Windows 7: "Set up Backup" hangs up

I upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium from XP. I have 6.1 SP1 build 7601

running on Pentium Dual Core E5200 @ 2.5GHz with 3.0 gb of memory.


Windows Backup has never worked very well - I made a few backups early on, but wanted something more, so I tried several Back-up programs with mixed results, but nothing seems to work - I get hangups, schedules don't run without baby-sitting, error messages, etc.

So, anyway, I'm thinking maybe I'd go back to Windows backup and just live with its shortcomings, but now it doesn't work at all. I go to Control Panel, click on Backup under Security; it says Windows backup has not been setup, and when I click on "set up backup", I get a set=up window that just hangs and never gets any progress.

So, I have a two fold question:



How can I fix Windows 7 backup?

AND/OR

Is there a decent program out there that will run consistent backups and images, etc, without a working Windows back-up?

Thanks