You've said it best - I too do not trust Any ap to upgrade itself 'well' - or to actually remove all its traces in the abominable Registry.
In fact, had I practised what I preach to myself - I'd have gotten that Ghost image made at the first, and after each new (acceptable major addition) - restored to latest image, periodically. But as ~with the great sig of Someone:
I have not really tested this theory of beating Windoze by repetitive image reloads: only proven that it sounds Good to me :-\ufffd
Anyway I'll use the separate directories in succession, and try sneaking the disposable ones away as you suggest. It's still unclear which of the generated config. files Can be just dropped into a new build - nor is it clear how many of these are needed (won't just regenerate on boot). I'll keep checking the faqs to see if I'm the only one who asks such questions :(
{sheesh] - why don't they just tell us where to seed the new build and with what, minimum. A &*%#@ list would do.
Cheers,
Ashton
PS - thus far, M-Mail has given no nasty surprises. The bookmark 'editing' appears brain-dead tho; do a cut & paste via its own commands: might as well call the 'cut', delete. Ugly. Had to get some stuff back from a CD save. Undo no help.