Translations by Joel Addison

Connect to the Internet using a <link xref="net-wireless-connect">wireless</link> or <link xref="net-wired-connect">wired connection</link>.

Click the <app>Ubuntu Software Center</app> icon in the <gui>launcher</gui>, or search for <input>Software Center</input> in the <gui>dash</gui>.

The installation usually finishes quickly, but could take a while if you have a slow Internet connection.

A shortcut to your new app will be added to the launcher. To disable this feature, uncheck <guiseq><gui>View</gui><gui>New Applications in Launcher</gui></guiseq>.

Only add software repositories from sources that you trust!

Third-party software repositories are not checked for security or reliability by Ubuntu members, and may contain software which is harmful to your computer.

On the PPA's overview page, look for the heading <gui>Adding this PPA to your system</gui>. Make a note of the PPA's location, which should look similar to: <code>ppa:mozillateam/firefox-next</code>.

Switch to the <gui>Other Software</gui> tab.

Click <gui>Add Source</gui>. Enter your password in the Authenticate window.

Close the Software Sources window. Ubuntu Software Center will then check your software sources for new software.

The <app>Ubuntu Software Center</app> makes it easy to remove software that you no longer use.

When the Software Center opens, click the <gui>Installed</gui> button at the top.

Find the application that you want to remove by using the search box, or by looking through the list of installed applications.

You may be asked to enter your password. After you have done that, the application will be removed.

Click on the <app>Ubuntu Software Center</app> icon in the Launcher, or search for Ubuntu Software Center in the search bar of the <app>Dash</app>.

<code>deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise main</code>

<code>deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu precise partner</code>

Click <link href="apt:cheese">this link</link> to launch the <app>Software Center</app>.

For help with using Cheese, read the <link href="help:cheese">Cheese user guide</link>.

After you have backed up your files, you should make sure that the backup was successful. If it didn't work properly, you could lose important data since some files could be missing from the backup.

When you use the file manager to copy or move files, the computer checks to make sure that all of the data transferred correctly. However, if you are transferring data that is very important to you, you may want to perform additional checks to confirm that your data has been transferred properly.

You can do an extra check by looking through the copied files and folders on the destination media. By checking to make sure that the files and folders you transferred are actually there in the backup, you can have extra confidence that the process was successful.

If you find that you do regular backups of large amounts of data, you may find it easier to use a dedicated backup program, such as <app>Déjà Dup</app>. Such a program is more powerful and more reliable than just copying and pasting files.

Learn how often you should backup your important files to make sure that they're safe.

On the other hand, if you are backing up the data on your home computer then hourly backups would likely be unnecessary. You may find it helpful to consider the following points when planning your backup schedule:

If the data you want to back up is lower priority, or subject to few changes, like music, e-mails and family photos, then weekly or even monthly backups may suffice. However, if you happen to be in the middle of a tax audit, more frequent backups may be necessary.

As a general rule, the amount of time in between backups should be no more than the amount of time you are willing to spend re-doing any lost work. For example, if spending a week re-writing lost documents is too long for you, you should back up at least once per week.

The easiest way of backing up your files and settings is to let a backup application manage the backup process for you. A number of different backup applications are available, for example <app>Déjà Dup</app>.

The help for your chosen backup application will walk you through setting your preferences for the backup, as well as how to restore your data.

An alternative option is to <link xref="files-copy">copy your files</link> to a safe location, such as an external hard drive, another computer on the network, or a USB drive. Your <link xref="backup-thinkabout">personal files</link> and settings are usually in your Home folder, so you can copy them from there.

Files that are already backed up somewhere else, such as to a CD, DVD, or other removable media.

Files that you can recreate easily. For example, if you are a programmer, you don't have to back up the files that get produced when you compile your programs. Instead, just make sure that you back up the original source files.

Any files in the Trash folder. Your Trash folder can be found in <file>~/.local/share/Trash</file>.

If you lost or deleted some of your files, but you have a backup of them, you can restore them from the backup:

If you want to restore your backup from a device such as external hard drive, USB drive or another computer on the network, you can <link xref="files-copy">copy them</link> back to your computer.

If you created your backup using a backup application such as <app>Déjà Dup</app>, it is recommended that you use the same application to restore your backup. Review the application help for your backup program: it will provide specific instructions on how to restore your files.

Deciding which files to back up, and locating them, is the most difficult step when attempting to perform a backup. Listed below are the most common locations of important files and settings that you may want to back up.

Personal files (documents, music, photos and videos)

These are usually stored in your home folder (<file>/home/your_name</file>). They could be in subfolders such as Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos.

If your backup medium has sufficient space (if it's an external hard disk, for example), consider backing up the entire Home folder. You can find out how much disk space your Home folder takes up by using the <app>Disk Usage Analyzer</app>.

Hidden files

Any file or folder name that starts with a period (.) is hidden by default. To view hidden files, click <guiseq><gui>View</gui><gui>Show Hidden Files</gui></guiseq> or press <keyseq><key>Ctrl</key><key>H</key></keyseq>. You can copy these to a backup location like any other file.

Personal settings (desktop preferences, themes, and software settings)

Most applications store their settings in hidden folders inside your Home folder (see above for information on hidden files).

Most of your application settings will be stored in the hidden folders <file>.config</file>, <file>.gconf</file>, <file>.gnome2</file>, and <file>.local</file> in your Home folder.

System-wide settings

Settings for important parts of the system aren't stored in your Home folder. There are a number of locations that they could be stored, but most are stored in the <file>/etc</file> folder. In general, you won't need to back up these files on a home computer. If you are running a server, however, you should back up the files for the services that it is running.

Your priority should be to back up your <link xref="backup-thinkabout">most important files</link> as well as those that are difficult to recreate. For example, ranked from most important to least important:

This may include documents, spreadsheets, email, calendar appointments, financial data, family photos, or any other personal files that you would consider irreplaceable.

Most people never change the system settings that are created during installation. If you do customize your system settings for some reason, or if you use your computer as a server, then you may wish to back up these settings.