I want know how I can **avoid setting up all my preferences the same way**, every single time I install a new operating system.

Is there a way to export settings like:

* Background color
* Items to display, and how in Vista/Win7
* Auto-hide Start-menu
* Layout, size, shown columns and view-type in Explorer
* **And so on...**

Are there any guides to the registry-settings that controls these settings? Or anything you can do through programming something in WMI or something similar?