How do I backup my r2 before I start messing with it??

I know on my Mac there was something called time machine. I never used it and I've never done any backing up ever on my desktop but i keep reading about losing respawn or something on this site so I figured I should learn now. I have an external hard drive that my wife uses to just copy/paste pictures from her iMac so I have something I can use.

Any tips or pointers would be appreciated. I'm going to uninstall mcafee and make changes here and there so id like a backup in case something goes bad.

 

I back up my entire system by making a system image that can later be restored. It's not a factory restoration, it is how everything at the time of backup. No restoring settings, no reinstalling games and apps. Windows 7 has the feature under backup. It will walk you through the whole process. Someone else will have to chime in with other ways of doing it.

 

you can get norton ghost or acronis true image but my personal way to backup is to copy the my documents, downloads, and personal crap on to an external and do a clean install and dump my personal crap, reinstall all apps and games and start from scratch. Everyone has there personal preferences in how do to it and you will find a method that works for you If you want free use the windows 7 built in backup or my method otherwise cough up some $$$ for Norton or Acronis

 

Your machine should come with a software called: Dell DataSafe Local Backup. Launch that and create a set of recovery media. You can use either a thumb drive (which is what I like for speed) or DVDs. You can use this recovery down the line just in case your recovery partition gets damaged or if you change hard drive to restore the computer to the same condition when you first turn it on.
I would test run the recovery media after the making it to make sure it works.