Uranium Backup is a broad and effective backup software solution for small businesses, and it combines well with another product called Supremo Console to offer backup and management for larger enterprises – and there’s even a free version, too.

On paper, then, Uranium Backup tries to be all things to all people – even to those who don’t want to pay for their backup products. But can it compete with similarly versatile rivals, like EaseUS Todo Backup or Acronis Cyber Protect?

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Uranium Backup: Plans and pricing

The first Uranium tier after the free version is the Base product, which adds features like drive image and FTP support alongside backup synchronization.

Nanosystems, the company behind Uranium, is based in Italy and only offers pricing in Euros, so we’ve converted here.

The Base version of Uranium costs €80, which converts to $90, and that’s for a lifetime licence – the same price as EaseUS ToDo Backup Home.

The Pro version is available in a few variations depending on what you need: there are specific options for tape backup, SQL and Exchange support and Shadow Copy (VSS) support. It’s €150 or $168 for a lifetime licence.

The Pro Virtual edition costs €229 or $256 and adds all of the aforementioned features alongside Hyper-V and VMWare support.

If you need all that functionality alongside the ability to manage and monitor endpoints from a single interface, there’s a Professional product that costs €216 or $241 – and that one is also available on a subscription for €18 or $20 per month.

At the top of the tree is Uranium Backup Gold, which includes every possible feature for €290 or $324. If you want more management options for backup across a business, then Supremo Console is a web management interface that’s available on a monthly subscription with pricing that varies based on how many devices you need to monitor.

There’s lots going on with the different options, but the pricing is reasonable. At the lower end, Uranium’s costs tally well with rival products from companies like EaseUS, and at the top end Uranium is more affordable than many enterprise options from rivals such as Acronis.

Features

The free version of Uranium is relatively basic, but it’s fine if you want to preserve files and folders.

Using the free product you can back up to local or network destinations. You can specify how many copies you want to keep – handy if you don’t want your backups to overwhelm your disk space – and you get basic scheduling options, too.

There are plenty of options for tweaking your backups, too, if you want to tweak exactly what files and folders are in your backups.

It’s an entry-level array of features for a free product, and it’s well-suited to sole traders who need to preserve files and folders – but the lack of encryption and synchronization in the free version means that the Base product is more suitable for any kind of professional backup, even in the smallest organizations.

Step up to the Base product, and you do get synchronization and 256-bit encryption alongside password protection and loads of extra features, like the option to backup Exchange mailboxes.

You can run Uranium as a Windows service, employ differential or incremental backups, send files to FTP destinations and use Backup Drive Images and cloud backups, with loads of different cloud services supported.

Step up to one of the Pro products and you add Backup to Tape functionality alongside the SQL and Shadow Copy options if you’ve picked that product, and at the top level there’s Hyper-V and VMWare support. And then the Gold version gets everything – you don’t have to pick a Pro product that suits you.

It’s a good range of features, although having a web console locked away behind the Supremo Console product is a bit restrictive. If you want an enterprise-level offering like that, backup options from companies like Veeam and Acronis include web consoles as part of the offering.

Interface & Use

Uranium’s interface is straightforward, if a bit busy. Open the app, and you’re greeted with a list of your existing backup sets on the left-hand side, and in the main window, there’s a list of common tasks, like starting a new backup to a litany of potential destinations or configuring a new destination.

It can look a bit confusing at first, but the interface is saved by a row of larger icons at the top of the window. These open wizards for common tasks like creating a new backup or restoring an existing backup, and one of them allows you to run a pre-configured backup. These buttons are large and well-labelled, and they’re the easiest way to get to your backup jobs quickly.

Handily, one of the large buttons at the top of the window opens the options menu, and another loads Uranium’s web console if your version includes that module.

We tested our latest slate of backup apps with a 42GB document folder, a 2.5GB spreadsheet folder, a 162GB folder of media and an 82GB file that mixes all of those file types. We backed them up to three different SSDs to weed out any inconsistency.

Uranium’s best results came when working with documents and our folder of media files. When working with both tests, it returned averages just above fourteen minutes – times that just crept into the top half of our results tables.

That’s a reasonable pace, but lots of other apps were much faster. Acronis, Macrium, and EaseUS were notable speedsters when backing up files and folders, and were several times faster than Uranium in those tests. It’s no disaster, though – other apps, like those from Cobian, Genie and Retrospect, were much slower too.

When working with our spreadsheets folder, Uranium’s average of thirty-five minutes was poor – only two other apps in our slate of nearly twenty were slower. And that result cascaded into a near hour-long backup average when working with our folder of mixed files. That, again, is one of the slowest results in our tests.

It’s a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to speed. If you need to preserve documents or media files, then Uranium is reasonable, but it struggled with more complex tasks.

Support

Uranium has the usual offering of a knowledge base, video tutorials and manuals online, but technical support is restricted to a web form with no indication of how long you’ll have to wait for a response.

Some rivals offer phone support and there’s no sign of a forum on Uranium’s website, either, so it’s quite a barebone offering. If you’re protecting mission-critical data and may need fast support, this may not quite cut it.

Competition

Indeed, you’ll get more support from EaseUS, Acronis and many other products, especially if you pay for one of the higher-tier versions.

Elsewhere, Uranium competes reasonably well with rivals in terms of features, especially if you upgrade to one of the enterprise-level products, and we like the fact you can choose which version you need for your business.

The only real downside is that Uranium can’t compete on speed. As we’ve seen, it’s a reasonably sluggish and inconsistent product in this area, and many of its rivals are much faster.

Verdict

Uranium may not be the fastest, but it does compete well in other areas. It has a good range of features, including cloud support and lots of versatility when it comes to backup sources and destinations. It also has flexible options for buying products and subscriptions.

Value is important with Uranium, too, and it either competes with its rivals or undercuts them, with the differences becoming more stark as you scale up through the products.

