One of the things I have noticed with computers that as the prices of the boxes comes down, so does the reliability inside. The last time I built myself a machine, I have discovered that (besides the Intel processor) using an Asus mainboard, Antec Case, Crucial Memory, and Western Digital Black hard drive while still costing me nearly $900 I could count on the thing running for several years without any problems. But if you look at the machines available today at the lower cost of $299 and up, you see that you are getting one with a warranty of only 90 days and a year if you are lucky. Low prices also means cheaper components. Which also means a much higher failure rate. I got my first IBM PC in 1981 and I have digital images that started with one of the early cameras in 1997. That is over 20 years of pictures stored away. So you could say I am a bit obsessed about keeping things backed up and the software I am using right now is Acronis True Image 2018.

Acronis has been around for years and is one of the more highly rated backup solutions for personal computers and the new version has some nice new features to not only keep things backed up, but give you better protection as well. Of course every new version has its only look and feel and sometimes that can be good or not but I like the looks of the new version, it is easy to see what the status of your backup is and it clearly tells you what has been done and what will be backed up. Another new feature is Acronis Active Protection which is another means and layer to protect your computer from ransomware attacks. It will prevent ransomware from encrypting your files. The Security Dashboard monitors the number of processes that have been flagged as dangerous to let you know what has been blocked. It will be interesting to see how well this program plays with my current network security program Kaspersky.  Another new feature is that you have the ability to do active cloning which means you can clone a copy of your Windows system to an external device while Windows is running. I also use it to back up to an external network attached storage unit so having the WinPE Media Builder allows me to create the recover disc to connect to the storage unit and recover my data. And finally, there is a component for your Wireless mobile device to automatically back it up to your computer or even an attached storage device.

There is a useful cleanup component of True Image 2018 that is quite useful for cleaning out temp files, history, recycle bin, and a lot of the loose ends that end up on the computer, those things that most of us never get around to doing including the hard disk free space.

Acronis True Image is an annual subscription based purchase product if you want more than the simple backup standard version which is $49. The advanced is $49 per year and the Premium is $99 per year.  Big differences beyond the standard is backing up to network or cloud storage; Blockchain certification and electronic signatures; social media backup; and having up to 1TB of cloud storage; and of course, phone support if you need it.

 All in all, I still like what I have seen with Acronis True Image and feel confident that it is backing up my data and I can get to it so it is a definite keeper.