Let's face it. Nobody backs up their PC. Sure, if you need to do your Spring reformat and/or reinstall, or install a new hard drive, your backups are probably out of date, or you've probably missed something. Even in my own network, where I advocate constant backups, I don't always practice what I preach.

Backing up is boring. It ranks right up there in the excitement scale as defragmentation (which I'll bet nobody does either). It takes up time, and you'll have to go through all your backups to decide if something is missing. Anyone who uses a real Windows OS; i.e., Windows 2000/XP, probably knows a backup utility, based on Veritas' Backup Exec, exists, but do you actually use it? I do actually, but it isn't very powerful, and not very intuitive. The actual Backup Exec program is a lot better, but it's an enterprise level application. Translation: it's expensive.

Having good success with Stomp's RecordNow Max, and reading about a thousand reviews on Backup MyPC, I decided to give it a try. Admittingly, I was a bit hesitant, as the name itself doesn't exactly blow me away (read: Product is for n00bs), it has been getting good press lately. Having a large amount of experience with backup applications such as Backup Exec, ArcServeIT and various disk imaging programs, I didn't have high expectations of the product. Here's a bit of what they have to say...

"BackUp MyPC is a powerful yet easy to use data protection and disaster recovery solution for a single computer or peer-to-peer network. Conveniently backup important files or your entire computer while you're not even around using our advanced scheduling system.

BackUp MyPC backs up to Recordable CD/DVD, Tape, Zip, Jazz, and other removable media drives and employs disc spanning and data compression which typically can double your media capacity for significant savings.

In the event of hard drive crash, system failure or even just plain-ole' simple human error, you can then restore a single file or your whole hard drive with BackUp MyPC."

Immediately, when I opened the UPS parcel, I noticed the weight of the box. Being simply software, this could only mean one thing... a huge manual. It's a stretch, but I'm going to say that the manual included with Backup MyPC is one of the best (and largest) manuals I've come across for any backup application. It doesn't miss anything, and it is well written and easy to understand. I wish others would follow Stomp's example and produce well written documentation as well. Here are the rest of the specifications...

Easy to use interface

Backup and Restore Wizards that guides you through each procedure with clearly defined instructions.

Disaster Recovery allowing you to restore your system from a boot disk (currently not available under Windows XP).

Peer-to-peer network data protection

Unattended backups with flexible scheduling

Maximize media using significant compression

One button backup and restore

Perform full, partial or differential backups

What is going to be important for the majority of you is the scheduling, compression, and the ability to perform full, or differential backups. A full backup is self explanatory, but a differential is the real killer. Rather than constantly backing up the same folder, over and over again, the software can backup only files that have changed since the last full backup. This can save a lot of time, and because all of this can be scheduled, it can be done while you're not using the PC, much like what you should be doing with virus scanning.

As you may know, is a software partner with , who themselves are a household name for any IT manager. This adds a lot of credibility to the company, as it allows them to borrow, and improve on some already great software.

Installation is straightforward, and you'll need a reboot once it's complete. Every Microsoft OS is supported by Backup MyPC, except for the Server versions. This is a shame, but since it's really only the business sector that should have servers, let them pay the big bucks.

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