As a good value business and enterprise option, then, there’s plenty to like about Uranium, but look elsewhere if you need speed or extensive support.

Retrospect Solo is one of the relatively rare backup software tools available on both Windows and Mac. As the name suggests, this product is designed for individual systems rather than organisational use. For business, Retrospect is an ideal option for sole traders or small companies that need to protect individual PCs.

It’s certainly not your only choice if that’s what you need, though, with individual products from EaseUS and Macrium leading the charge when it comes to individual system protection.

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Retrospect Solo: Plans and pricing

Retrospect Solo for Windows costs $49 for a lifetime licence, with that price rising to $129 if you want a year of email and phone support and maintenance included. The Mac version mirrors those prices.

Those standalone figures are a mixed bag: that lifetime licence is cheaper than either equivalent EaseUS or Macrium option, but Retrospect’s one-year support and maintenance upgrade, called ASM, makes the product more expensive.

Retrospect is also available in several different versions. The Desktop product covers five systems and prices start at $116 for a lifetime licence and $159 for a premium version, or from $10 per month if you buy a subscription. Server options rise in price accordingly.

The product can be customized with add-ons to support additional servers, PCs and email accounts.

If you’re in business and want to protect individual systems, though, the Desktop product looks like the best value – that lifetime subscription might be more expensive than the Solo product, but it protects five systems and so is capable of handling your business by adding some extra PCs.

Features

If you want to stick with Solo, though, then don’t worry – you’re still getting a good set of features.

It handles full, incremental and differential backups. You can preserve entire drives, entire PCs, computers on your network and your documents and settings, and you can specify if you only want to backup pictures, music, movie files or documents – handy if you're going to preserve a particular type of file.

In terms of backup destinations, you can choose from removable drives, local drives, and cloud storage, with support included for more than twenty cloud providers, including Amazon S3, Dropbox, Google Cloud Storage, Microsoft Azure, and more. There’s also support here for NAS systems from Synology, QNAP and others. That’s impressive because lots of backup apps include limited cloud support, and it’s especially useful in a business setting.

Once you’ve configured your settings there’s a one-click backup option if you want to use them again, and a wizard guides users through the entire process.

You can schedule backups for specific days of the week, repeating intervals or a single date – a reasonable selection although you will find more scheduling ability elsewhere. Delve into the backup options and you can opt for verification, data compression, anomaly detection and more, with a broad array of options available for anyone who wants to delve into some trickier menus.

Elsewhere there are extensive restoration options, a file-finding option, disaster recovery and an option to recover mailboxes from backups. The reporting is particularly extensive. There are additional modules for repairing backups, verifying media and transferring your backups to other destinations.

Combine these options together and you’ve got a powerful backup tool. You can protect and migrate your online mailboxes between providers, use the cloud for extra protection, write scripts for specific tasks, and secure your backups with encryption and multi-factor authentication.

Switch over to the Mac version and you’ll find similar features. Retrospect on Apple’s platform supports complete data protection, cloud backup, email protection, scripting, anomaly checking and most of the other features that make Retrospect Solo such a fully-featured product for individual systems.

Interface & Use

Retrospect Solo might be packed with features, but the core application is not attractive – it looks old-fashioned and intimidating, at least initially.

Many of the icons are tiny and not labelled; it’s sometimes hard to find the options you need, and you’ll have to delve through nests of menus to find your way.

There are two saving graces: the presence of some helpful wizards to guide newer users through common processes, like setting up backups, and an app called Retrospect Dashboard that presents key information, like scheduled backups, recent tasks and storage capacities, in a friendlier visual format.

Still, the main app is not particularly accessible, particularly to those who don’t know their way around software.

We tested our latest slate of backup apps with a 42GB document folder, a 2.5GB spreadsheet folder, a 162GB folder of media and an 82GB file that mixes all of those file types. We backed them up to three different SSDs to weed out any inconsistency.

Retrospect proved itself a mediocre performer in our tests. Its best result came with our folder of spreadsheets, where it took five minutes and ten seconds to back up the files – but the best apps we’ve tested, including EaseUS and O&O DiskImage, took two and three minutes respectively.

Retrospect took twenty-seven minutes to back up our folder of documents, twenty-three minutes when handling media, and thirty minutes with a mixed folder. The Mac version returned similar results.

When it comes to speed, this is a mediocre app, and if pace is a priority, you’ll want to look elsewhere.

Support

Instead of taking the lead in the results tables, NovaBACKUP makes a big deal of its support offering – and rightly so.

You can submit support tickets, call a phone line that’s open between 9 am and 5 pm, and consult an extensive knowledge base. You can schedule appointments with the support team, dive into a forum, watch webinars, and get setup assistance depending on the product you’ve purchased.

Competition

EaseUS’s app is much faster than Retrospect in every category, and single-PC versions of apps from Macrium, Paragon and O&O are faster, too.

So if you’re chasing speed and those options are available at comparable prices – and they often are – they’re all going to be better options. For the most part they’ve got more up-to-date interfaces, too.

That said, Retrospect fights back in other areas. Its cloud options are virtually unmatched, for instance, and its range of add-ons adds flexibility, admittedly for an extra price. And when it comes to core backup options, it has a good range of features once you get beyond the interface.

Verdict

Retrospect is an intriguing app that will successfully serve the needs of many home users and small businesses.

Positively, it has good core features, excellent cloud ability and great support, so if you need an app for cloud backup this should be at the top of your list.

Negatively, though, it’s not particularly fast and it suffers with an ageing interface, so it’s not the best option for anyone who needs speed or a beginner who may need more signposting in the interface.

If you’re aware of those foibles, though, then Retrospect could still do the job for lots of people – especially if you want to use the cloud for your backup.

