Protect your files and memories with simple spring cleaning tips

My top recommendation for protecting your precious memories, critical documents and the mountains of personal data we accumulate is straightforward: utilize a personal drive for backups.

When deciding what to back up from your computer, it's crucial to prioritize documents, files, and memories that are important and irreplaceable. Here's a comprehensive list to consider:

1. Personal documents: Include items like birth certificates, passports, social security cards, marriage certificates, wills and other legal documents that could be difficult or time-consuming to replace.

2. Financial records: This category should cover bank statements, tax returns, investment records and other financial documents that are essential for personal record-keeping and legal compliance.

3. Photos and videos: Family photos, vacation videos, special events like weddings or graduations and other personal memories that cannot be recreated.

4. Work and educational documents: If you use your computer for work or school, ensure you back up important projects, research papers, presentations and related correspondence.

5. Emails: Some emails might contain important information, agreements or attachments that you may need to refer back to. Consider backing up important emails or archiving them.

6. Contacts: A backup of your digital address book can save you a lot of trouble in case you lose access to your devices.

7. Music and media collections: For those who collect music, movies and books digitally, backing up these files ensures you don't lose your collection.

8. Software and app data: Back up settings and data for apps that you use frequently, especially if they help manage your schedule, finances or health.

9. Website bookmarks: If you rely on bookmarks to navigate the internet efficiently, backing them up can save time if you need to restore or switch to a new device.

10. Game saves and profiles: If you're a gamer, backing up your game saves and profiles can prevent loss of progress in case of system failure.

11. Creative works: Include writings, artwork, design files, coding projects or any other personal or professional creative work.

Adopt the 3-2-1 backup strategy: Ensure you maintain three copies of your data: the original, a backup on a different device and a third copy stored offsite or in the cloud. This approach offers robust protection against data loss.

Update your passwords for better security: One of the most important steps in protecting your data is regularly updating your passwords to prevent unauthorized access. Here's how to do it effectively:

By updating passwords along with other spring-cleaning security measures, you significantly reduce the risk of cyber threats and unauthorized access to your sensitive data.

Taking a few minutes to protect your data and devices today can save you hours of frustration, heartache and financial loss tomorrow. Regular backups and trusted antivirus software work hand in hand to shield your digital life. Unplug your backup drive when finished and store it in a safe place - it's a small step that makes a big difference.

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