Resetting Windows 7

There seems to be too many laptop problems for me to solve right now.
So if I were to reset my system entirely, would it be possible to keep certain programs (Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop) using a USB flash drive?

 

You might want to copy the data folders of those apps (i.e. Photoshop / Filters directory) to your USB flash drive so that you can copy them to your freshly installed Photoshop folder, thereby bypassing the need to install all of your filters individually. You should probably also download and install an app called License Crawler
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/license_crawler.html

It's an app that scours the registry for registration codes and creates a text list of the codes it finds. You can also put that on the flash drive. I'd also save any configuration files (or potential configuration files) for the programs in question. Every program has it's own configuration files and the authors usually give them unique extension, so just copy all of the newest small to moderate sized files that could potentially be configuration files. Since programs often keep configuration files in special system directories such as C:\ProgramData\[program] and My Documents, look there too for program related files. Once you've re-installed your programs following the reformat you can play around with these files to see if you can recapture at least some of the program options that took you hours to configure.

More risky would be to open Regedit and search for [program name] and export all keys related to the program to your flash drive, then merge them with the new registry, but ONLY if you install the program to exactly the same path as it is on your drive currently. Of course, you'd want to do a registry backup before doing this. You can download such a backup program from this site by clicking the link below:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/tweaking_com_registry_backup.html

Good Luck !

 

Ok guys, thanks a lot for your assistance. However.. I've just encountered a new computer problem - the 'black screen of death'.
Basically, the screen turns black before the log on options, the cursor is still visible. This may be due to a nackered registry. I've tried the F2 and F8 options already. I must need to use a program on the flash drive to try and revive it, or (unfortunately) reboot windows entirely.

What should I download on a second computer and put to the flash drive, to then boot on the troubled laptop? Or is it game over for it?

 

RustySavage i'll work through those steps if I get the chance to log on!