NovaBACKUP is a serious bit of backup software for businesses of all sizes as well as home users, and its German coders specialize in enterprise-level data protection – so we’ve got high hopes for this particular bit of software.

Indeed, if you head to NovaBACKUP’s website you’ll see products for specific tasks, like disaster recovery or Microsoft 365 backups, and even areas where the company caters to particular industries, from dentistry to accountancy.

At first glance, then, there’s plenty to like – but should you deploy NovaBACKUP in your business?

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NovaBACKUP: Plans and pricing

It may be good news that NovaBACKUP is a high-end backup solution designed for enterprise, but brace yourself for the pricing – because this app is not cheap.

A one-PC licence for NovaBACKUP costs €100, which at the time of writing converts to $110, including an admittedly generous 1TB of cloud storage. A single-server licence costs €400 – or about $443 – and includes 250GB of cloud storage.

If you need a bespoke solution for your business, then you’ll need to talk to NovaBACKUP to work on a solution together – which makes sense, because then you should get a backup deployment that works for you and maximises value.

NovaBACKUP offers products for companies that need endpoint protection for remote workers, for businesses that need centrally-managed local and cloud backup for PCs, laptops and servers, and even packages for managed services providers who want to provide Backup-as-a-Service to other organisations.

Features

It’s expensive, yes, but NovaBACKUP is absolutely packed with features. You can preserve any files or folders, local or external drives, operating systems and send them to local drives, external drives, your 1TB of NovaBACKUP cloud storage space or any S3 compatible storage. Network-attached locations are also supported.

Additionally, NovaBACKUP now includes hybrid backup, which ensures more robust data protection by storing your data in three places, on two different types of media and with one copy stored offsite – what’s often referred to as a “3-2-1 backup strategy”. That’s important if you preserve mission-critical information in a commercial or healthcare environment.

It’s a comprehensive start, and NovaBACKUP also includes image backups for disaster recovery, VHD and VHDx backups, incremental backups, bare metal restoration and strong compression and encryption settings, including 256-bit AES and Blowfish encryption.

You can enjoy email notifications about your backup jobs – particularly helpful if you’re handling data in a business – and flexible file restoration means you can recover backups from any location.

NovaBACKUP offers extensive scheduling options, backup verification, custom commands to be performed around your backups, and there are extensive filtering options. In terms of core backup features, NovaBACKUP is excellent – there is nothing missing.

Opt for the Server product and you get support for Microsoft Hyper-V and VMWare backups and Microsoft SQL and Exchange support. Both apps include optional central management and monitoring features – ideal for businesses.

Upgrade to a Server Provider version – or another customised NovaBACKUP solution – and you can also add user account management, unlimited cloud storage, self-hosted cloud storage, and setup assistance.

Interface & Use

NovaBACKUP has every backup option that home and business users could possibly need, even if you wouldn’t know it from the aesthetic. The app looks decidedly old school, with old-fashioned fonts and graphics used throughout.

Still, if you get beyond the visuals then it’s pretty easy to use. Large icons on the home screen represent key backup options, and if you delve into the settings then it’s the usual list of backup sources on the left-hand side with more advanced options in a central window.

Backup logs and schedules are in their own tabs. And while there aren’t many easy wizard options for creating backup jobs, this enterprise-level app provides plenty of granularity that professionals will surely appreciate.

We tested our latest slate of backup apps with a 42GB document folder, a 2.5GB spreadsheet folder, a 162GB folder of media and an 82GB file that mixes all of those file types. We backed them up to three different SSDs to weed out any inconsistency.

And while NovaBACKUP was never slow, its results slipped consistently into the mid-table when stacked up with almost twenty other backup tools.

Its best results came when working with our Excel folder and our selection of mixed media files – it returned averages of four minutes and eighteen minutes respectively. Both of those numbers crept into the top half of our results tables.

Nova averaged sixteen minutes with our folder of documents, and seven minutes with our media files.

None of those results are slow, but lots of other apps are quicker – tools like Acronis Cyber Protect, EaseUS ToDo Backup and Macrium Reflect are notable options that easily outpace NovaBACKUP.

Support

Instead of taking the lead in the results tables, NovaBACKUP makes a big deal of its support offering – and rightly so.

You can submit support tickets, call a phone line that’s open between 9 am and 5 pm, and consult an extensive knowledge base. You can schedule appointments with the support team, dive into a forum, watch webinars, and get setup assistance depending on the product you’ve purchased.

Competition

NovaBACKUP jumps ahead of rivals like EaseUS Todo Backup and Macrium Reflect when it comes to support and sits alongside other enterprise-level offerings from products like Acronis Cyber Protect.

Verdict

Indeed, it’s probably the pricing that restricts NovaBACKUP’s appeal. While this is a fantastic tool for any business that wants to take backup seriously, especially if you want to build a bespoke package or protect servers, it’s probably overkill for home and small business users.

It’s got every feature you could possibly need, though, alongside excellent support options – there’s no doubt it earns its keep. And while it’s not the fastest, that is moot if you’re backing up to servers, network or cloud destinations.

NovaBACKUP is an excellent preservation option for businesses – expensive, sure, but you get what you pay for.

Fortect Driver Updater faces some tough competition in its quest to be one of the best driver updater tools on the market, but it more than holds its own against the likes of Ashampoo Driver Updater, AVG Driver Updater, and others due to its user-friendly interface and fast scanning speeds.

The software is manufactured by Fortect, a provider of protection, performance, and privacy solutions, of which its driver updater is just one. More broadly, Fortect provides a suite of tools, including malware removal, a registry cleaner, an antivirus tool, and more. All these tools come together under the umbrella of Fortect Protect, a PC optimizer and security solution.

As helpful as all these other tools are, this review will focus only on Fortect Driver Updater, a piece of software designed specifically to scan your device for outdated drivers and install new ones. Outdated or malfunctioning drivers can cause a number of issues, including slow running speeds, system instability, and security vulnerabilities. This review will take a look at how Fortect Driver Updater does at preventing these issues, as well as evaluating the software based on various criteria, including features, compatibility, customer support, ease of use, and more.

