App Discovery: EaseUS Todo Backup 2024

The free PC backup utility space used to be dominated by Macrium Reflect. Unfortunately, it is a bit TOO good, that most people just use the free version and not enough people pay. In 2024, Macrium phased out the free version. This lead to a hunt for a replacement. And I've found that EaseUS Todo Backup 2024 seems to fit the needs of most. 

Photo by Jandira Sonnendeck on Unsplash

EaseUS is a well-known PC utilities provider using the freemium model in the US, and offers a full range of PC utilities centered around data storage, such as partition manager, data recovery, backup and restore, disk cloning, and so on. Today we will concentrate on their Backup solution, Todo Backup Free. 

Do keep in mind that in order to "encourage" you to upgrade to Todo Backup Home, the free version's throughput is limited to 100 MB/s or so. So expect a typical backup job of 1TB to take about 2-3 hours, which means this should be scheduled for overnight. 

With that limitation in mind, this is a full-featured backup which allows full backup, incremental backup, full disk backup, partition backup, even individual files and folders backup. 

The upgrade pricing is a bit weird, as multiple options are offered: yearly plan, one-time (no upgrade), or perpetual upgrade. At this time, the yearly plan is $40, the one-time fee is $60, and perpetual upgrade license is $80. All of this is for one computer only. However, please do NOT buy from the website. Download the free version and try it first. 

If you hit upgrade from the app, the price is only $30 per year, instead of $40 on the website, and lifetime upgrade price is $59, not $80. But anyway, PCWorld has a discount code: PCWORLD25 for 25% off the $30 yearly price. 

EaseUS does offer bundle savings, but you need to check their website for details. 

Personally question the utility of cloud backup, unless you have a very wide pipe broadband (cable or fiber). I think you can do better with a local RAID setup, but that's just my opinion. You should check PCWorld's Cloud Backup survey (May 2024) for their opinions. 

But you do need a backup. Please go download the free solution and make one now. Your hardware can go down. You could be hit by malware such as ransomware. And so on. Better be safe than sorry. 

What Utilities for My Own PC?

If you've been on Youtube long enough, you've probably seen a couple videos where each Youtuber makes a list of "You Must Try These Programs". But chances are, only a few of them would be useful to you. 

Let me go through my own setup, and I'll explain why each of them are useful to me in one way or another. If it's not noted as freemium or paid, then it's free. Maybe you'll find something useful for yourself. I am on Windows 11. 

Photo by Sebastian Bednarek on Unsplash

Audio

NVIDIA Broadcast -- filters out noise from any microphone input or speaker output

Audacity -- the best sound editor and free 

Peace and EqualizerAPO -- a genuine equalizer for Windows

Video

NVIDIA Broadcast -- it will take background out of videos, blur them, replace them... 

Handbrake or Format Factory -- convert video (or audio) from one format to another

VLC Player or any other Media Player alternative -- playback most formats, online or off

DisplayFusion (freemium) -- manages multiple monitors with ease, task bar, wallpaper, and more

Davinci Resolve Free (paid available) or Shotcut or CapCut (freemium) -- video editor, CapCut is probably easiest but some functions locked away under freemium, ShotCut is a bit more professional, and Davinci Resolve is super powerful but complicated.

Clipboard

Clipboard Fusion -- hotkeys, transforms, triggers, sync, history... make your clipboard useful!

Desktop Customization

Wallpaper Engine (paid) -- live wallpaper that covers multiple monitors, that truly interact with you, playlists, support PC RGB lighting engine sync... 

Fences (freemium) -- automatically organize your desktop shortcuts and icons into groups, have them fade or vanish when not in use

Rainmeter -- customizable skin / widget you can place on your desktop

Launcher / File Manager / Explorer Alternative

Launchy  -- hit a hotkey to bring up a program launch bar by typing in partial name, no need to hunt in Windows desktop or start menu, supports skins. NOTE: Windows PowerToys have something similar, 

Double Commander -- a clone of the old Norton Commander                  

Text Expander

PhraseExpress or AutoHotKey

Define short phrases, and these programs will expand them into full sentences as you type them. AutoHotKey will also give you macro capability with your regular keyboard 

Mobile Link

Microsoft Phone Link -- Link your Android or iOS smartphone to your PC via Bluetooth and companion app, and get phone notifications on the PC, answer phone calls on PC, do SMS, etc. 

Offline Reader

Omnivore -- a free offline reader that also gives you FREE email addresses that you can cut off to kill off spam that won't let you unsubscribe. So your "mailing list" goes into your offline reader instead of your inbox. 

Office Suite

LibreOffice -- or any other similar suite such as OpenOffice, PolarisOffice, OnlyOffice, WPS Office, SoftMaker Office, and too many others to list. 

Zettlr -- think of it as a MUCH simplified version of Obsidian.md, it's all markdown files, and little else. 

Notepad++ -- it's just a much better notepad, but there are many other alternative text editors

Miscellaneous

WizFile -- search for any file on your HD(s) with very fast filtering (you can also try Everything)

WizTree -- display your HD's usage per folder... also very fast

Revo Uninstaller (freemium) -- Uninstaller, everybody needs one, the built-in is not good

And Microsoft PowerToys... 

Well, that's most of what I use. I hope you find something useful in here.