Clean Install Windows 7 or Registry repair....what hurts least

[Con]

You would have to reinstall the programs.  Some older games/programs will run without the registry entries but 99% of anything even remotely new will refuse to run and will prompt you to reinstall.

Since you state that you want to get a SSD drive, then I would:

1. Put a folder in the root of C and call it "drivers".  Download every current driver that you can for the hardware in your PC.  Windows 7 is somewhat good at finding missing drivers but you will of course need to be connected to the net, so at the very least, make sure that you have the correct driver for your NIC card.  Dell is very easy to get all the drivers for, just go to dell.com and support and then enter the service tag# on your PC.  HP is pretty straight forward as well.  Generic PC's or ones that are home built can be a bit more difficult.  driverguide.com is an excellent service if you get absolutely stuck finding a driver after reinstalling windows and exhausting all other methods.

Also, Back Up Your Windows Settings to this folder by going to the start menu and typing in "Windows Easy Transfer" and then follow the prompts.  It should let you back it up to the same drive and if so, select the "drivers" folder for convenience.  Else, have a flash drive handy for it.

2. Purchase a cheap USB to SATA drive kit.  I use mine all of the time for "dead" harddrives (you can often access them long enough with these kits to get data off of them).  An example is http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/dd1a/ (there's several brands, that just came up in a search but should give you the idea of what to look for).  Try to find a kit that can use an optional power source, i.e., it has a plug for the wall.  Often the USB alone won't be enough to juice up the drive so the extra power from the wall gets you over that.

3. Take out the old SATA drive and put in the SSD drive.  Install Win7 and restore your saved settings that you backed up.  Check device manager to see what devices are missing drivers.

4. Connect the SATA drive to the kit and plug it in to a USB port.  It will show up as an external drive.  Copy over your "divers" folder and install drivers.  Recheck device manager.  Hopefully you can get online now.

5. Activate Windows.  You may have to call M$ and go through the automated licensing service.  It's easy enough to do.  Run Windows updates.  Come back in a couple of hours.

6. Make sure that you unhide "hidden" system folders.

7. Reinstall programs and games.  One neat program that will help you to quickly install "common" programs is Ninite: https://ninite.com/

8. From your old drive, overwrite the program folders for games that you just installed with what you had on the old drive.  This will restore mods and other tweaks (usually) so that the game will run as it did before (caveat: you'll need to restore your 'saved games' and 'appdata' folders as well (appdata is a hidden system folder so again, make sure that you are set to view hidden folders).

9. Copy over the documents folder, desktop and any other stuff that you want to transfer including C:\Users\yourusername\Music\iTunes\ for itunes (default directory).

10. Disconnect the old drive and store it in a static free bag in a shoebox and put it in your closet.  You'll dig it out again no doubt to look for something else that you forgot.

Google "backup and reinstall windows 7" for more tips.  Example: http://lifehacker.com/5983652/how-to-do-a-clean-install-of-windows-without-losing-your-files-settings-and-tweaks

Hi GJK

I am starting the process of putting in a new SSD drive as my windows 7 boot up drive.  reading through your advice I have a question.  If I dont intend on removing the old HD drive but just renaming it (ie C to D etc) does this make it more simple?  I wouldnt have to reinstal the programs just find them and then put new shortcuts on the desktop and the start bar right?  What would this do for itunes where the library is under C/users/yourname...etc.  Would I need to recreate that on the new SSD drive?

Thanks
Conrad