Some years back, during university days, I was very active in doing normal PC servicing & support, and here are some practices I normally gave to people.
And these are still very useful today, I believe. Many people are still repeating the mistakes.
1. Create at least two partitions for your PC
Most default installations create one partition, C Drive only. That is very dangerous as if something happens to your operation system, you may risk losing all data. It is possible to recover those data but it is troublesome. You can read my another article for that.
So, the solution is to have a D Drive, at least. Btw, many new PC or Laptop shipped today are already having more than one partitions.
For a running system, you can use Partition Magic to create a new partition. The tool is not free, you can buy it from here: http://www.symantec.com/norton/partitionmagic
The tool need to be used by expert people, otherwise you may risk corrupting your Windows.
After you have two partitions, remember, always store data file in the non-system drive, say, D Drive. The reason is very simple, D Drive data wont be wiped out when doing a new installation into C Drive.
2. Change Default Path for "My Documents"
Windows is user friendly and it also creates some problems if you just use the default settings.
For example, many people like to put files into "My Documents". Well, not recommended. You can create folders in non-system drive and create a shortcut to desktop.
Or another way is to change to path of "My Documents". To do that, following these steps:
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Right click "My Documents"
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Choose "Properties"
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Choose "Locations"
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Change to a location in non-system Drive, D Drive
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Choose "Move"
For Windows Vista, the steps is a bit different but similar.
The purpose for this is very simple: don't keep data file in system drive.
Also, it is not recommended to put files in your desktop. It is convenient but it is dangerous too, for the same reason as above.
3. Change Default Path for Your Email Applications
This is for the similar reason too. Most common used email applications is Microsoft Outlook Express (Windows Mail for Vista).
What you need to do is:
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Go to Tools -> Options
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Choose the "Advanced"
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Click on "Maintenance" button
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Click on "Store Folder" button
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Click on "Change" and choose a folder under non-system Drive, D Drive
After you do this, your email related data will be very safe.
For other email software, similar settings can be done also, but you will have to figure out the steps.
4. Use Software to Backup Your Data Regularly
Don't care how you do the first 3 steps, you may still risk to lose all your data if your hard drive crashed. So the best way is, backup all your data regularly.
You won't do this manually: there is software helping you on this.
The best one I know is "SyncBack Freeware", you can download it here: http://www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html
Note that they have paid versions too. But the free edition is good & complicated enough for lots of common users.
There are lots of options inside. You don't have to use all the features. So keep IT simple, use the basic functions. At least, setup a sync operation between your valuable folders and your external drive.
5. Backup Your Windows Drive into Image File
This is advanced and should be played by technical people only.
The idea is to rip your complete system Drive (C Drive) into an image file for future recovery use.
Imaging your have installed lots of software into your Windows, and one day for whatever reason it stops working. You may get your data back but you will have to reinstall the Windows and all the software.
So, if you have a copy of the Windows plus all software installed when the system is in health status, you can simply restore the whole image back. In 30 mins you should be able to restore back an original working system with all your software.
You can use Norton Ghost for this operation: http://www.symantec.com/norton/ghost. This is a very advanced tool and the best one.
You can also use DIXML for this similar option: http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm. Note the free edition is only for home users.
Both tools should be used by expert only. Don't play with your production system if you don't know what you are doing.