If you don’t, you could lose everything on your PC for ever. Creating a backup doesn’t require any specialist knowledge and takes the same amount of time as it does to watch an episode of Coronation Street.

The initial backup takes a little while to complete, but after this backups don’t take anywhere near as long, because you’re only backing up files you’ve recently changed or added. To do a backup you need to find something to save your files on. Most people use an external hard drive because they’re cheap, have a very large storage capacity and you can plug them in with a USB cable and use them immediately.

Step-by-step: Create a backup right now

1 Choose a drive
To start backing up your PC, click on Start ➜ Control Panel ➜ System and Security ➜ Backup and Restore. Click on Set up backup and select your external hard drive from the list of destinations. Make sure that the external hard drive you’re backing up to is bigger than the internal drive you’re backing up.

2 Different location
If you have more than one PC, you might prefer to back up to a network drive because all the PCs on your network can access the same drive. To save files to a network drive, click on Save on a network. Enter the location of the network (browse for it on your PC), then enter the username and password.

3 Back up everything
Select what you want to back up. The easy option is to select Let Windows choose. This backs up most of your files and folders, except ones that aren’t needed, or can’t be backed up. It also creates a system image, like a mirror of your PC, so if there’s a problem with your PC, you can easily restore it.

4 Pick and choose
If you only want to select a few folders to back up rather than most of what’s on your PC, select the Let me choose option from the list. This also gives you the ability to change when you perform a backup. Click on Next and select the folders that you would like to include in your backup.

5 Make an image
Keep the Include a system image of drives tick box checked if you want to be able to easily restore your PC if something goes wrong. Then click Next and confirm that you’re backing up the right folders. If you want to change how often you back up your PC, click on Change schedule.

6 Change schedule
By default, backup is set to run once a week, but if you use your PC quite a lot, it might be a good idea to increase the frequency of backups. Conversely, if you don’t use your PC much, you can reduce how often you perform a backup. The best time to do a backup is when you’re not really using your PC, such as overnight or when you’re at work, especially if you have a lot of files to back up. Use the drop-down menus to change the schedule. Click on OK and your PC now begins backing up.

7 Resurrect your PC
When you want to restore your PC using your backup, go to the Backup and Restore Center and click on Restore my files. If there’s a serious problem and you can’t access Windows, press F8 on your keyboard before the Windows logo shows during startup, insert your Windows 7 disc and choose Repair your computer.

8 Breathe a sigh of relief
You should be feeling more confident because your PC is a lot safer. You’ve created a backup of your PC on to an external hard drive, network drive or some DVDs, and you can restore your PC to its old settings if anything gets wiped or you have a more serious problem that prevents you loading Windows.

It’s not worth deciding on some convoluted back-up plan that you’ll never keep up. If all you need to save is your Documents folder, making complete system images every week is a waste of time. You’ll give up long before you have your system crash, and lose everything.

2

It’s always worth keeping at least two copies of your files, one on a physical medium such as a DVD or external hard drive, another in an online backup service – so if your home is damaged by fire or flood, you’ve still got your documents.

3

Online backup services are generally reliable, but they rarely make a cast iron guarantee that your data will be safe, or offer any comeback if they lose it. This is especially true with free ones, which might disappear, be bought out, or change focus at any time.

4

Never keep your backups on your main computer. A virus, an accident or a hard disc crash could easily destroy them along with the original versions.

5

Your files matter, your Windows 7 installation doesn’t. Reinstalling may be a pain, but you’ll be back up and running in minutes. You can’t replace lost photos or documents.

6

You can’t back up programs by just copying their folder from Program Files – at least, not all of them. Most require registry entries, drivers and other bits from around your system. Only a system image is guaranteed to restore settings.

7

Restoring previous files can be a lifesaver, but don’t get into the habit of thinking of it as a safety net. If you’re going to be making big changes to a document that you may or may not want to undo, the best way is always to save it as a new copy until you’re sure.