Backups

I know they should be done on a routine basis, however on my old windows computer I never did them. I kind of understand their importance, to keep a "hard copy" of your system in the event things get damaged. Feel free to correct me if im wrong. Would anyone care to explain how I go about making a back up and how often I should do it. Thanks.

Well, simply buy an external hard drive, connect it to your Mac, and then just write all your current files to the drive.