Lost many program settings after restoring backup

[Putty]

I recently decided to wipe the slate clean and reinstall the operating
system.

I did this after backing up my entire system, including the current
system state.

After completing the process, I'm finding that the settings for many
programs have been lost. I thought those settings were stored the the
registry and would be preserved by backing up and restoring the system
state.

What am I missing here?

Thanks for ANY help.

 

[DL]

not neccessarily, settings may be stored with the apps

 

[POP]

System State holds a LOT of your settings, but not all. Did you
restore the system state and THEN the rest of the data? If not,
try again, reversing the order. A lot of settings are held in
the applications themselves. If the registry doesn't match the
installed apps, it'll do that.

Pop

 

[Putty]

1. I reinstalled Windows XP (a "totally new" installation).
2. I restored both data and system state simultaneously using
Windows backup.

Many customized program settings and registrations were lost.

I would like to repeat the process with the goal of keeping as many of
my previous settings as possible. (I wish I had a clone or image file
at this point, but I don't)

What would an expert do in this situation?

Thanks again.