As often as once per day I recommend to someone that they invest in a USB flash drive for backup of regular files. The most common response I get back is, "I have one, I just don't know how to use it."

Here's how to do it. Keep in mind that USB flash drives do not work well with Windows 98 so these instructions are for Windows XP and up.

1. Open My Computer and make a note (mental or otherwise) what letters appear next to the drives. You should see C:, D: etc. Chances are that the flash drive will occupy the next available letter, but keep My Computer open just to be sure.

2. With My Computer open, plug in the flash drive and wait for it to be recognized and installed by the computer. This could take as long as a minute to happen. You are waiting for the computer to tell you that the hardware has been successfully installed.

If you have previously plugged the flash drive into the computer, you may not get any such notification.

3. Close any windows that pop-up in the process but watch the icons in My Computer closely - you will see a new drive letter appear. That drive letter indicates your flash drive. Make note of it.

4. You are now ready to backup. If the file that you want to backup is in My Documents do the following:

    a. Open My Documents

    b. Right-click on the file that you want to copy to the flash drive

    c. Choose SEND TO from the menu that comes up

    d. Left-click on the flash drive letter

This will copy the file to the flash drive - or in other words you have backed it up.

5. If you are backing up a program such as PAF, Quicken or Quickbooks, do the following:

    a. Click on FILE and choose the backup option

    b. When it asks for the destination - type in the drive letter that you want the program to backup to, i.e. "F:"

    c. Finish the backup process by clicking on the affirmative option whenever it prompts you to do something such as OK, YES, NEXT, I AGREE.

This will backup the file to the flash drive.

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