Genie Timeline Home is backup software that offers PC tinkerers more bells and whistles than they can get in Windows 10's similar, built-in File History feature. Such niceties include things like automatic purging to save disk space, File Explorer integration for easily adding to the backup, and a protection-level indicator. The software worked well in my testing, and it's simpler to configure than some competitors' offerings, but it lacks important features found in products such as Acronis True Image 2016, our Editors' Choice for local backup software.

Starting Up

You can try Genie Timeline Home on for size with the free trial version, which doesn't make you respond to an email to get the download link as Paragon Backup & Recovery, does, and no credit card is required. Just download and run the installer and click Evaluate and you're good for 30 days. If you decide it's worth plunking down cold hard cash, the damage is a reasonable $39.95 (PayPal is conveniently accepted), a bit less than Acronis True Image 2016's $49.99, but definitely more than Windows' freely included File History feature. The Genie software runs on Windows XP through Windows 10, according to the button you press to download it, but only up to Windows 8 according to the spec page (which is surely an oversight).

Interface and Configuring Your First Backup

When you install Timeline, the software creates a virtual disk entry named Timeline Explore in File Explorer. It also adds right-click options to your Windows File Explorer entries that let you add the selected file to your backup and open a timeline viewer showing you versions and deleted files for the selected file. This makes getting to an individual file's previous version easier than Windows' File History feature does. With Windows, you have to choose a date for the whole backup set and then drill down to the file's folder.

With Genie, you start out with one of the simplest interfaces around, a three-step job that's very touch-friendly. The first order of business is to select a drive—the drive to which the backup will be saved, rather than the source of the data. Next, you see a four-by-three grid of tiles with options for what you want backed up. These include the basics like email, photos, documents, videos, desktop, music, and so on. Each tile has a check mark to indicate its inclusion in the backup.