[kiwi_2005]

I was going to recommend before you start a new windows installation, partition your drives - so your got a partition D drive that is the most gigs, say your got a 100gig hdd make (C) 30gigs and (D) 70gigs approx. This way install all apps/games/backups onto the D drive so the C drive is always practically clean, some files from applications will still install on your C drive like they need to install to C\Windows\system folders etc., which the program does itself.

This way if your windows messes up and is non bootable at least you know you havn't lost anything as its all on your D drive. I also would copy the registry files of each game (doesn't always work for applications like office) to the d drive, after reinstall of windows most software still has to be reinstalled cause of the new registry but if your saved the registry files before, then its just a matter of double clicking on the rego and answering yes to enter it into the new windows registry. Bingo All games/and some apps that are installed on the D drive are now working with your new windows installation.

I would FDISK to make partitions, but im sure you can do this at the begining of windows installation their is an option somewhere. Or you can partition your drives after windows install, by grabbing a demo of nortons partition or Arconis partition expert on the net.