Retrospect has a selector with a default set of exclusions for windows.
I set about creating one for Ubuntu Linux Workstations.
I found this very useful article on AskUbuntu, and used it as my base.
This is my Exclusion list, you may well need to tune it a bit for your own situation
Folders
.gvfs .cache *.Trash* *trash* .thumbnails .dropbox and / or your favourite Web Storage(s) /tmp/
Folders &/ Files
cache* thumbnails*
Files
*.backup* *~ *Thumb.db
Selector File Attached