This may not be the easiest answer for you but I believe your best option is to do the manual backup and reinstall of everything this time around. Once you have Vista and all your programs reinstalled (there goes your weekend, sorry about that) restore your files from your backup. After the computer is set up exactly how you want it go and get a Ghosting program, such as Norton Ghost found at the source link below, and create a ghost of your machine. This option will allow you to put the computer back to that state within just a few minutes instead of having to reinstall every little thing again.

I would also STRONGLY suggest you purchase an external Hard Drive that you keep a backup of all of your files on. Not only does this protect your files from being ruined if there is a problem with your computer but makes it much easier if/when you need to do reinstalls, since your files are already backed up.
Source(s):
http://www.symantec.com/norton/ghost


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