SB hard drive to do a complete back-up of your system. Now, some people use those little flash USB drives to back-up critical files, which is great (just don't loose it!). Others use the external USB hard drives which don't take up much room at all on a desk. Both are good options to consider.

Network Back-ups If you attach to a network, speak with your IT department to request that your laptop be added to a network back-up schedule. Or perhaps, give them your laptop before yo

With the costs of laptops coming down and performance going up, it has become more viable for companies to equip their employees with laptops--for those who travel, work from home, or for those who just prefer them to full size computers. Individual users, from college students to self employed people, now use laptops too because they are not as expensive as they once were. And lets face it, sitting at Starbucks with a laptop is much more appealing than sitting in a 6x6 cube in an office.

Most people don't consider what they can do to protect their data should their laptop gets lost, stolen, or just have a bad hard drive that fails or corrupts the data on the disk. Below are 5 simple things users can do to safely reduce the chances of losing their important files.

Download your Email. Store a copy of your email on your company's email server. Most email software allows you to 'store a copy' on the server. Outlook does it, for example. Set this option in your settings and it will allow you to download messages to multiple computers.

Virus and Spyware Protection. Use an anti-virus software package, and protect your system with spyware software. This is a step all users should do to protect their computers. Viruses are all over the internet, from questionable websites to that cute email your Aunt Mildred just had to send. Be smart and invest in virus and spyware protection. And then get a copy of it for your Aunt. :)

CDs are Cheap! Use CDs or DVDs to quickly back-up critical files and store those CDs to a safe place. Make a weekly backup of your important files. If you get rewritable CDs, then you can use the same one a few times, though it would be best to not reuse them too much. CDs have issues too after time which may cause you to need data recovery as well...but it is a lot less expensive than recovering data from a hard disk!

Buy an External USB Hard Drive Use an external USB hard drive to do a complete back-up of your system. Now, some people use those little flash USB drives to back-up critical files, which is great (just don't loose it!). Others use the external USB hard drives which don't take up much room at all on a desk. Both are good options to consider.

Network Back-ups If you attach to a network, speak with your IT department to request that your laptop be added to a network back-up schedule. Or perhaps, give them your laptop before you

der what they can do to protect their data should their laptop gets lost, stolen, or just have a bad hard drive that fails or corrupts the data on the disk. Below are 5 simple things users can do to safely reduce the chances of losing their important files.

Download your Email. Store a copy of your email on your company's email server. Most email software allows you to 'store a copy' on the server. Outlook does it, for example. Set this option in your settings and it will allow you to download messages to multiple computers.

Virus and Spyware Protection. Use an anti-virus software package, and protect your system with spyware software. This is a step all users should do to protect their computers. Viruses are all over the internet, from questionable websites to that cute email your Aunt Mildred just had to send. Be smart and invest in virus and spyware protection. And then get a copy of it for your Aunt. :)

CDs are Cheap! Use CDs or DVDs to quickly back-up critical files and store those CDs to a safe place. Make a weekly backup of your important files. If you get rewritable CDs, then you can use the same one a few times, though it would be best to not reuse them too much. CDs have issues too after time which may cause you to need data recovery as well...but it is a lot less expensive than recovering data from a hard disk!

Buy an External USB Hard Drive Use an external USB hard drive to do a complete back-up of your system. Now, some people use those little flash USB drives to back-up critical files, which is great (just don't loose it!). Others use the external USB hard drives which don't take up much room at all on a desk. Both are good options to consider.

Network Back-ups If you attach to a network, speak with your IT department to request that your laptop be added to a network back-up schedule. Or perhaps, give them your laptop before yo

you to download messages to multiple computers.

Virus and Spyware Protection. Use an anti-virus software package, and protect your system with spyware software. This is a step all users should do to protect their computers. Viruses are all over the internet, from questionable websites to that cute email your Aunt Mildred just had to send. Be smart and invest in virus and spyware protection. And then get a copy of it for your Aunt. :)

CDs are Cheap! Use CDs or DVDs to quickly back-up critical files and store those CDs to a safe place. Make a weekly backup of your important files. If you get rewritable CDs, then you can use the same one a few times, though it would be best to not reuse them too much. CDs have issues too after time which may cause you to need data recovery as well...but it is a lot less expensive than recovering data from a hard disk!

Buy an External USB Hard Drive Use an external USB hard drive to do a complete back-up of your system. Now, some people use those little flash USB drives to back-up critical files, which is great (just don't loose it!). Others use the external USB hard drives which don't take up much room at all on a desk. Both are good options to consider.

Network Back-ups If you attach to a network, speak with your IT department to request that your laptop be added to a network back-up schedule. Or perhaps, give them your laptop before yo

re Cheap! Use CDs or DVDs to quickly back-up critical files and store those CDs to a safe place. Make a weekly backup of your important files. If you get rewritable CDs, then you can use the same one a few times, though it would be best to not reuse them too much. CDs have issues too after time which may cause you to need data recovery as well...but it is a lot less expensive than recovering data from a hard disk!

Buy an External USB Hard Drive Use an external USB hard drive to do a complete back-up of your system. Now, some people use those little flash USB drives to back-up critical files, which is great (just don't loose it!). Others use the external USB hard drives which don't take up much room at all on a desk. Both are good options to consider.

Network Back-ups If you attach to a network, speak with your IT department to request that your laptop be added to a network back-up schedule. Or perhaps, give them your laptop before yo

SB hard drive to do a complete back-up of your system. Now, some people use those little flash USB drives to back-up critical files, which is great (just don't loose it!). Others use the external USB hard drives which don't take up much room at all on a desk. Both are good options to consider.

Network Back-ups If you attach to a network, speak with your IT department to request that your laptop be added to a network back-up schedule. Or perhaps, give them your laptop before you go to lunch and have them back up your data. Most IT departments figure the laptop users are on their own, so by asking them for a little preventive help with your computer using your savy tech talk, you may impress them... and who knows, they may upgrade your software for you while they have your system. :)

These are all simple low cost precautions you can take to protect yourself from losing your data, spending a lot of money, and effectively becoming unproductive. After all, your laptop is nothing more than a fancy paperweight without a working hard drive.