I have a question about how the registry cleaner functions that might allow me to use it as a tool to fix my copy of Windows 7. My goal is as follows:
I am having trouble with a new gaming keyboard. It does have its own driver, but any USB keyboard should show up as a standard USB HID keyboard and function properly with that generic driver (except that special macro keys might not work, and the LED backlighting customization wouldn't work). Unfortunately, when I plug it in, it simply fails to even try to use the generic driver for it. This model keyboard works on other people's Windows 7 x64 installs, and this specific keyboard of mine work fine on my mom's Windows Vista laptop. It even works on my own computer, using the same ports I have it plugged into when it doesn't work in Windows 7, if I boot into Arch Linux.
My assumption is that there is some broken USB HID driver or other Windows driver that is somehow corrupt in my install of Windows 7. The manufacturer has basically told me that I need to reinstall Windows (in which case I would rather just return the keyboard and have my money back, sans the $20+ it costs to ship it back).
So, my question about CCleaner is this: If I were to save my registry files, move my Program files and User directories, wipe out the Windows directory, and reinstall Windows 7 overtop of the current install, could I simply move the old directories back in place, shut the computer down, drop the registry files back in place, and boot the computer back up... The run CCleaner's registry cleaner to go through the registry and find all the device driver registry entries that no longer exist on the hard drive and remove them?
My goal is to "reinstall Windows" without losing the registry entries for the dozens of programs I have installed and all the work I have done to customize everything to the way I like it. It seriously takes me 2 to 3 days to get everything reinstalled and configured back the way I like it every time I reinstall Windows, and I am not going to go through all of that all over again. I really do like the feel of this keyboard, and I would love to be able to keep it, so if you think this would function as a way of refreshing the Windows drivers as seen by the registry, I would be willing to take the risk of having it fail and having to actually go through the full reinstall from scratch.