Well, my machine has REALLY started to act up. I swear I've got some serious RPC problem - stuff is frequently taking 20 to 30 seconds to start on some days. No CPU or DRIVE or any other activity... just a long pause while the OS contemplates whether or not to be obedient - most of the time it obeys (but on occasion it hasn't). Yeah, I've checked for viruses/trojans/root-kits, etc. I'm clean, of course.

I THINK it might be the drivers installed for my new HP Photosmart 3210 All-in-One Printer. Sweet printer, but I've got about 6 hp services running on my box - and some of them are frequently jostling the CPU around. At any rate, it's been about 6 months since my last FDisk (Format Disk)... so I'm due for another.

I use Acronis True Image, which absolutely rocks - meaning that flattening doesn't take too long for me. I don't keep a running backup of my machine with Acronis, but instead just keep two images:
IMAGE A - A clean install with all drivers and everything working perfectly. Then all of my default settings set as needed, and any 'must have' tools/apps loaded in place.
IMAGE B - Extending Image A, all of my base apps (Office, SQL Server, Etc). This is what I typically recover to, and I keep a log of all substantial changes that I make to this image so that I can rebuild as needed.

This go round I'm not sure if I want to recover back to Image A, or Image B .... I'll have to decide.

But, enough about my issues.

Here's a running list of things to do if you're attempting to comletely repave your box. As with warnings in an airplane cockpit, most of these 'instructions' are written in blood (i.e. made from botched attempts earlier in life), so I'd recommend paying attention to all of them.

Uncle Mikeey's Pre-Flattening Checklist:
Drivers

1. Make sure you have ALL of your needed drivers before you even begin thinking about repaving. Have you added any new hardware to your machine?
2. Make sure all of your drivers are up-to-date. Don't Just run out and grab the latest drivers from manufacturer sites. Make sure you've got the latest/current set of drivers on your box.
3. Make sure your drivers are accessible. For example, don't leave your NIC drivers backed-up on another workstation. Burn a CD full of drivers if need be.

Settings

1. Registry Settings. Output any registry entries tweaks you've made and want to keep (examples include any hacks you've made to allow certain attachments through in outlook, or hacks you've made to allow search to find text in development files, etc).
2. Email, WebSite, FTP, and other 'Internet' type settings. Make sure you copy out all of your email account details from outlook, and for any web-based email you may have. If you keep track of all of your passwords for online sites in your browser… make sure you can recover/record all of them. If you have access to FTP sites, newsgroups, messenger lists, etc… make sure you record all of those settings and can reproduce them. Do you have a list of all the blog-feeds you use? Do you have a list of all your contacts via instant messaging? Do you have a passport account, if so, do you have the username and password? Etc. Online Banking? (Do you have the software, and patches?) Do you have the passwords for your online banking, investment sites, etc?
3. Application Settings (VS.NET, Query Analyzer, FTP Program, Dreamweaver, etc… most programs let you save your preferences out as files. Find all the programs you use heavily and determine which ones you care about the settings - most progs now-a-days let you export your settings (VS 2005, SQL Server, FTP progs, dev widgets, etc.)
4. Office Settings.  Don't forget your rules in Outlook. Make sure that you export them. If you have 3rd party spam filters, make sure you grab any of those settings, including white-lists, etc. Use the Save My Settings Wizard to export all of your Office settings. Export your rules and other goodies in Outlook (Tools | Rules and Alerts - then hit the options button). You may also want to check out the following link (via Omar) which will let you save your auto-complete goodness from Office as well.
5. Firewall settings/Security Settings. If you've got a firewall, or network connections etc. Make sure you can reproduce/rebuild them. Save as many settings to file as possible… otherwise document how you've got your settings currently set. VPNs? Dialups? Make sure you document them. What about your network settings? If you have a static IP, make sure you record all the info, etc.
6. Wireless Settings. Make sure you know the location and access info for your router. Also make sure that if you're using WPA-PSK for any networks that you use that you know the passwords/etc. (If you're using WEP, don't bother, just download some hacking software and beat your way in - should only take a few minutes).
7. Performance Settings. Made any tweaks to your system… like HD buffer sizes… TweakUI changes? Registry Hacks?
8. Path. Any thing you've added to your Path? Most likely you'll be able to add them again later, but you might want to take a look and see what's in there right now and make a mental note before continuing.
9. Passwords. You should be keeping all of your passwords in a strongly encrypted central location anyway (like Password Corral, or PasswordMinder, etc). Make sure you've got them ALL. Online Banking?
10. Servers. Are you running IIS? SQL Server? How are the sites, and FTP, and SMTP etc set up? Make sure you can reproduce all of the settings. Document as needed. If you have VMWare or VirtualPC, make sure you have config settings for your virtualPCs. Make sure that your databases are either backed up, or that you are saving copies of the the .mdf and .ldf files (don't make the mistake of just saving the .mdf files - it can work, but burns people all the time - your best bet is to make full-backups AND save your data files if you care about your data).
11. Remote Desktop/Terminal Services. If you use this make sure you've got a list of the servers you connect to with all usernames/passwords/settings etc. (you can backup your Default.rdp file).
12. Remote Servers: If you connect to SQL Servers, web servers, etc… make sure you have a list of all the ones you need to connect to along with connection settings and credentials.

