Another thing that you would hate to lose in the event of a system failure would be your list of favorites in Microsoft Internet Explorer. All those bookmarked web pages took you a long time to find.

To back up your favorites in Internet Explorer, simply back up this folder:

Documents and Settings\{your name}\Favorites

You can also edit your Favorites list from that folder too (delete, rename, reorganize, and so on), rather than doing it the traditional way through the Favorites menu in Internet Explorer.

What Else Should I Back Up?

It's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to backing up your computer. Here are some other things to make sure you have backed up:

• Dial-up numbers: If you connect to the internet via dial-up modem, make sure you have the phone number written down someplace that your modem calls, along with your user ID and password. Because most people store the password, they tend to forget it.
• Email information: Make sure you have the information needed to set up your e-mail account(s) again if you were to lose your e-mail software. This includes not only the email address and password, but also the incoming and outgoing mail server names.
• Word templates: Word templates are not stored in the same place as regular documents. You can change where templates are stored via Word (Tools > Options), but the default storage location is Documents and Settings\ {your name} \Application Data\Microsoft\Templates. Make sure you back up that folder if it contains any template you need to preserve.
• Networking configuration: If you connect to a network using a fixed IP address, or with your computer having a specific name on the network, make sure you write these down somewhere so you can set up your network again. (If you work for a company that has an IT staff, you probably don't have to worry about this.)
• Data files for other applications: Some applications do not store their data files in My Documents. Instead they store them in the same folders as the applications themselves. Some versions of QuickBooks and Quicken are like that, for example. If that's the case for you, make sure you back up those data files. Or even better, place the data files in My Documents, and then open them from there. That way all the data files are backed up in one location.

Moving On

In this lesson, you learned the importance of backing up, and you found out how to back up not only data, but also system settings and other important information. This should give you some peace of mind as you move into the upcoming lessons, where you'll start doing some things with your computer that perhaps you've never done before. Before you move on to Lesson 2, do the assignment and quiz for this lesson. Also, check in on the Message Board to see what your fellow students are up to.

In Lesson 2, you'll learn about how to find and remove background applications.