Yes, backing up can't be stressed enough. Some people think it's too complicated and so never do it, but these days it's as simple as a few mouse clicks. I never worry about anything but the documents, pictures and that sort of thing, but some people like to do a periodic image of their entire drive.
BTW, Roy, before you just toss that old laptop aside, might I suggest formatting the hard drive and installing Linux Mint? Linux will run nicely on old hardware, even when Windows might not like it anymore. I just installed Mint on an old laptop for a friend last week. He was about to buy a new one, but I convinced him to allow me to revive his dead one for him, and he seems to be settling into Linux quite well.