Since Windows XP it’s been extremley easy to burn a CD. No special software required. All you need is a blank CD, and a CD burner installed in your computer (which they’ve all came with for years now). Currently all computers come with CD / DVD multi recorders so they can burn both CD and DVDs as well as read them. Here’s how to burn a CD:
1. Insert a blank CD in your drive. A window may pop up asking what action to take. You can just close it.
2. Go to the location of the files you want to copy, right click on the folder that contains the files to backup and copy. You can also copy by holding down the CTRL button on your keyboard and clicking multiple files/folders. (Note: Up to a maximum of 700MB approximately as that is how much a CD can hold)
3. Go to My Computer, or in Windows 7 it is Computer. Double click the CD drive and right click in that blank area on your screen and select Paste. (Note: This doesn’t burn the files, but it puts them in a temporary location to prepare for burning.)
4. Now in XP you can click on the link on the left side that says “Write these files to CD” and a Wizard pops up. Follow the short wizard and you’re done. The CD normally pops out automatically when finished.
If you have Windows Vista or 7 it’s the same procedure but the wording says “Burn to disk”.
How to make a DVD
You need special 3rd party software that normally comes with your computer to burn a DVD. If you don’t have the software, you can download free versions and trial versions which you can later buy online. The instructions for each one are different so I can’t list them all here. Instead I’ll provide you with a list of various software programs and their websites including which ones are free.
http://www.nero.com/ is very popular and usually comes with most computers.
http://www.roxio.com/ is also a popular one and comes with many computers.
http://www.easydvdburning.com/ has a few different products to buy.
http://www.burn4free.com/ – FREE software
http://www.nero.com/eng/downloads-nero9-free.php – FREE version of Nero. I don’t like this because it forces you to install the Ask toolbar, make your default home page, and default search engine, even if you uncheck it in the beginning part of the install wizard.
http://www.freewarefiles.com/CDBurnerXP-Pro_program_9600.html – CDBurnerXP is FREE. Although this also has the check marks on by default to install Ask like Nero, you can uncheck it and just install the CDBurnerXP software. I used this software for a while previously and still today.