Fortect Driver Updater: Plans and pricing

The price for Fortect Driver Updater can’t really be compared against other pure-play driver updaters as Fortect’s solution does much more than simply keep an eye on the status of your drivers. A one-year subscription to Fortect for one PC costs $33.95 annually and comes with malware removal, virus protection, registry key optimization, and email support, in addition to its driver updater tool. 

There’s also a Multi-Device plan for three PCs, costing $41.95 annually, as well as the Ultimate plan for five PCs, which is available for $58.95 a year. These plans, which can be applied to multiple devices, can be shared with your friends, family, and colleagues, so they all receive the benefits that it provides in terms of performance.

Although there is a free Fortect plan, it is extremely limited. While you can use it to scan your PC an unlimited number of times during the trial, this only lasts 24 hours. You can also repair any issues that are discovered but you have to be quick before that trial runs out.

Features

The most important feature of Fortect Driver Updater is its driver scan. This allows you to quickly view all your current drivers as well as those that are in need of updating. After checking the scan results, if you decide that full-scale updates are not required, you can instead choose to update individual drivers. Alternatively, you can save time by updating multiple drivers with a single command and apply manual updates wherever drivers cannot be updated automatically.

In addition, Fortect Driver Updater lets users set their devices to restart automatically whenever driver updates are installed to ensure any changes are applied properly. They can also set up automatic restore points so users can roll back updates in the event of any issues. New driver installs can create performance issues, so creating restore points automatically means you can always go back to your previous drivers easily.  

Interface and in use

When assessing ease of use, the first thing that needs to be examined is how straightforward it is to download and install Fortect Driver Updater. In our experience, this was a seamless process whereby you simply download the executable from the Fortect website. If you’ve opted for any of the vendor’s three premium plans, this will contain other solutions aside from the driver updater.

Looking at the driver updater specifically, the UI is bold and clear, making it extremely easy to use. In the middle of the page, you’ll see two options: “Scan” and “Updates Hub.”  The former does exactly what you’d expect it to. It’s a simple click to let the platform check your device for outdated drivers. The Updates Hub, meanwhile, lets you manage any driver updates and view their statuses. On either side of these two options, you’ll see a short list of options, including links to other security and privacy tools, as well as driver updater settings. 

Support

Email support is included with all Fortect’s paid plans and there’s also an extensive knowledge base. The latter is home to a number of useful articles on subjects ranging from how to set up your Fortect solution to the billing process. There are also general troubleshooting topics like license key issues and common maintenance challenges. Getting in touch with Fortect’s email support is through an online form, where you can select from various topics to hopefully speed up the process of finding the right individual or department to help you. Unfortunately, we could see an option for live chat or telephone support, which is somewhat disappointing when you compare Fortect to other driver updaters on the market.

The competition

Unlike many other driver updaters on the market, Fortect doesn’t offer a bespoke solution. Instead, its driver updater is packaged alongside its other security and optimization tools. This makes it challenging to compare it against the likes of Systweak Advanced Driver Updater or Driver Reviver. These tools are much more limited in scope - which you can view as a positive or negative. 

Ultimately, when deciding between Fortect Driver Updater and its competitors, you’ll first have to decide whether you need a standalone driver updater or an entire suite of tools to fix broken registries, remove junk files, and restore your device following a viral attack. 

Final verdict

Fortect Driver Updater is a very effective tool for ensuring the optimal performance of your PC. It works best alongside other programs, including its antivirus solution and other security tools. The fact that it can be used to scan mobile devices too is another advantage it holds over its rivals, most of which only work with Windows operating systems.

If you only need a driver updater, it might be better to look elsewhere as Fortect is not the cheapest. However, if you want an all-around more secure, faster PC, then Fortect is a great option with a clean UI and fast scanning speeds.

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We’re used to seeing free backup software packages that act as cut-down versions of paid-for products to convince customers to open their wallets, but there’s no sign of that with Hasleo Backup Suite Free – because this is a free, standalone tool.

It’s been used by over 15 million people over the years, so there’s some pedigree here – but it’s time to find out if this zero-cost backup tool can compete with free rivals or even show up some of the paid options on the market.

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Hasleo Backup Suite: Features

Hasleo’s app covers the core functionality of a backup tool, even if its free status means it can’t offer the wealth of features you’ll find elsewhere.

Its backup module caters for system, disk, partition or file backups, just like every other app on the market, and that will handle almost everything for most users – although there are no options to backup data from specific apps, or backup data from smartphones. That’s a feature you’ll find occasionally on more expensive apps.

Still, that’s a good start, and the restoration module is similarly straightforward: you can restore your entire backups or browse through your backups to recover specific files or folders. A cloning module also allows you to replicate systems, disks or partitions.

Backups can be saved to any location navigable on your PC – including network locations – and the app offers a robust selection of scheduling options alongside the ability to perform full, incremental and differential backups. As well as scheduling based on times and dates, you can program Hasleo to start backups when your system boots, when particular users log on, or when you attach particular USB drives.

Hasleo offers different encryption levels, backup splitting with custom sizing, password and 256-bit encryption, pre- and post-backup commands and email notifications. It can also check the integrity of backups when completed and shut down your PC after the job is done.

In terms of core backup functionality for home and small business users, the slate of backup options available here does a good job of competing with some paid home apps.

When it comes to free rivals, like EaseUS Todo Backup Free and Paragon Backup & Recovery Community Edition, Hasleo remains strong. EaseUS Todo Backup doesn’t have system or disk cloning, and Paragon’s app can’t handle partitions and can’t copy disks.

