reset xp without reinstalling other software

[allen]

hey, i'm pretty newb... but there must be a way, or should be...

i recently got a virus of some sort, and after finally getting rid of it, my system has little bugs here and there, some with xp and some with other software like photoshop cs2. so my initial thought is, ok time for that annual reformat reinstall that i try to avoid every year. but there's so much time required to reinstall everything, set everything back up, etc. etc.

so is there a way to reset xp without having to resinstall all the software and drivers and settings you always have to go through when you reformat and reinstall xp? a way to just pick and choose which things you want to stay the same, and which things need to be reset?

if you tell me doing a system restore or backing up the registry and loading an older one, does just that, please give me an explanation or point me to one, of how that works.

i never understood or trusted system restore
and loading an old registry, wouldnt it be missing keys for software you installed after the last registry backup, and still want to keep?

[christopher_wolf]

Ideally, a recent backup would be the best way to go here. Although, with IBM's RnR software, you can perform a selective refresh. Meaning you can select a subset of folders, files, and directories that are to be spared from the backup in general. Last time I tried this, it worked pretty well and did exactly that.

[allen]

that sounds pretty good, except it seems like it'd be hard to know which folders and files to keep, because a program's files are placed in mulitiple locations when you install it.

also, i dont have a thinkpad... yet...
and my system partition is only 20GB, so my system restore set at the max 12% can only hold 2400MB of system restore data, which right now is looking like 4 points, and leads me to less than a week ago... any suggestions?

before i keep assuming, system restore could bring me back to before i caught a virus and it wouldnt be there anymore? is that right?