Software

1. Create a list of all the programs/software that you want to install on your new build. Grab a piece of paper, go through your start > progs menu and list ALL of the programs you want to install on your new build. You can even check your start > control panel > add/remove progs list of installed programs. Also, if you've got snifty little programs that just run from a directory (without the need to be installed - i.e. xcopy progs), make sure you grab those directories.
       Make sure you don't forget software you use without 'thinking' such as Anti-virus progs, CD burning software, codecs, dvd players, etc. Include any other utilities you can think of (like tweakUI, registry cleaners, etc.)
       Also, don't forget any add-in programs you may have in applications like Outlook (like Lookout, NewsGator, SpamFilters, Auto-Backup Progs, etc).
2. Now go through the list of programs you've created and make sure that you have discs/installation files, patches, and codes/software keys. Go through each program in your list and make sure you have everything you need for it to reinstall it.
3. Double check your list of programs. Did you miss anything? Again, make sure that these programs will all be accessible. Don't do something dumb like put all of your smaller programs on a USB drive along with the USB Drive management software (where you can't get to it).

Data / Files

1. Identify: Identify all data and files you'll want to copy over to your new build. Only you know where you keep your files… so make sure you get everything you'll need for business, hobbies, personal, finance, etc. The best way to do this is simply open up windows explorer and go through it directory by directory. (This is where being a slob is a definite disadvantage.)
2. Gotchas: Make sure you watch out for any special files allowed by NTFS such as compressed files and encrypted files. Whatever program you are using to copy these files should create copies sans encryption/compression… but MAKE SURE you can get to these files from another computer first (especially for the encrypted files or you can kiss them goodbye).
3. Specialized Data.
           i) Outlook. Depending upon how much data you have and how much you care about it, you can just backup your .pst (LocalSettings\ApplicationData\Microsoft\Outlook\??.pst). You may want to take it a bit further and do other types of backup (to excel for example, or you CAN just go, for instance, to your contacts, hit ctrl+A and then DRAG the entire selected group of contacts into a windows folder on your desktop… this will 100% backup information (be it email, calendar items, contacts, etc) in case your .pst won't bring all of your data back to you).
           ii) OneNote: Just use the program to create a backup to a file, or copy your notebooks out of you LocalSettings\ApplicationData\Microsoft\OneNote directory.
           iii) Financial Software. Frequently financial programs keep their data inside of the Program Files\FinancialSoftwareApp\ directory… make sure you not only back these files up, but can get to them with any passwords/encryption/etc you need. You may also want to check the settings in these programs for anything you wouldn't want to forget (such as backup schedules/locations/etc).
           iv) Pocket PC. Make sure you have copies of all the installers for your progs.
           v) DRM. Make sure you've backed up all of your purchased movie and book rights… there are ways to backup your reader activation as well (which you'll likely want to do). For songs, you may just want to burn purchased songs to disk just to be sure. (i.e. burn them to disc such that you can rip them as standard MP3s.)
          vi) BookMarks. If you're not already storing everything in del.icio.us, then make sure you backup your bookmarks and bookmarklets in some sort of format that will let you easily import them. (Files/plain-text are a good idea as a backup if you rely heavily upon bookmarks.)
          vii) Desktop. I shouldn't have to mention this one... but don't forget to backup stuff on your desktop.

Subscriptions

Make sure that if you have any subscriptions to iTunes or other music services and so on that you deactivate your computer where possible. Other than music subscription services think about things like: Anti-virus subscriptions, anti-spam plugins, games (WarCrack and other MMPG subscriptions), and so on. In many cases you won't be able to de-activate your computer, but where you can it will make things much easier for you.

Misc

1. Fonts.
2. Backgrounds.
3. ScreenSavers.
4. Scheduled Tasks. (Including defrag and backup schedules for any 3rd party apps).
5. Sound Files (i.e. custom .wav files you've used to trick-out your installation).
6. System Tray. Take a look at your systray - anything else we've missed?