There are two kinds of computer user, those who admit to losing information and those who lie. If you have a business or spend long hours working at your machine the value of your work could far outweigh the value of the equipment it is stored on.

If you read any computer magazine you will find advice to backup your computer but many users just don’t , either because they don’t know how or they are not organised enough to do it regularly.

This article is intended to give beginners a few pointers in the right direction.

So how do you lose a file? Your work is stored temporarily in RAM memory in your computer, but if there is a power cut or computer crash this memory is wiped clean. To save your work in a more permanent form you need to save to your hard drive, which is usually called your C:\ drive.

The hard drive can save information even without power because it stores data magnetically on a spinning metal disk, even with the power off the magnetised disk keeps your data, but the hard drive is a mechanical and electrical device with moving parts that can fail.

The two most catastrophic hard drive failures occur when the motor that spins the disk or the electronic chips that control the hard drive burn out. Your data is intact on the disk but can only be retrieved by a specialist company at a cost of at least £350.

Less of a catastrophe but still annoying, files can also become corrupted or scrambled but generally, if the drive will still spin, your data is most likely recoverable by much cheaper software methods.

You could also lose your data if the computer is lost in a fire or stolen or you accidentally delete work so it is essential to keep a second copy or backup.

The most convenient way to backup is to write files to a CDR disk or DVD R disk. Most computers under 3 years old have a CD writing drive or could have one fitted for about £50.

I like free programs and here’s a great one to help you collect your important files together and make an effective backup. It is called “Argentum Backup 250” available from www.argentuma.com. After setting it up it will collect together files from various places on your hard drive including the My Documents folder, your email messages, address book and Desktop and compress these into a simple folder called My Backups. Copy this to a CD and store it away from your computer, preferably “Off Site” in case of fire or burglary. You can schedule a regular backup daily, weekly etc and the limited free program can be licensed to obtain more features. There are more advanced programs available but none of them will put a CD in the drive and burn it for you!