When you back up any PC you are protecting all of your files and documents that are on your computer. In the event of crashes to your system you have all of your data saved on a separate storage device.

Storage media is either a floppy disk, CD, DVD. A storage device is a memory stick, external hard drive, flash drive or any device that is separate from your computer and kept in a safe place.

Most computers today have several slots for various types of removable storage. Look at the front of your desk top or tower to see what types of removable storage devices you can use.

Back up anything that would not be able to be replaced if your PC crashed. Back up documents, photos, music, etc. that could not be duplicated. The file system for Vista does not need to be backed up merely because if your computer crashed you have the CD's to reinstall Vista.

The back up feature is only available in the Vista Home Premium Edition or higher. It is not available in Vista Home Basic Edition but you will get a reminder from Windows to back up your files.

There are two ways to perform a back up: either by manually selecting each file you want to back up, or by using Automatic Back Up. The disadvantages of doing a manual back up is that it's very time consuming. You have to remember which file is new or has been modified when you do your next back up.

With Automatic Back Up, Vista keeps track of which files are new or have been modified since the last back up. Schedule your back up according to how often you access important files. You have the option to back up files daily, weekly, or monthly.

When you use Automatic Back Up, Windows will bring up a list of all locations that use removable storage. Select which location to use for the back up and insert the removable storage device. If you are going to use CDs or DVDs, your PC needs to have the appropriate burning hardware. Most PCs these days come with a DVD burner. And DVDs store much more information than a CD.

If you're going to use CDs, make sure you've got plenty of them! We recommend an external hard drive for backing up. They're much cheaper than they were at one time and you can use them over and over. When starting the back up Windows tells you how much data there is to back up and how much space you will need.

Perform a complete system back up approximately every six months. This backs up all system files as well as all personal data like documents, photos, music. This is extremely time consuming and uses a lot of space so again if you are using Cd's, make sure you have a lot of them. This way in the event of a crash you have all the system information on back up.

Use System Restore to create a restore point before you back up. If something happens or errors are created you can go back to that restore point and start again.