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Learning the Basics
Saving your work
Saving your work
Before you turn off the computer using the Shut down command,
save your work on the internal storage drive, external media, flash
media, or optical disc. This is one of the most important rules of
computing.
Many applications offer a feature that saves documents at regular
intervals. Check your application’s documentation to see if it has an
automatic save feature.
Backing up your work
Back up all the files you create in case something happens to your
computer. You can back up your files to different types of media
such as CDs, DVDs, external storage media, or to a network, if
available.
To back up several files at one time, use the Microsoft
®
Windows
®
file recovery program preinstalled on the computer’s internal
storage drive. Also see “Backing up your data or your entire
computer with the Windows
®
operating system” on page 151.
HINT: Backing up all the files on your internal storage drive may take
a considerable amount of time and multiple CDs/DVDs. You may
prefer to use a high-capacity file recovery system, such as an
external hard drive.
Using the optical disc drive
Optical storage is a popular medium for software, music, and video.
Digital versatile discs (DVDs) provide a significant increase in data
storage and support features that were not available on previous
video platforms. These features include wide-screen movies,
multiple language tracks, digital surround sound, multiple camera
angles, and interactive menus.
TECHNICAL NOTE: Your optical disc drive is set to play region 1
(North America) DVD-ROMs. If you play a DVD disc from another
region, the drive will automatically change to play in the format of the
other region. The drive will allow you to change regions four times.
On the fourth change, the region will be “locked in.” That is, the drive
will only play DVDs from that last region. Note that changing from
region 1 to region 2 and back to region 1 is counted as two changes.