I was asked to provide an unbiased review of a program called WinBackup v1.63 by Li Utilities. OK -- I'm up for the challenge.

WinBackup: Installation

Installing WinBackup on my Windows XP was simple. After executing the setup file and specifying where I wanted the program files installed to, WinBackup completed the installation without asking any further questions.

WinBackup: Intuitive Interface

Since I'm a self-proclaimed 'Pro user', I decided to shut off the WinBackup Wizard after only viewing the first 3 screens. At this point, I chose to dive into the program blindly, in order to get a true feel for its ease of use.

When I first ran WinBackup, it prompted me to use the Backup Wizard. I decide to click 'Yes', and WinBackup provided a step-by-step tutorial on how to create my very first backup using 3 easy Steps:

Step 1: Choose the name of the Backup Job: I decide to back up the infopackets web directory on my home computer. I called my first Backup Job, "The Infopackets Weekly Backup".

Step 2: Choose the files and directories to backup: After entering the job name, I selected which files I wanted to backup by clicking on the Add / Remove files button. I only needed to select one Folder to backup since all my web files are in one directory.

Step 3: Schedule Backup: I decided that it was not necessary to backup my files on a daily basis, since my web files also reside on the web server. Instead, I chose to have the backup process execute on a weekly schedule.

After clicking on the 'Schedule Backup' button near the bottom of the screen, WinBackup's Wizard appeared.

WinBackup is able to compress backup files up to 50 percent in most cases. A backup can be saved to the hard drive or directly CD-Recordable. For backups which exceed the capacity of CD-R media, WinBackup can "splice" the files into smaller pieces, so that it fits perfectly onto multiple discs. In techy-terms, this process is also known as spanning.

WinBackup: File Settings and Extra Features

In addition to backing up personal files, WinBackup can archive critical files, including: Outlook Express message files, Internet Favorites, Desktop items, and a even a Registry Backup -- all with only a few mouse clicks. As an extra security measure, backups may be password protected against prying eyes.

Conclusion

Even after jumping into the program blindly, I was able to feel my way around WinBackup well enough to create and launch my first backup job within 5 minutes.

I especially like the fact that WinBackup requires little effort to archive personal and critical system files together, requiring few mouse clicks. For this reason, WinBackup's uncluttered and ready-to-use interface is sure to please new, intermediate, and even Windows power users.

WinBackup: Download

WinBackup can be downloaded from the Li Utilities web site:

http://www.infopackets.com/articles/winbackup.htm