Ok so I need some backup software (freeware), my computer is badly infected and while mflynn is helping me work it out it seems to be getting worse at times and I figured I better backup before its too late or before I give up and just reinstall XP.

I need something that can compress and save to dvd because I have upwards of 150 or more gigs of files I want backed up and no more space on my HD, I tried comodo backup but when it ran it only saved as much as could fit on the dvd and then said it was finished when it clearly wasn't so hopefully something that can support having to backup on multiple dvd's. I would rather have something do this for me than having to sit there and manually compress and burn dvds. Thanks in advance if anyone can help.

While awaiting an expert’s reply, I think you should seriously consider acquiring an external HDD of a few hundred GB connected to a USB 2 port. It will only cost a few 10’s of Euros now, not much to pay for saving your system and having an additional functional HDD.

It’s far more convenient than stacks of DVD’s, which have to be re-done after a while. In fact, for your size of files, I’d say DVD’s aren’t a viable solution. For backing up, you can just send your files to the external HDD, or much more convenient, get a free synchronizing tool that will keep your backup updated in the fastest and easiest way, even automatically without you having to move a finger.

forget saving to DVDs. Get a good cloning program (there are lots of free ones) or use one like acronis (commercial) and clone to a secondary HD. HDs are cheap and much more reliable than DVDs which scratch.

Agree with the above, buy a NAS and use our Backup Dwarf for regular backups.

Cloning will take the entire HD and replicate it which may be a massive overkill.
Most users have their data located at

• in XP: \Documents and Settings\yourLoginId\
• in Vista: \Users\yourLoginId\

Saving (or backing up) user files is not only faster but consumes far less secondary storage,
which encourages more frequent backups