Software can be a big investment so it’s natural that you’d want to protect your purchases. A recent survey which Softwareload carried out in the UK found that 15 per cent of consumers believe that by not being able to install software packages they have already paid for onto new PCs they have lost money. Seven per cent believe PC change cost them more than £100 in lost software last year.

If you’re upgrading an existing PC or laptop, then you have plenty of time to transfer the software packages that you’ve bought over to your new machine. However, all too often people don’t have the luxury of choice, as their laptop may be lost or stolen. According to computer manufacturer Dell, 15,500 laptops are lost by business travellers alone each week in the European Union. Needless to say, it makes sense to have back-up versions of your software or, even better, store it securely online.

Safety Net

Softwareload has got around this problem by offering 12-month remote storage for its customers. This means that people who buy software from the site are offered the option to store their product securely online, which can be downloaded as required for up to a year after purchase. Even if our customers lose the use of their laptop or PC they can download products that they’ve already purchased onto their new computer.

Our survey found that more than half of men (51 per cent) have used a new computer in last year compared with 42 per cent of women, so knowing how to transfer existing software packages over to a new computer is something everyone needs to know.

Here are our top tips if you’ve got software that’s not backed up online:

• Keep copies of your product keys safe
• Keep copies of your CDs in a single, memorable place
• Make a list of the software you’ve bought in case of loss or theft
• Keep a USB stick handy to save your software file on and transfer if required

At the end of the day, laptops and PCs are vulnerable to loss, theft and damage, so we need to back up our software purchases as we would any other work or personal files that we store on those systems.

To learn more about Softwareload’s online back-up system please visit Softwareload.co.uk.