How to keep My PC Clean, Safe, & Backed Up
How I did it: PC maintenance can be very easy if you are willing to put in just a little bit of work. I have a lot of music and photos that I can not risk loosing. I started with updating my Norton 360 software. Once it is set up properly, it runs automatically in the background. It protects against threats, has automatic clean up and back up schedules.
I also invested in a new MyBook 3.0 back up drive. The drive is amazing and Norton will automatically backup select files to the drive regularly for me. You can fully customize what files and how often they should be backed up. It is always important to keep more than one copy of important files just in case.
There are several great free utilities you can download to help protect your computer from attacks and phishing websites,and utilities to clean up your registry and help your computer run efficiently, like CCleaner for instance.
All you need is to invest in some quality hardware / software. It is easy to research online and find free utilities to help you along the way.
I regularly renew my flickr account, and also backup my photos there. My photos are priceless to me, and I figure better safe than sorry. There are plenty of free sites with limited hosting for you to backup all types of files. A paid flickr account is my personal choice.
Once everything is set up, all you have to do is run a manual clean up every once in a while, and take a quick look at the monthly reports Norton will generate for you. It is the best investment you can make for your computer to run quickly, efficiently, and never have to worry about loosing irreplaceable family photos.
Lifehacker also has a post about windows backup tools, if you are interested in something other than Norton http://lifehacker.com/398229/five-best-windows-backup-tools
Lessons & tips: Familiarlize yourself with your web brower and settings help prevent an attack (I recommend firefox)
Resources: Norton 360
Mybook3.0 Harddrive
CCleaner
