Bullet Proof?

No. But the closest I've come to it using Windows98 and some add-on utilities. I developed this still evolving configuration in my personal "crash course" in computers. WindowsXP is a step on the road to stability, but still can benefit from partitioning and imaging. (The restore function works when it feels like it, not when I need it to — or so it seems.)

Partition Your Hard Drive

Assuming you have a fair sized hard drive, set up several partitions. I use PartitionMagic 4.0, (8.0 for XP users). Nice interface, doesn't destroy existing data (no guarantees on this, though I've never had a problem), and deals can be had.

C for Windows. Make this partition fairly large so you can add various hidden partitions for booting to multiple operating systems (like Linux) and (gasp!) bootable clean copies of your Windows setup that you can be up and running in seconds not hours when (not if) your regular workhorse copy of Windows goes South. You will likely not be able to boot to any operating system stored beyond the 8 Gigabyte level.

On D, put all your data. Point your email and address books there, move My Documents, everything. Next time you backup your data, just backup D. Since it's treated as a separate hard drive, you can even run a Compaq Quickrestore disk to reinstall Windows and drivers from scratch and have your data left intact (unless they've learned a few new tricks).

Install any extra software on your E partition. This will avoid duplication and save space. If your hard drive is really huge, and your paranoia (or need for reliability) is really high, install all extra software on C and then copy everything over to a hidden partition once it's up and running.

If you have lots of software that you regularly use and rely on, it may behoove you to install and make copies of the whole partition incrementally. Once your fresh copy of Windows is up and running with all your extra software installed, with all the updates to Windows, your antivirus program, your software -- defrag. Then copy everything to a hidden partition on your C drive and all your configuration work will be preserved! Legally, you can make one copy of Windows for backup purposes. I typically have a "primary" copy for everyday use, an "experimental" copy for testing out new (often wonky) software, and a "clean" copy that I can use to replace whichever one has gotten too corrupt. I also leave room on C below the 8 Gigabyte level for a bootable partition that can have some flavor of Linux.

Get carried away and make a separate (smallish) partition for your swap file -- and make Windows put the swap file there. All these partitions will, of course, change your CD, DVD, Zip, whatever drive letters. PartitionMagic can change most references to these drive letters automatically, but you may still have to change toolbar shortcuts yourself.

Make an Image

"Why bother, since I can make a working copy of to a hidden partition and be up and running in the time it takes to reboot?" It's Windows. I use an edition of Drive Image 3.0 (2002 for XP users) that came bundled with "Upgrading and Repairing PCs" by Scott Mueller, published by Que. The interface is much more intuitive than Norton Ghost. You can set Drive Image to make an image with a maximum file size of 650MB (I usually make it a bit less just because), and it will create as many files as necessary to backup your partition. You could then burn a CD, or set of CD's, with your drive image, and use the emergency boot disk created by Drive Image to restore everything from disk. Restoring a working copy of Windows from an image stored on a different partition takes about 10 minutes in my case. Compare that to reloading Windows from scratch (over an hour) and reinstalling all the programs you use (a day or two or three, depending on the computer gods and their moods) and updating Windows and everything else (How fast is your Internet connection? (How fast is the Internet at any given moment?)). Images are the way to go.