Code42 has announced that it will be preventing CrashPlan users from backing up applications and VM image files—is this just a selfish move to reduce storage needs? After chatting with Code42 competitor Backblaze, Adam Engst discovers there’s more to it. And there are alternatives.

Since Code42 Software discontinued its CrashPlan for Home service, there’s no reason to let the CrashPlan software continue to run in the background on your Mac. Here’s how to remove it.

If you’ve had your head in the sand about the impending discontinuation of CrashPlan for Home, today is the day your backups will stop working and all your CrashPlan Central data will be deleted.