I've received a number of questions via e-mail and a couple of comments regarding the system overhaul I began chronicling on Tuesday. Before I follow up with the application and utility setup I promised at the end of the last post, I thought I would address a couple of these questions.

1. What to back up. An excellent question and one you should think about most carefully before rebuilding aWindows installation. I have experiemented in the past with both the "leave everything in My Documents" and "never put anything in My Documents" approaches to building a file system. Since adopting XP a few years ago, I'm firmly in the first camp and so backing up everything in My Documents is a no-brainer first step. So, I back up my profile in the Documents and Settings folder (c:\Documents and Settings\profile - where "profile" is whatever name you log into Windows using). This is where My Documents lives and also where Outlook stores the .pst files it uses. A number of other applications also store preferences and settings there. Your Favorites (if you use IE) are in this folder as well.
   
   It's a bit difficult to tell you precisely what else you should back up, especially if you store data outside of My Documents. This is one of the reasons why I've concluded that it's easier to do it the "Microsoft Way" and just let all my data live in this folder. I had a question asked about saving Office settings - I don't bother. The nest technique I've found for saving set up information (like TCP/IP configurations in the Network properties dialog one reader asked about) is to print out the screen. I use SnagIt - a most excellent screen capture program from TechSmith. You can just use the built-in Windows Print Screen function if you'd like. And, as most of my Outlook e-mail is work-based and comes from an IMAP server, I generally just set up new accounts in Outlook once I've reinstalled for the e-mail. More on Outlook in the next post.

2. What should I back up to? Whatever you can. CD-Rs, DVDs, or an external hard disk drive. I use a compact Iomega USB 2.0 hard drive (80 GB) that comes with a nice automatic backup program and a copy of Norton Ghost, which I use to create an image of my newly set-up system. Having this drive image means that, barring a significant change to the OS, I can restore my system, rather than the default Toshiba setup any time Windows decides to get fussy. Toshiba (and a number of other manufacturers) actually use Ghost to create their Recovery CD/DVD disks. And, since Symantec (makers of Norton Ghost) bought out the folks behind DriveImage not too long ago, they're pretty much the only game in town.

3. How do I get my Toshiba Portege 3500/M200 to boot from the Recovery CD? This has proven to be a big problem and I suggested the forums at TabletPCBuzz.com as the best starting point to get answers about this. It is my favorite place to share ideas, ask questions, and get answers about the Tablet PC.

4. My Tablet (or laptop or desktop) came with Norton/McAfee pre-installed. Should I remove it after reinstalling from the Recovery disk? Your call. I prefer AVG because the price is right (free) and it consumes far less disk space and fewer system resources than either of the programs mentioned in the question. There are any number of other solutions. Ultimately, just about any name-brand AV package beats the alternative which is no protection at all.

That's it for now. Later tonight or tomorrow, I'll pick back up on the restoration process and discuss application and utility installation.