XP to Windows 7 countdown: Clean install or not?

I'm going to bite the bullet and upgrade from XP to Windows 7 -- without the Vista intermediate step. And according to Microsoft, that means a brand spanking new OS clean install on my hard drive. Although I could try to upgrade to Vista and then upgrade again to Win 7, that seems  more trouble than it's worth, especially since I'd end up with who knows how much garbage littering my hard drive.

In fact, the clean install holds one strong appeal: getting rid of all the clutter on my system and starting anew with a neat and tidy drive. Even if that's sort of like when my home computer died, only with the ability to plan in advance.

However, I'm having second thoughts about the "backup my files and wipe my hard drive clean" option, with the announcement of Laplink's PCmover Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant. At $14.95 up until the official Oct. 22 Windows 7 launch, it seems worth the money, as long as I'm willing to keep some of the junk and quirks I thought I'd be getting rid of with the upgrade.

I've still got fresh memories of when my home PC gave up the ghost a year ago, and what it means to reinstall and reconfigure all my apps. Having an up-to-date full backup still doesn't make for a pain-free restoration process when moving to a new system, because of course you rarely want to fully re-create your old hard drive on significantly newer and different hardware. So while I didn't lose any data (in fact the old drive was intact and I didn't actually need any of my backups), I still had a lot of work to do to get my new system set up as I wanted it.

If that's looming as the biggest annoyance of the migration for you, you may want to give the PCmover Win 7 edition a look. I'm planning to take it out for a spin when I upgrade at home, but still be ready for a clean install if I decide I'd rather start fresh with a new OS. And here's the number one thing I learned from last year's fiasco: I need a record of all my important apps. In fact, this is a good idea even with the tool, because some software may still need to be re-installed. Here's the plan so far:

* Keep information about all my applications somewhere in the cloud. While I could easily store it on another computer that's not in the midst of upgrading, I expect it will be handier to be able to click on hyperlinks on the computer I'm working on. (I could also -- gasp! -- print it out, but that adds a whole other level of annoyance in re-typing lengthy URLs). If it turns out I have trouble getting online, I can still access the Internet from another machine. I'm putting my application info in Zoho Creator, one of my favorite Web apps.

* Note where my app installation files are. Which ones can I easily download again from the Web, such as Firefox and Thunderbird? What apps must be reinstalled from a downloaded file I've saved and need to back up, such as some electronically purchased programs? And what apps have to be reinstalled from a DVD (and if so, where do I keep it)? I'm also including all the license keys. I already store those in my password app, but that may not be easily available right away.

* If there are any important application configuration files, include the location of all those. Likewise, record the location of any important data files. Yes, even Microsoft's Windows Easy Transfer will migrate data and config data (although not programs), but am I really going to trust that it knows to back up my MySQL recipe database or Ruby on Rails event app info?

* Once I note the location of all important files, check off a box on whether I've backed those up manually. I'm using Microsoft's free SyncToy for this -- a handy little app that lets you keep folders in sync. All I need to do is create a folder pair -- one on my internal hard drive and the other folder on my external backup drive. Then I just run all the pairs daily and know that any changes are backed up. Yes, I'm also doing backups with the Windows Backup tool, but do not look forward to trying to extract specific files and folders out of that after upgrading two operating-system generations.

I'm going row by row through all the icons on my too-cluttered desktop, so I know I'll include all my often-used programs. Then I'll scan through the full Programs list. If I miss anything urgent, it should still be in my backup, if a little tougher to find.

And then I just need to wait for the first bad-weather weekend day after launch to put it all into action.

Follow me on Twitter: @sharon000.

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