sys restore restores u'r reg but physical files remain on the hdd.. av and antio spy apps are good for minor prevention.. but nothings fool proof.. so i have a ghost image of my system drive.. has all my apps(office, photoshop, illus and the rest that i use) and drivers already installed. So i usually go the wipe reinstall method... only takes me less than 5 minutes to go from buggered system to brand new
Plus I keep all my favourites online and email and my documents mapped to another hdd.. so i never find myself in the situation where i've reinstalled but forgotten to back up a file.
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