For some Win 7 systems at home, I use the free version of Macrium for a full backup, and if there's additional disk space, another system image using the built-in system. For incremental backups, I use the desktop app from Crashplan.
For Win 8.1, I use the built-in system and the file history. But for ease of use and to do file backups of folders outside libraries (like the ones in appdata), I've had to use a paid version of Acronis from the start to backup the whole system plus separate sets for the browser, mail reader, and games, and have had no problems with it. I've been able to restore the whole system more than once (due to problems I caused when I was playing with system features to lessen wear-and-tear on the SSD) as well as individual files (especially those that are used by the browser and are located in the user directory).