AbleCommerce Shopping Cart Software

Got to thinking that I should be a bit more pro-active in this area.

How do I back up my database and back up the rest of my website? I'd like to download to my PC or to an off-site depository away from my host. Do I need a code (key) from my host to do this? TIA

For all code base you would need FTP client to download all website code base. Regarding data you can take backups of your database. When you have both these things in hand setup your local setup by restoring the database on your local machine. For this you would need your FTP and database credentials.