Tip: What should you include in your backup?

A backup can save the day, the week or the year. Both financially and mood-wise. A good backup makes recovery efficient, easy and fast.
But is it enough to just get it, install it and click "yes" through the installation? Or should you think about something specific when choosing what to include?

A little thought goes a long way, because a backup service is useless if you don't put what you need backed up in it, whereas it's invaluable if you pack it right. The basic principle of selection should be files you can't recover and files whose loss would create a lot of work.

What does that mean? Obviously, images, documents and files require more or less work to be recreated. So, choose the folders you use daily, plain and simple. Then you'll have what you're working with secured.

In addition, these things may be worth considering:

• Do you have software that creates its own backups? Many programs allow you to create specific backups of, for example, accounting or records. Make sure that these go into a folder that you have marked for backup. A good tip is to create a "Backup Folder" under the "My Documents" folder and then include this when selecting folders and files for your overall backup.
• E-mail? How is your job email configured, is the email hosted by the provider? Or locally? Many people today work "in the mail", we hardly save files and documents because they are easy to find in the mail application. But what happens if something goes wrong? If you're not sure, ask the person in charge of IT where you work.
• Cloud services. Do you use a cloud service and work with files directly online? Such as sync services like Dropbox, GDrive or OneDrive? Then it might be a good idea to include these folders in the backup as well. Since these types of folders are also often shared between many people who can all accidentally change, delete or infect files, it's often a good idea to get protection for it.

Take a moment to look through your backup settings. It's like travelling - pack right and you'll have a great trip no matter what happens along the way.