Transfer iPhone contacts to PC

Hello,

My computer crashed and I had to reformat the entire system. I've lost all data, including previous iTunes library.

I'm scared to plug in my iPhone into iTunes, coz I'm unsure what it might do to it!

Here are my problem questions that I'd appreciate any help on:

• Transferring all contacts from iPhone to the computer (outlook or windows address, anything is fine...so long as I have a back-up on my PC)

• I'm confused about the term sync. Does it work both ways in transferring / backing up data when you plug in the iPhone?

• When I do manage to transfer contacts from iPhone to PC, what happens to the rest of my iPhone data in the process - photos, music, videos,apps?