The best way to insure you will never be "down and out" or never lose your Windows and Programs setup, is to clone the hard drive to CD's. Clone your entire Hard Drive setup as it is on a good day and restore it whenever you like in about 15 minutes! The more you use your computer and install programs, the more it strays away from its original pristine configuration. After surfing the net and installing programs that can do your computer more bad than good, your computer can slow down, collect bad files or errors. You can go back to the first days when Windows was a clean slate. What you do is set up Windows and only the important programs that are needed that you cannot be without; Office Programs, Internet Connection setup, e-mail, Antivirus, Burning Program. You configure each just the way you like them and the Hold that Image in Time.  Later in time, 6 months or a year, you say your computer isn't running the way it used to... put in the CD's and RESTORE. Or, if the hard drive should ever die, place a new one in and restore to the new hard drive. *The restore discs that come with brand new computers are just the same only that factory installs of windows come "bloated" with much more software installed that you actually use. This can slow the computers performance especially when most programs load into startup memory.  The factory setup is usually not the way you like it anyway, so set it up how YOU like then make your own restore discs.