Question on Private and Public Keys?

[The Extreme]

Total noob question, I know, but:

I know that every user of BTC/LTC/you name it has both a Private and a Public Key.  I know that each have to deal with wallets. 
And I know that you would never want to reveal your private key to anyone! 
But I'll be danged of I could tell you how I would even go about viewing my private or public keys. 

Questions:
1.  where does one view either of the jeys?
2.  Is it necessary to back up these keys, much like backing up the .dat file that is your wallet?
3.  If the answer to #2 is yes, what is the best way to do that?
4.  what are some best practices/suggestions for guarding your private key? 

ThanksQ

the Extreme 

[pmconrad]

1.  where does one view either of the jeys?

With the command line client, enter

 bitcoind dumpprivkey youraddress

This will output the private key for "youraddress". I don't know how you'd  do that with the qt client.

2.  Is it necessary to back up these keys, much like backing up the .dat file that is your wallet?

The keys are stored in your wallet.dat. If you back up wallet.dat there's no need to keep separate copies of the private keys. Unless you want to print them on paper and store them in a bank safe or something.

4.  what are some best practices/suggestions for guarding your private key? 

Encrypt your wallet.dat and unlock it only when you want to spend coins.