I use ghost and an external drive.

Step 1. Install OS and every single patch.
Step 2. Ghost Image (In case something breaks in Step 3)
Step 3. Install core applications (Office, Photoshop, VLC, Firefox) and patches
Step 4. Ghost Image


Then when I need to I can easily roll back to my 'master image' without having to reinstall the service packs and core software again.