How to Back Up a Computer Before Reinstalling Windows

Make a Backup Onto CDs
1. Navigate to the 'My Documents' folder on your computer. Highlight everything in the folder by positioning your mouse cursor at the upper left corner of the 'My Documents' window, clicking and then dragging down and to the right until everything is highlighted.
2. Release the mouse and right click anywhere on the files that are highlighted. A pop up menu displays. Select 'Properties.'
3. Determine how large your saved files are. You will see a listing saying how many files you have and how many megabytes or gigabytes they take up. If the total is under 600MB, proceed to Step 4.
If it is more than 600MB, you will need to selectively highlight material in you're My Documents Folder until only 600MB or less is selected (follow the first three steps).
Note: Users of 'Windows Vista' and above who are using DVDs should look for a total under 4.2 GB.
4. Right click again on the highlighted files and click 'Copy.'
5. Insert your blank CD into your CD drive and navigate to 'My Computer.' Locate the CD drive and open it. Right click inside the folder that opens and select 'Paste.'
6. Click 'Burn to disk.' Windows will copy all your files onto your disk.
If you did not have to selectively highlight files in Step 3, you are now done. You can now safely reboot your computer and re-install 'Windows.' Just be sure to save the disk in a safe place until you are ready to copy them back to your computer. If you had more than 600MB (or more than 4.2GB for DVD users in 'Vista' and above), see Step 7.
7. If you needed to select only some of your files in Step 3 because you had more than 600MB (or more than 4GB for DVD users in 'Vista' and above), go back to your 'My Documents' folder and select the remaining files. If the remaining files are under 600MB (or 4.2GB for DVD users in 'Vista' and above), follow Steps 4 to 6 to copy your remaining files onto another disk. If they are over that amount, follow the selective method in Step 3 and repeat remaining steps until everything has been copied.