Automatic" uninstall, only the files originally installed by the setup will be removed. However, there are two scenarios where your song files are at risk:

Scenario #1:

1. You store your files in the NoteWorthy Composer program sub-folder "Samples"
   
2. You use the same filenames as the existing samples installed by the program
   

Scenario #2:

1. You store your files in the NoteWorthy Composer program folder
   
2. When uninstalling, you perform a "Custom" uninstall
   
3. During the custom uninstall, you tell the removal utility to remove the NoteWorthy Composer program directory
   

If you fit into one of these two scenarios, then you should immediately rearrange your filing system on your computer. You should never store your own files in the same directory as program files. We recommend that you keep your song files in a separate folder. You can configure NWC to use this folder from Tools | Options | Folders. If you are using Windows 95 or better, a good place to keep your own files is the "My Documents" folder on your C: partition. It is then an easy process to backup your files, as they are all filed within a single folder hierarchy.

If you have not implemented a backup strategy, this should be your next planned action. Nothing is more important than protecting your work product. You can always reinstall your programs, but you can never recover your hard work unless you keep good and frequent backups.

What if I already uninstalled NWC and I cannot find my song files?

Well, for starters, we should point out that you should always keep a backup of your work. Hard drives do fail, and when they do, you will sing a sigh of relief when you have a current, working backup of your work.

Backups aside, after uninstalling and then installing a new version, some people confuse the absence of their NWC file history as having lost their song files (they no longer show up in the File | History command). If this is the case, then you will find your song files on your computer in the location where they are still stored. One way to track them down is to use the Windows "Find" command. From an Explorer window, simply type Ctrl+F and the find utility will open. From there, you can search for your files by name. Use the "Look in" box to specify all of your drives, select "Include subfolders", then specify the name of one of the files that you are trying to find.