Everyone needs some form of backup, but while successive versions of the Windows Backup Tool have undoubtedly got better, they’re still not quite as intuitive or as comprehensive as we’d like them to be.

If you want maximum protection for your files, settings and even Windows itself, you need a good third-party tool. A tool like Acronis True Image 2010 Personal, worth $19.95, which will be available exclusively to US and Canadian residents to download for free from the Downloadcrew Giveaway site this Friday (January 20^th).

Acronis True Image 2010 Personal has all the key functionality you need to get your computer protected. There’s a File Backup Wizard which quickly and effortlessly guides you through the backup process – choose which folders to include, pick a backup destination (internal, external or network hard drive) and tweak the scheduler to ensure your backups are updated on a specific day of the week. Hey presto, job done – not just now, but going forward too.

You can also backup entire partitions too, allowing you to take a fail-safe backup of your Windows partition while it’s in good working order. Now if you run into problems in the future you can roll your system back without having to reinstall Windows from scratch and all the palaver that entails.

There’s also an online backup option, but you’ll need to pay Acronis for a subscription to its cloud-based service to use it – however, any locally stored backups are completely free, and sufficient for most people’s needs.

Backup your drive, a partition or your most important files

Simple, fuss-free restoration
It’s all very well backing up regularly, but what do you do should disaster strike? True Image 2010 Personal allows you to restore entire backups or choose exactly what to restore from a set of backups (or backed up image of a partition). Should you need to, you can restore from within Windows, using the Startup Recovery Manager that’s accessible from bootup or create an emergency disc so you can restore backups even when your original hard drive has been completely trashed.

You’ll also find some useful bonus tools – a file shredder for securely deleting sensitive files, for example, plus a SSD Trim tool as well.

How to get it
This offer will be open to US and Canadian residents only, and will be available from 18:00 (Eastern Standard Time) on Thursday January 19^th to 23.59 on Friday January 20^th. You’ll need to visit the Downloadcrew Giveaway site between those times to be eligible to download and register your free copy of Acronis True Image 2010 Personal. You’ll also need a free Downloadcrew account – either log in with your existing account details or register for a new, free account to access the giveaway.

Once installed, you’ll need to activate True Image 2010 Personal before you can use it. Simply follow the instructions on the Downloadcrew Giveaway page, once the promotion is live.

One day you might thank your lucky stars that you did…