I also agree with a format during a windows install. Always do a "clean" install. Figure out some kind of backup method (DVDR, hard disk, usb key), and backup information whenever it's critical.
I never backup my system drive. I always keep a seperate partition, with a series of folders. When I go to "backup", I drag the parent folder over to whatever I'm using. Sometimes it's a USB key, sometimes it's a hard drive. However, I don't really consider anything backed-up until I finally burn it to DVDR. I also find that 6 months of a *used* Windows installation is really awesome uptime. It's also about the point where I'm forced to do a Linux install as well, either because the updater has stopped working, or there's a new version.
I will say that Fedora Linux tends to be easier for me to "install" than windows. "rpm -Uvh --force --nodeps" with a running yum-cache makes it easy to patch and re-install all your applications.
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