One of Hasleo’s main free rivals, FBackup, goes further here with the inclusion of cloud support and loads of helpful app plugins, but it falls down by not offering incremental or differential backups unless you upgrade to a paid version.

Hasleo Backup Suite also includes some additional tools. You can create bootable, emergency disks, mount or unmount images, wipe drives securely, rebuild your Master Boot Record and merge images.

It’s obviously missing high-end features, like cloud storage, server management, and more, but you’ll have to pay for enterprise-level apps if you need that functionality.

Interface & use

It’s no surprise that this app has a straightforward interface. On the left-hand side you’ll find the core backup, restore and clone modules highlighted with big icons, and relevant options in the central panel.

At the bottom of that left-hand panel you’ll find the additional tools, the options menu is in the top-right, and that’s about it. While Hasleo does look a little archaic, it’s easy to use, even for beginners.

We tested our latest slate of backup apps with a 42GB document folder, a 2.5GB spreadsheet folder, a 162GB folder of media and an 82GB file that mixes all of those file types. We backed them up to three different SSDs to weed out any inconsistency.

And while Hasleo’s interface may look a bit dated, its performance was anything but. Its Media file average time of six minutes and six seconds is one of the best we’ve recorded across this latest slate of backup apps – nearly twenty tools in all – and its mixed file average of eleven minutes and 34 seconds is another result that sits towards the top of our results tables.

It took less than four minutes to back up our Excel spreadsheet folder, and the worst result came when handling documents. But while it took thirteen minutes and eight seconds to preserve those files, that was still in the top half of our results tables.

That pace isn’t far off the speed we recorded from EaseUS ToDo Backup and it’s more consistent than Paragon’s app, and it’s miles better than the sluggish FBackup.

Support

The support options for this free app are minimal – Hasleo’s website has an email address you can message for technical help, and there’s a forum, but there are no other options available and no indication about how long support will take.

This is one area where paid-for apps are much better, especially if you’re buying a business or enterprise product with priority support or phone and live chat options.

Competition

Hasleo’s main free rivals come from FBackup, EaseUS and Paragon, and Hasleo Backup Suite Free goes further than most with additional features like partition and disk cloning. And while EaseUS does offer some cloud storage, you’re restricted to just 250GB of space in the free version.

The only area where Hasleo falls behind even slightly is in the speed tests. Because while Hasleo is certainly not slow, EaseUS is even faster.

Verdict

There’s lots to like here: Hasleo Backup Suite Free offers a rock-solid core range of backup features alongside good speed – and you don’t have to spend a penny. It’s certainly a better option than FBackup, too, in most situations – especially when it comes to speed.

That makes it ideal for home users and sole traders who need core backup functionality, although the lack of responsive support or high-end features means this app is not suitable for medium or large businesses.

But if you need a free backup suite you can rely on, then there isn’t much better than Hasleo Backup Suite Free.

Lots of backup apps are produced by software companies that also churn out loads of other apps in different categories, but that’s not the case with FBackup 9.9 – its creators at Softland concentrate on backup tools, and this app has been in continuous development since 2006.

That’s plenty of time to create a great bit of software, so we’ve got high hopes for this freeware tool, even up against impressive zero-cost rivals like Hasleo Backup Suite and free tools from other larger competitors.

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Fbackup: Plans & pricing

FBackup is an entirely free backup tool – but that doesn’t tell the whole story.

While we’ve no doubt that FBackup is an impressive app for home users, sole traders and the smallest businesses, it also exists as a shop window for Softland Backup4all, which is the firm’s professional product.

It’s one of the more affordable options out there, at least, with a current price of $48 for a single perpetual licence – an amount which undercuts many other paid pro-level apps, like EaseUS ToDo Backup Workstation Edition and Paragon’s pricier tools.

Elsewhere, it’s possible to purchase OEM bundles for hardware manufacturers and a companion app called Backup4all Monitor, allowing system administrators to monitor their operations. It costs $4.99 per licence.

Features

The free FBackup tool has a good range of features before you delve into the paid versions. Users can back up their hard drives, external drives, operating systems, configurations, and settings from browsers like Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, as well as their Document and Picture folders and even material from Google Drive and Dropbox destinations.

Impressively, hundreds of other plugins to support backups from different apps are also available for optional installation.

Users can back up their files to Google Drive and Dropbox, too, alongside more conventional local and network sources and removable media. When it comes to core backup functionality, this is a good start.

FBackup has options for filtering backup files, running full or mirrored backups, and basic encryption and file-splitting tools.

Varying levels of processing speed are supported, and there’s a scheduling and command tool that gives users a tremendous amount of control over when their data is backed up and if any conditions need to be met for processes to begin.

Some high-end features are reserved for Backup4all customers, though. Only in that app can you use more cloud sources or FTP destinations, manage multiple backup configurations and get access to some drag-and-drop and typing features that make it easier to build backups.

The paid version of the app has a Microsoft Outlook plugin, stronger encryption, the option to pause backups, and settings to let you send email notifications. You can also only access differential and incremental backups in the paid version.

Ultimately, then, FBackup is a solid preservation tool for home users and sole traders, but those missing features – especially when it comes to security, network access and incremental backups – mean that we prefer Backup4all if you’re handling backups in a business of any size.

Interface & use

The interface makes it easy to upgrade, at least, because if you click on a restricted feature, you’ll get a popup asking you to try the Backup4all free trial or pay for an upgrade.

There’s a tab at the top of the window that’s entirely devoted to an advert for the paid product, and the home screen – which has icons for managing the app – also includes upgrade links.

Get beyond the adverts and it’s a straightforward and conventional backup app, with options to start a backup on the left-hand side and a useful wizard that guides you through the process of creating a backup. There’s a separate Jobs window that allows you to go into more depth when it comes to backup management, too.

