It is the last day of the Vista era and, even though many of us will still be using XP and Vista in some capacity, tomorrow marks a new dawn for computing.  Before you can make the dash to the next generation, there are some things you are going to need to do.  For those of you who will NOT be making the change, don’t change the channel just yet.  You will benefit from today’s topic as well, backups!

Yes, backups!  You have more than likely heard the term at your office before, but have you considered it for your home computer?  There are a million reasons why you should back up your data, but very few people actually do it.  Just think, what happens if there is a natural disaster, your computer is stolen, your hardware crashes or you accidentally hit delete in the wrong area?   Chances are, you have already experienced one of these events and lost precious data, yet you still aren’t regularly backing up your system.  In the ultimate “pot calling the kettle black” I am still not backing up my laptop either, but today that is going to change.

Whether or not you are going to upgrade to Windows 7 tomorrow, where backing up your data before the install is key, you need to find a way to backup your information locally (external hard drive, CD, DVD, LAN) or over the internet (FTP, backup service).  Not only do you need to back it up, but you need to schedule it so it happens on a regular basis.  There are many free programs out there to help the average user backup their system and we are going to help you narrow down the choices by testing at least one of these out.

After some research and reading several blogs written by other PC enthusiasts, I have decided to test out a particular piece of software that is, you guessed it, FREE!!  I don’t want to release the name just yet.  I’ll test it out first and then report back later on the back up and the process involved.  We’ll let you know if is is the best software for your backup needs.

In the mean time, how would you like to win a FREE Windows 7 PC?  TigerDirect.com is giving away 77 PCs in 77 days and all you have to do is fill out your email address, name and zip code to enter.  Just pop on over to this page http://www.tigerdirect.com/sectors/campaigns/include/microsoft_win7_sweeps.asp.  Enter daily for more chances to win.

Tags: backup, data loss, Windows 7

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 8:13 am and is filed under Tips and Tricks, Windows 7. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.