Backup advise for a reinstall of win 7

I'm at my wits end trying to make this OS behave the way I'd like it to. (windows 7 ultimate) Spouse installed it and set it up badly (to his specs instead of mine)

It's mostly a user accounts / log ins and privileges problem (which I've been trying to straighten out for a month via the MS site help forum) but there are other things I'd have done differently on setup too.

I know having to go through and reinstall all my programs is going to be a pita.. and I have already backed up the user files I'd be unhappy if I lost them.

My question is about drivers and other system updates that have happened since the OS was originally installed in early 2010. Is there a way to search within windows 7 ultimate for those files only.. burn them and just reinstall in one fell swoop after getting the OS reinstalled?

thanks
Opal

 

To my knowledge, not reliably. There are numerous file and registry locations to consider for each and every program (and how far would you take it, windows updates?) that you would examine. Additionally, you might be backing up problematic files/settings drivers and such. I'm afraid an OS reinstall means reinstalling and updating everything else, too.

My best advice for backing up your data is, take that backup to a different machine, and make sure your files are there, before you start wiping any data.

 

Thanks.. I was afraid of that. Getting all my drivers squared away took longer than just about any of the rest of the process (well maybe SP1 took longer)

I've got my pics..docs..vids and project files on flash drives (5 of them and counting)
bookmarks too.. still working on getting my firefox profile (which took forever to get right) backed up.

If it wasn't for these user account annoyances, I'd probably live with the rest and eventually tweak things my way. I just cannot seem to rid myself of two butt biting account problems. Cannot rid myself of one user account and name - his stuff (which is also backed up).. and can't get this beast to come up to a screen that does not say user id and password do not match - even though that built in admin account has been disabled.

Windows 7 is a DOS baby's nightmare.

I just have to pick a three day slot where I can focus only on reinstallation and prep for a week before.

 

One thing is since SP1 has been released many of the previous updates will be rolled into that so there won't be tons of individual updates needed.

I just did a reinstall and downloaded SP1 as a standalone. After installing SP1 there were only a couple dozen or so extra updates. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...e6-4056-4059-8a1b-3a9b77cdfdda&displaylang=en

Try Mozbackup as one way of backing up Mozilla. Even if you want to do it manually it can't hurt to have an extra backup. It just exprots everything to a single file then on the new install run Mozbackup and reimport the file.

 

Mozbackup.. on my way... ty

 

Have you tried going into User Accounts (as an administrator) and deleting the offending account?

 

I ended up doing the reinstall.. backing up important stuff to an external hard drive. I'm happier - still liked XP better, but I'm not wanting to pick up the box and throw it out the window 3 or 4 times a day now. I chose to overwrite the current install, instead of reformatting and luckily, my drivers came along for the ride.