It’s easy enough to use, but FBackup fell behind in our benchmarking. We tested our latest slate of backup apps with a 42GB document folder, a 2.5GB spreadsheet folder, a 162GB folder of media and an 82GB file that mixes all of those file types. We backed them up to three different SSDs to weed out any inconsistency.

FBackup’s Document and Excel averages of 19 minutes and five minutes, respectively, are moderate results that sit right in the middle of our results tables, but FBackup let itself down when working with media files and more complex jobs.

In our Media test, it averaged a whopping 104 minutes to complete our backup, with those times consistent across three drives – its results ranged between fifty-seven minutes and 107 minutes. And when we tasked FBackup with preserving a mixed folder, which included media files, it took nearly an hour.

It’s a poor slate of results, all things considered. Hasleo Backup Suite, another free rival, is far faster, and free backup software from Paragon and EaseUS are much faster too.

Support

If you need help with FBackup, the main support option is using a form on Softland’s website, but there’s no indication of how long replies will take. There’s an FAQ and a forum online, too.

It’s a standard slate of support options for a free backup tool, and you’ll have to buy a premium product if you want phone or live chat support.

Competition

FBackup does a reasonable job of competing against Hasleo Backup Suite in the free backup tools market: it may not offer incremental or differential file backups, for instance, but it does include cloud support and loads of plugins.

Elsewhere, there isn’t much to choose between this tool and the free versions of apps from EaseUS and Paragon, and if you’re running backup operations for a business of any size then we highly recommend you invest in a more capable tool with stronger encryption and management options.

Verdict

FBackup gets off to a good start, with its plugins, impressive array of backup sources and destinations and decent commands and filtering, and it certainly does the job if you want a free backup tool.

However, its feature set is uneven – with high-end additions rubbing up alongside glaring omissions – and its lack of speed is a huge problem.

If you’re a home user not fussed about speed, then FBackup is a reasonable free option. But with so many better options, both free and at modest prices, it’s hard to recommend.

Distant Desktop emerges as a noteworthy contender in remote access and management software. This software solution facilitates seamless connections between computers over the internet, making it ideal for various use cases, from IT support to remote team collaborations. 

Let’s look at Distant Desktop’s features, advantages, drawbacks, pricing, and the primary audience. 

Distant Desktop: plans and pricing

Like many other remote desktop solutions, Distant Desktop offers a free trial version with limited features. However, a professional subscription is required for long-term use and full access to all features. Fortunately, the cost for your organization is easy to determine.

You can purchase between one and 10 licenses at a time, and the price per license starts at $22.90 when buying at least 10. A single license is $49.95. These licenses are only required for the controlling side; there’s no license requirement for the remote controller.

Distant Desktop: Features and utilities

When testing Distant Desktop, several features stood out, including: 

Accessibility Across Devices

Access your remote desktopDesktopnywhere using a Windows, Mac, or Android device. Distant Desktop offers a simple setup with no installation or registration required, allowing you to connect to other computers effortlessly. Just download and run the application, and you're ready to go.

Fast and Reliable Performance

Experience high-performance remote access optimized over years of use. The software dynamically adjusts the speed based on connection conditions, ensuring a reliable and efficient remote desktop experience.

User-Friendly Interface

Ease of use lies at the core of Distant Desktop's design philosophy. Its interface and settings are minimalistic and elegant, making it one of the easiest remote desktop software to use, regardless of your level of technological proficiency.

Enhanced Security

Distant Desktop optimizes security by utilizing AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) for protection and employing SRTP (Secure Realtime Protocol) for secure video, audio, and file transfers. 

Simple File Transfer

Securely send and receive files and folders from your computer to a remote host with just a few clicks. Transfers are seamless and ensure the integrity of your files.

Support for Multiple Connections

With Distant Desktop, you can connect to several computers simultaneously, a feature invaluable for administration and remote technical assistance. You can also allow multiple partners to connect to your PC concurrently.

Efficient Communication

Integrated voice and text chat functionalities facilitate easy communication with your remote partners. You can converse through text or use a microphone and speakers/headset for voice chats.

Demonstration and Training

The View-Only mode allows others to access your desktop, making it perfect for presenting digital products, educational training, or remote demonstrations.

Unattended Access

For ongoing accessibility, install Distant Desktop as a service. This will enable you to connect anytime using a static ID and password.

Direct Commands and Allowlisting

Control your remote computer more effectively with direct command features such as system keys, lock, reboot, and shutdown. Leverage allowlisting to ensure only trusted IDs gain access to your PC.

Distant Desktop: Setup

Whether you're a freelance professional, a part of a remote team, or someone providing technical support, setting up Distant Desktop is straightforward and efficient. This guide will walk you through each step, helping you easily navigate the setup process.

Begin by visiting the official Distant Desktop website. Here, you will find the "Download" option prominently displayed. Distant Desktop is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Android devices, ensuring a wide range of usability. Click on the download link suitable for your operating system to start the process.

One of the conveniences of Distant Desktop is that it doesn't require a traditional installation process. Once the download is complete:

For Windows or Mac: Locate the downloaded file and run it. There's no need to go through an installation wizard; the software is ready to use once executed.

For Android: Install the app from the downloaded file, then open it once the installation is complete.

To connect to another computer remotely, you'll need the ID and Access Code of the target computer. On the main screen of Distant Desktop:

Enter the computer's ID into the "Remote Desktop" section and click "Connect." You'll then be prompted to enter the Access Code.

Share your computer's ID and Access Code, displayed on the main screen, with the person you're giving access to.

Distant Desktop comes with a variety of settings that you can customize based on your preferences:

Unattended Access: Set up unattended access by selecting the option to install Distant Desktop as a service. This allows you to connect without needing someone at the host PC.

Voice and Text Chat: Utilize the built-in voice and text chat options for communication with remote users.

File Transfers: Explore the settings for secure file transfers to ensure your documents are shared safely.

