new to iphone 3GS

Ok, I have always had a crappy phone until I got a 3GS. I had it for a week or so, then updated to iOS 5.0.1. It took about two hours to do since I didn't know what I was doing.

The update went fairly smooth even though I had to contact AT&T support later because the password for Apple ID would not work. I got that settled in under an hour, and I set-up the phone the way I wanted. So I was momentarily happy.

Tonight, I wanted to download a new theme, so I hooked up the iPhone to my computer and the launched iTunes. I looked away for a few seconds, the phone beeped, and when I looked back, the phone was being backed-up. I thought, OH, NO! don't go backward on me now that I have the silly thing set-up correctly.

Well, bottom line, I still have iOS 5.0.1 but none of the prefes or setting including the way I had my desktop is the same config.

Now to my question... will the phone get backed-up everytime I hook up to iTunes? This is not something I want to have to do all the time.

Any thoughts?

Daniel