There's no security these days, and there are a lot of things around us to prove that. After all, nothing is perfect, and when we talk about computers and technology, it's the same. The last keyword that I send into space today is “backup”, and this should clear things.

Information security is nothing without reliable backup hardware and software. As a home user, some optical discs and maybe an external hard drive should be enough, but the problem appears when you have to decide which program should take care of this task. Don't worry, I have one possible solution for you today!

The life saver (or maybe “data saver”) that I have here is called Handy Backup, it reached version 5.4.5 and comes as a 30 days trial version. Its installation kit has 3.4MB in size and the setup process shouldn't be much of a problem. We have only two things to talk about now – interface and features; so let's get this rollin'!

Handy Backup has a nice and easy to use interface that you really don't need to think about. Why? Because the three main tasks that you can perform here, backup, recovery and folder synchronization are assisted by a wizard that makes your job much, much easier.

Now I'll tell you about the steps that you have to follow while creating a new backup task, leaving the restore and synchronization operations for you to discover. The first screen of the wizards is a common one, that enables you to choose the task you want to perform, and getting to this screen is a child's play, I don't have to tell you how to use the File menu, the toolbar button or the Ctrl+N shortcut...

After choosing the Backup task, the second step requires to choose the files and folders to backup. They can be from your computer, but you can also backup data located on a FTP server, registry keys, Outlook Express files and more. When using the Expert mode, you can set exclusion filters to skip temporary files, for example.

Next two steps take care of the destination and advanced backup settings. The destinations available include LAN, FTP and SFTP, CD/DVD or the online backup service offered by the producer of the program, while the advanced settings screen lets you select full or incremental backup and a bit more than just that.

Every backup program that wants to have a word to say on the market should have the ability to place data into encrypted archives, and Handy Backup is no exception to that rule, the Compression and Encryption step taking care of that.

Next step is called Scheduling and I don't have to tell you more about it. If you want to use it, then go ahead, it’s as easy as a walk in the park!

The seventh step allows you to baptize your new backup task and is the last step guided by the wizard. The other goodies like email notification are your pleasure to discover, for me the time has come to draw some conclusions...

The Good

The ease of use, features and price recommend this program as a worthy backup solution, and the 30 days free trial with all features available plays the part of the cherry on top of the cake.

The Bad

This is the second backup program that I review and can't find anything bad about it, maybe only the fact that it's not free and it doesn't have a full partition backup feature that could build a bootable DVD...but you can't have it all. At least not yet!

The Truth

This program is not perfect, but it's obvious that its developers are doing their best, and the final result of their efforts is the security of your data. Don't wait any longer, get the trial version now and see if it suits your needs!

Here are some snapshots of the application in action: