Phone Backup Program

[mjodotcom]

I am looking to aquire some program to backup my phone in the event I need to do a hard reset or something and don't have to start from scratch. I see that a popular program used by members of this forum is Spb backup. I was curious, with the new version of the software that features "ROM update mode", does this mean I can flash the ROM on the phone and keep all of the different registry tweaks and program installations I have to date? Also, since Spb does cost money, is there any decent freeware application out there for backing up the phone? Thanks!