Backing up is hard to do, to coin a phrase. And it's true; taking time out from a busy life to mess around with backup tapes or other media is a pain in the proverbial. After all, data stored on a PC's hard drive is as safe as houses, isn't it? Well, yes it is, but only in the same way that houses are safe from fire, subsidence, vandalism and large blocks of frozen waste falling from passing aircraft. To put it another way, data stored on any PC is at risk. Take a careful look at the files stored on your hard drive and ask yourself how long it would take to replace them all in the event of theft, a virus, software corruption or a disk crash. If the answer is "Quite a long time, really", then you should be making backups.

Seagate makes hard drives and, rather conveniently, Seagate Software makes software for backing up the data on those hard drives, or those of any other manufacturer for that matter. This latest version of Backup Exec has some of the same useful features as its predecessors, including the support for emergency restore of Windows 95 or Windows 98. That means that you can restore the entire operating system using just two floppy disks and the media containing your most recent full backup, even if your entire hard drive has been wiped. Compared with many backup tools, which require you to reinstall Windows first, this is a real time-saver.

As with most backup utilities, Backup Exec Desktop 98 offers three main functions - backup, restore and compare. The first two are obvious, while the third allows you to check that there are no errors in your backed-up data. There are plenty of customisation options: you can choose to back up all your data, or only those files recently modified, or only those files that correspond to a filter of your choice. It is also possible to schedule backup operations for a specific time. Conveniently, this software supports long filenames and will also back up the Windows 95/98 registry, which is the heart of the operating system.

What is, perhaps, more important is that this software package supports a wide range of backup devices. If you don't have a tape drive installed you could always back up your data to Zip disks, although with a 10GB hard drive that might take a while, or even (strictly for the masochists, this one) floppy disks. Virtually all SCSI and non-SCSI tape drives are supported, as are magneto-optical devices, DVD-RAM drives and even CD-R/RW drives, which is quite impressive. If you still don't qualify, any drive with a drive letter can be used, including network drives.

Backing up is dull, but it is also essential. If your PC is equipped with any sort of removable media or network connection, Backup Exec Desktop 98 at least makes the operation relatively painless. With its support for CD-R/RW devices and any letter-mapped drive, you are not likely to find a more versatile backup software solution.