Doubling recommendation of many of the above apps. Once you have Firefox get Adblock plus and probably flashblock and noscript as add-ons for it. Your browsing life will be so much better.
There is a thread here all about peoples fave software. http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=190395&highlight=free+software&page=4 Some handsome chap has also summarised the findings in post #71
Windows 7 has a backup utility built in. I haven't actually used it to make backups but had a quick look at it and it should be fine for your purposes.