You are very serious about your computer's security. From anti-spyware software to firewalls, your computer has it all. There's no way you'll open an email before it is checked for viruses and you have anti-virus software installed just in case. You are completely protected, right? Well, there is one other thing you should do to protect all the data on your computer's hard drive. From digital photos of special memories to important documents, you could lose it all if you don't do regular backups.

After all, the most secure computer won't be able to do a thing to protect your data if something happens to your hard drive. You'll need to be sure you have a safe and secure copy of your computer's data in another location. There are just too many physical risks to your hard drive to neglect data backups. Anything from a power surge to a house fire can rub out all of your hard work in seconds if you don't have a backup for your files. The time to rectify this situation is now. Deciding to wait another day or so before you get around to making your backup could be a decision that costs you your work.

If you are using your computer to store information that could lose you money if it disappeared, you will want to be doubly sure that you keep the data safe. Making a copy of business data that you store on a disk in the same home your computer is in doesn't protect you from losses due to fire, theft, etc. Store that backup at another location, such as a friend's house or your bank vault.

No matter how careful you are to back up your computer, you are not being overly paranoid. If it can happen, it will, especially if a data loss means you will be unable to meet a job deadline or that you will lose irreplacable photos. A routine that involves backing up data to two separate hard drives on the same computer, then to a third external hard drive or zip drive is a good first step. Adding an online file backup service to the backup routine is a great second step. Mozy is one of these online file backup services. Adding a file server to the entire bundle isn't a bad idea, either.

If you are afraid that making a backup is too hard or time consuming, don't be. You can find plenty of equipment to help you, from internal or external hard drives to online file storage systems. For small amounts of data, a DVD backup or a small USB pen drive can work. In a pinch, backing up to an email account with plenty of storage, such as Google or MSN, can provide emergency backup storage. In fact, your biggest problem will be deciding which of the many backup solutions is right for you. As you read a bit more about data backups you should be able to decide on the right option a bit more easily.