What is the safest way to replace a CMOS battery?

Hi,
Since around 3 days ago, I started having problems with the date and time on my computer. Yesterday when I started up my computer, it gave me a 'CMOS Checksum error - defaults loaded' screen and I had to press F1 to start up my computer. When the computer did boot, my date and time had been reset back to Midnight 1st January 2007. Turning on my computer today, I got the exact same error message and my date/time resetting.
I can only assume the CMOS battery is either dead or dying.

I've watched some videos on YouTube and replacing it seems simple enough, but I'm a bit worried about damaging my motherboard. I'm still an amateur with computers and I've never done any physical work to one before. I've heard quite that static electricity can fry circuits in your motherboard and this had got me worried, lol. What would be the safest way of removing the CMOS battery without damaging anything?

I'm running a Windows Vista Desktop by the way.

Also, a bit off-topic, but will the computer just start as normal after replacing the battery and/or will I lose any kind of data?