| There are two tools I use quite extensively. One only on my own
| machines because I won't licence it on customer's machines - and one I
| have a technician copy of - a product from Registry-Cleaner.net.

Didn't we already go over this? I explained how you
can logically assess the value of Registry cleaners for
yourself. You avoided understanding what I said. As for
AV, MS updates, etc, I was asked what I do myself.
I explained what I do and why. It's worked well for me
for many years. But it's not an approach for everyone.

I don't find it a pain to re-install disk images.
I always make disk images for any machine *after* it's
all set up, with the main software installed and personal
configuration set up. That allows it to be put back to
fresh in less than an hour, with no loss of anything if
one just makes regular backups of important things like
work docs and email. Again, that's not an approach for
everyone. But for anyone who's willing to learn how to
do it, I would think it's crazy not to make disk images.
They take very little effort and can save *a lot* of work
if something unexpectedly goes wrong. (It doesn't have to
be malware. Lots of things could bring down the system
unexpectedly, including one of those MS security updates
you think are so "critical".