Quote from Bankedout:
I'm trying to think about what I all want to save prior to doing the clean install. The My Documents folder is obvious. I also want to save some of my emails, and favorites from IE. I would also like to keep my Windows settings intact. Do you think that is possible? What other types of things are good to save?
Note that many programs are not well behaved: they store user data in their home directory, rather than where they are supposed to - in the user documents folder ("C:\Documents and Settings\
username" for Win2000 and XP, or "C:\My Documents" in older versions of Windows, which you shouldn't be running anyway).
For example, QCharts workspaces, layouts, etc. are stored in "C:\Program Files\Quote.com\QCharts" folder. If QCharts were well-behaved it would put them in an appropriate folder within the user documents folder, such as "C:\Documents and Settings\
username\Application Data\Quote.com\QCharts".
Similarly, my digital camera software stores all my pictures in "C:\Program Files\Nikon\NkView4\Images". Even some Microsoft programs are ill-behaved - for example, Visual Basic 6.0 defaults to saving user-created projects in "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VB98".
Some programs create their own root-level folders (ie. "C:\IBJts") and you'll have to look for these as well.
The only solution is to go methodically through your entire drive looking for things that must be backed up, and crosscheck by make a list of all the applications you use and make sure their data files and settings are on your backup list. You can also do a search for all files newer than such-and-such date, although this will turn up a lot of temp files and junk. Even so, you'll probably wind up losing some application settings (preferences and options you've chosen), since many of these reside in the Windows registry, and you'll have to manually recreate them.
Actually the best and safest thing to do, especially if this is the first time you're trying this, is (1) back up everything you think you need, (2) do the clean install on a spare hard drive, (3) keep your original hard drive so that when you find something important you forgot to backup, you can still get it.
I recommend keeping detailed written notes on as many critical things as possible, for future reference. For example, I keep a written log for each of my computers listing every application I've installed, every Windows update, every network and driver setting, my mail program's server settings, every defrag and cleanup I've performed, etc. Also, as someone else noted, make sure you know your username and password to all the online sites you frequent, since you'll have to reenter these anytime you toss your cookies.
Definitely keep offsite backups; fires and theft do happen. And if you're running any version of Windows other than Win2000 or XP, upgrade.
