Windows Vista implements volume shadow copies and transactional NTFS, which enable you to roll back changes to a volume, folder, or file (Shadow Copies and Transactional NTFS). This is a great technology that ought to get you out of a jam or two. However, shadow copies are no substitute for regular backups, which remain the best way to ensure the safety of your data.

Unfortunately, in previous versions of Windows, backing up files was never as easy as it should have been. The Microsoft Backup program from the past few versions of Windows seemed, at best, an afterthought, a token thrown in because an operating system should have some kind of backup program. Most users who were serious about backups immediately replaced Microsoft Backup with a more robust third-party alternative.

That might not happen in Windows Vista because the new backup programnow called Windows Backupis quite an improvement on its predecessors:

• You can back up to a writeable optical disc, USB Flash drive, or other removable medium.

• You can back up to a network share.

• After you set up the program, backing up is completely automated, particularly if you back up to a resource that has plenty of room to hold your files (such as a hard disk or roomy network share).

• You can create a system image backupwhich Microsoft calls a CompletePC backupthat saves the exact state of your computer and thus enables you to completely restore your system if your computer dies or is stolen.

If there's a downside to Windows Backup, it's that it's not very friendly to power users. It's completely wizard-driven, and there's no way to configure a backup manually.

As a measure of how important automated backups are in Windows Backup, when you first launch the program (select Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Backup), it displays a page and prompts you to configure and start the automatic backups feature.

When you first launch Windows Backup, the program prompts you to configure and start the Automatic Backups feature