Your Windows computer includes backup software that can backup your files. You must have a place to backup your files to such as an external USB hard drive or USB flash drive or a network location.

Make sure to connect your external USB hard drive or USB flash drive first and then start the backup software. This will help the backup software to discover and select your backup device.

Windows 10 File History Backup

Click Start, Settings, Update & Security, Backup. Click Add a drive and Windows will search for your external backup drive. You can also add a network connection at this point. Continue with the backup process as instructed by the backup software.

Windows 10 backup is referred to as File History which Microsoft introduced in Windows 8.1. File History will backup your data and maintain older versions of your files.

Windows 8.1 File History Backup

Right click Start, click Control Panel, File History. Select the external drive and Turn on file history. An advantage of File History is a backup of your data as well as it maintains older versions of your files.

Windows 7 Backup

Click Start, Control Panel, System and Maintenance, Backup and Restore. Next click Set up backup and walk through the process of backing up your computer. The Backup Destination will be your connect USB backup drive or network connection.

Windows Vista Backup

Click Start, Control Panel, System and Maintenance, Backup and Restore. Next click Backup up Files if you want to backup your data. Alternatively if you have a lot of space on your backup drive, you can click Back up computer which will perform a backup of your data and Windows in the event of a hard drive crash. Walk through the process of backing up your computer. The Backup Destination will be your connect USB backup drive or network connection.