Distant Desktop: Pros and cons

Distant Desktop offers several advantages over disadvantages. These include:

Pros

1. User-Friendly Interface: The interface is intuitive and easy to use, catering to users of all skill levels.

2. Portability: The software is portable and can be run directly from a USB drive or other storage device without needing installation. This provides flexibility for users who need to access it from various devices.

3. Cost-Effective: Distant Desktop offers a free version, which is particularly beneficial for individuals or small businesses on a tight budget.

4. Lightweight: It has minimal system requirements and can run without formal installation, making it suitable for older and smaller devices.

5. Fast and Reliable: The software delivers high performance and automatically adjusts speed based on connection conditions, ensuring a smooth remote desktop experience.

Cons

1. Limited Advanced Features: Compared to more established remote desktop solutions, Distant Desktop may lack some advanced features desired by larger enterprises.

2. Support and Documentation: As a minor player, the level of support and available documentation may not match those of more prominent companies.

3. Platform Support: Primarily focused on Windows, Distant Desktop may not offer comprehensive solutions for users of other operating systems, such as MacOS or Linux.

4. No Mobile App: Currently, Distant Desktop does not have a dedicated mobile app, which restricts remote access to devices with a compatible web browser.

5. Lacks Centralized Management: For larger organizations, the absence of centralized management features can pose challenges in deploying and managing remote access across multiple users and devices.

1. Limited Advanced Features: Compared to more established remote desktop solutions, Distant Desktop may lack some advanced features desired by larger enterprises.

2. Support and Documentation: As a minor player, the level of support and available documentation may not match those of more prominent companies.

3. Platform Support: Primarily focused on Windows, Distant Desktop may not offer comprehensive solutions for users of other operating systems, such as MacOS or Linux.

4. No Mobile App: Currently, Distant Desktop does not have a dedicated mobile app, which restricts remote access to devices with a compatible web browser.

5. Lacks Centralized Management: For larger organizations, the absence of centralized management features can pose challenges in deploying and managing remote access across multiple users and devices.

Who should use Distant Desktop

Whether you are an IT professional maintaining servers, a freelancer juggling projects from home, or a business looking to streamline operations, Distant Desktop software is a compelling choice. It empowers you to take control of your work environment. Let's explore the types of users who would greatly benefit from employing this dynamic tool.

One of the primary beneficiaries of Distant Desktop software is IT professionals and support teams responsible for maintaining a company's IT infrastructure and providing support. With features like unattended access, direct commands, and the ability to manage multiple connections simultaneously, Distant Desktop allows IT personnel to troubleshoot issues, update systems, and manage networks without being physically present. This dramatically reduces response times to technical problems and increases the efficiency of operations.

Work location flexibility is a significant perk for remote workers and freelancers, but it often comes with the need for reliable tech tools. Distant Desktop provides a secure and intuitive interface, ensuring that these professionals can effortlessly access their work computers from anywhere. This facilitates the easy transition between home and office environments or while moving, thus maximizing productivity and the freedom to work from anywhere.

In education, remote desktop software like Distant Desktop can revolutionize how educators engage with their students. Teachers can offer real-time demonstrations and tutorials by sharing access to resources on their desktops. Online trainers can also benefit by showcasing software applications and workflows to remote trainees, making their sessions interactive and engaging.

SMB owners, who often operate with limited resources, can leverage Distant Desktop to provide their teams access to company resources from remote locations. This flexibility can lower operating costs, such as office space and utilities, while maintaining productivity. Furthermore, the ease of collaboration and file sharing that Distant Desktop supports ensures that team members can work efficiently on shared projects regardless of their physical locations.

Designers, artists, and video editors sometimes need powerful hardware to run their applications, which may only be available on some devices. With Distant Desktop, they can remotely access their main workstations from a laptop or secondary device to utilize the full power of specialized software without replicating their setup or transferring large files back and forth.

Data analysts and researchers often work with sensitive data and complex analytical tools installed on secure, dedicated systems. Distant Desktop ensures their work is conducted safely and compliantly without compromising data security and integrity.

Even casual users can find Distant Desktop helpful. It brings a sense of ease and convenience to your computing. Assisting family members with technical issues becomes a breeze as you can connect to their system and solve problems without physical intervention. It also allows accessing personal computers while away, providing the convenience of grabbing files or checking on downloads without being in front of the PC.

Distant Desktop: Final verdict

Distant Desktop is a reliable platform that provides a range of functionalities for remote desktop access. Its secure and user-friendly interface makes it suitable for various purposes, including client support, remote team management, and personal computer access. With a robust set of features, Distant Desktop is designed to cater to a wide array of needs, ensuring convenience and efficiency for users.

Its key features include file transfer capabilities, multi-monitor support, clipboard sharing, and session recording. These features make it a versatile tool for businesses and individuals looking for an effective remote desktop solution. What sets Distant Desktop apart is its robust security measures, such as end-to-end encryption and multi-factor authentication, prioritizing protecting sensitive data and ensuring a safe remote desktop experience.

Overall, Distant Desktop stands out as a comprehensive and reliable platform that combines advanced features with a user-friendly interface, catering to the diverse needs of remote desktop users.

Having software at your disposal to record your screen, webcam and more, is crucial when designing tutorials, or just showing someone how to quickly fix a software-related problem. 

We’ve tested out many of the best screen recorders (and the best free screen recorders for that matter). Some of these need a download, others work in your browser, and some come bundled with your computer. So, what can third-party screen recording apps offer? A host of extra features you never knew you needed. With that in mind, we put Wondershare DemoCreator to the test. 

Wondershare DemoCreator: Pricing & plans

• A good number of options, from perpetual licenses, to rental agreements, including business and student prices

Wondershare offers various different purchasing options, which are nearly identical, whether you use a Mac or PC. A perpetual plan is on offer for those who like to own their software, for $80. If renting your applications is something you're into, you can do so with a quarterly plan for $30 per quarter (puzzlingly this option is the only one that's Windows only), or an annual plan for $60 per year.

