I'm confused by the backups folder. In %programfiles(x86)%\mIRC the dated "backups" folder contains the contents of the installation folder (mirc.exe, readme.txt) and the defaults folder. These do not seem like useful things to back up.

The backup folder %appdata%\mIRC\backups\20201125-232521 contains only the file cacert.pem. The customized $mircdir\mIRC.ini isn't backed up anywhere.

As for the backup options, what is meant by "scripts" anyway? mIRC's own ini files, or user scripts? Because in my scripts directory I do have a bunch of .bak files, but after running the installer the modified dates do not change and they do not match the current .mrc files. When do these .bak files get created?

I have used the new beta installer to install 7.63 2424