Windows Backup Or Restore Wizard is a very useful utility that come standard with Windows XP Professional Edition. It is very handy in performing crucial system and data files backup and restoration, prior to any making of important changes.

Here is the step-to-step guide on using Windows Backup Or Restore Wizard.

To Backup

To start the wizard, click Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Backup.

Everytime during the start of Windows Backup Or Restore Wizard, it will try to locate any backup devices available.

You can either choose Wizard Mode or Advanced Mode. We will use Wizard Mode from now on.

Next we can choose either backup files and settings or restore them.

Three predefined backup plans and a user selectable plan to choose from:

My documents and settings: Includes the My Documents folder, plus your Favorites, desktop, and cookies.

Everyone ’s documents and settings: Includes every user’s My Documents folder, plus their Favorite, desktop and cookies.

All information on this computer: Includes all data on this compute, and creates a system recovery disk that can be used to restore Windows in the case of a major failure.

Let me choose what to back up

Next select a place to save the backup and a descriptive name for this backup.

Finally a last chance to review the selected backup options and settings. To perform the backup, click Finish to run.

Thats all for performing backup using Windows Backup Or Restore Wizard.

To Restore

Select “Restore Files and Setting”.

Next select the backup files that you wish to restore. You can restore any combination of drives, folders or files by double click on items in the left to see the contents and select the check box to select files to restore.

Finally review ur selection prior to perform the actual restoration.

Windows Backup Or Restoration Wizard is a simple tool for novice to perform files and system setting backup and restore. It lacks the more advanced features but hey, it is free and get the job done.