Businesses have their own deal: $70 per year per seat, or $100 for the perpetual plan. The more users you bring in, the cheaper each seat gets. Annual costs for students is $30.

There’s also a seven day free-trial option for those who wish to explore the features before committing themselves. You can check out DemoCreator by clicking here.  

• Pricing & plans: 5/5

Wondershare DemoCreator: Recording

• An excellent series of options, clearly laid out and simple to use. Shame there are so many security settings to get through on a Mac, but this needs only be done once when setting up your software

The first stage, aside from checking preferences, and online tutorials, is to setup your recording parameters. You’ll find quite a few options are open to you, including the ability to schedule your recordings should what you need to capture will be at a time you won’t be around.

There are multiple settings for various features you wish to record at the same time. ‘Zone Capture’ for instance focuses on the portion of the screen you’d like DemoCreator to capture. This can be a window, the full screen, or a selected portion of it. What we really liked, when trying this on a Mac, was the fact our iPhone was immediately detected, allowing us to not only use it instead of our Mac’s inferior webcam, but we could also choose it as the audio source as well. Nothing needed to be turned on. It was just available by default, which was great.

Not so great was the amount of permissions we had to give to get the whole thing working. Yes, DemoCreator guided us through each of them, but it felt like there were way too many of these to enable - sometimes increased computer security can be a nuisance. We didn't encounter this when trying DemoCreator out on a PC.

Your webcam’s image can be set as a standard rectangle, or a circle, and you even have the option of using AI to automatically remove the background, although you need a high-end computer to handle this in real time (there’s a filter in the editing section should yours not be up to the task).

Once all your options are set as you like them, click on the big red ‘Rec’ button for DemoCreator to do its thing. You’ll find control options top right of the screen, but bear in mind whatever you see on the screen will be recorded, so if you don’t want them there, close them down (DemoCreator always reminds you of the keyboard shortcut to stop the recording when starting a new one).

• Recording: 4.5/5

Wondershare DemoCreator: Editing

• A good series of tools on offer, giving you access to a pretty robust editing studio - although it has some limits

When it comes to editing your footage, you’ll find DemoCreator is a very capable editor. It’s certainly much better than most bundled apps, and even some of the best free video editing software we’ve tried - but it can’t hold a candle to the best video software like Premiere Pro and Resolve (not that you’d expect it to). Still, what it offers is quite extensive, and could easily solely be used for moderate video editing if you’re so inclined, as you’re not limited to media captured by DemoCreator: you can easily drag and drop additional footage, audio or images, right from your Desktop, onto the app’s Media Library.

The interface is very clear and simple. You have your media and other tools such as filters, transitions and annotations, top left, your preview screen is top right, followed by an inspector panel, and your timeline takes up the whole of the bottom of the interface.

You get to work on multiple layers, and in fact DemoCreators records your screen, webcam and audio as separate layers, giving you great flexibility when editing your project (or at least that’s the idea - more on that later).

You’ll find the number of tools to be quite extensive, from effects, transitions, captions, sound effects, the list is extensive, and each section is subdivided into various categories to make it easier to find what you’re looking for. There’s even an online store where you can download additional resources. Some are free, but most would have to be paid for. The same applies for some bundled tools: any of them with a diamond in their thumbnail cannot be used for free. Sure, you can use them as you explore the app, but when you’re ready to export, you’ll have to choose a paid plan if you wish to have these effects in your project.

In fact, you cannot export your footage without login into a Wondershare account. Thankfully it’s free to have one, and if you’re not using any premium effects, you can export your project immediately, although it will bear a watermark.

• Editing: 4/5

Wondershare DemoCreator: Issues

• There are a lot of glitches that need to be fixed (including some usability improvements), to make this software truly great

For all that’s good about DemoCreator (and there is plenty that’s good), it is not sadly without its faults. In the course of our exploration, we encountered a number of glitches which could potentially be a deal breaker, depending on how you work.

Probably the most minor one is the audio volume. There’s a (premium) Denoise option, and you can increase the volume slightly to 120%, but there doesn’t seem to be a normalized feature, meaning if you’re used to speaking sotto voce, you might have to change the way you express yourself.

More of an usability issue, but when adding a new clip, it has to be dropped above the others. If there’s no room in the lower layers, you then have to manually drag up all the clips you wish to be above that new one. We wish you could drag a clip to where you want it to be, and all the others move to allow you to put it exactly where you need it, like you can in Final Cut Pro, for instance. It would be a heck of a timesaver.

Then there are Mac-specific issues, which feel pretty serious. As we mentioned before, you can add different clips taken elsewhere into your project - which is great. But we discovered that if you add a video shot vertically, even though you can zoom into it to fill the screen of a widescreen project, any transition, filter, anything you can apply to it, will retain its original dimensions, which might be great if you’re looking for an unusual effect, but for most cases it just makes the tool unworkable. Works great on a PC though.

Another Mac-specific glitch we found was with the webcam recording. We mentioned earlier how great it is for DemoCreator to save everything as separate layers. This means you can move them around, or even remove portions entirely… but on a Mac, not only is the webcam clip separate, it’s also burned into the screenshot layer, meaning that when you move it or resize it, you’ll then find another copy forever present wherever it was when you recorded your session. That happened when connected to an iPhone or with the built-in webcam, and it totally crippled that feature as far as we’re concerned.

Should I buy Wondershare DemoCreator?

Buy it if...

You’re looking for a cross-platform screen recorder, you need a robust built-in video editor, and love having the option of renting or purchasing your software.

Don't buy it if...

You need software that works the same on a PC and on a Mac, the glitches we discovered feel like a deal-breaker for Mac users (although do download the trial version just to make sure).

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