What is the best way to separate user data from the system drive in Windows 7 so that you can restore a known good system image in the event of malware attack, system drive problem, or other system instability, such as a failed application install?

I've done a lot of googling and the answers tend fail into one of two camps:

  1. Microsoft approved "manual" method of moving specific user folders via "Properties"'s "Location" tab
    .
  2. Moving entire Users directory -- via Robocopy or Xcopy -- in conjunction with symbolic links (via mklink).

This was fairly straight-forward in XP. I've been able to restore prior system images as needed with my user data being unaffected and everything works: only need to redo any updates & recent installations of apps. I'm looking to do the same in Windows 7.

So which method is best without risking future problems?

Or, even better question, which method would you use if your mom asked you to set up her Win7 machine for her ... and you know you'll be called if disaster strikes down the road?