How to backup your system on Windows XP, Vista, and 7

Here are some guides for backing up or scheduling to backup your data on Microsoft Windows XP, 7, Vista directly from Microsoft's website.
MAKE SURE YOUR EXTERNAL DEVICE IS CONNECTED TO THE COMPUTER AND POWERED ON.

For Windows XP
1. To start Backup, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to system Tools, and then click Backup.
The Backup Utility Wizard starts by default, unless it is disabled.
2. Click the Advanced Mode button in the Backup Utility Wizard.
3. Click the Backup tab, and then, on the Job menu, click New.
4. Select the files and folders you want to back up by clicking the check box to the left of a file or folder under Click to select the check box for any drive, folder or file that you want to back up.
5. Select File or a tape device in Backup destination, and then save the file and folder selections by clicking the Job menu, and then clicking Save Selections.
6. In Backup media or file name, type a path and file name for the backup file, or select a tape.
7. Select any backup options you want, such as the backup type and the log file type, by clicking the Tools menu, and then clicking Options. When you have finished selecting backup options, click OK.
8. Click Start Backup and make any changes you want to the Backup Job Information dialog box.
9. If you want to set advanced backup options such as data verification or hardware compression, click Advanced. When you have finished selecting advanced backup options, click OK.
10. Click Schedule in the Backup Job Information dialog box.
11. In the Set Account Information dialog box, enter the user name and password that you want the scheduled backup to run under.
12. In the Scheduled Job Options dialog box, in Job name, type a name for the scheduled backup job, and then click Properties to set the date, time, and frequency parameters for the scheduled backup. When you have finished, click OK, and then click OK again.

For Windows Vista and Windows 7

MAKE SURE YOUR EXTERNAL DEVICE IS CONNECTED TO THE COMPUTER AND POWERED ON.
1. Open up the Control Panel and click on “Backup your computer” (You can also access it by entering backup into the search field)
2. Click on set up backup
3. Select a drive for the backup
4. Select “Let me choose” and select the files and folders that you want to backup.

What does Windows backup?
Windows will only backup libraries, user settings, your desktop and other system files and will automatically create an image of your Windows partition, so you can always restore your computer when needed. However, this will consume quite a lot of disk space, so deselecting this option can save space for other things.
5. If you don’t want a copy of your main drive, deselect the option “Include a system image of drives (C:)”. Select the files that you want to backup.
6. Click on “Change schedule”: Schedule backup and Select the scheduled time for your backup.
7. Confirm your schedule, save your settings and run the backup.