Quick Q about new rom's and full phone restore after flashing (is that okay to do?)

[paravis]

ie. I'm going to update my mogul from DCDs 2.1.0 to the 2.2.6. I've done a full backup of the phone via SPB Backup. Would it be a bad idea to do a full restore after flashing a new rom with new changes? Or is a ROM unaffected by post flash system restores and the like?

Up until now I've always just gone through the hassle of reinstalling all my proggys and getting my custom settings back for those progs etc...

I'm sure it's been discussed many times over but I'm not getting anywhere with search. Any help would be appreciated.


Edit: Okay, I honed in my hidden search skills and found some more info. From what I've read, a full restore is not wise.

So then my question is, does SPB or some other program allow me to be able to restore all the 3rd party apps I installed before the flash and their custom settings etc? I know with SPB, you can restore program file folders, HTC home/HHC's custom .png files and what not, but doing that still doesn't come back after the restore showing all those apps installed (tho a small few of them can run without needing to be installed just fine). Obviously, that would probably be because either I don't restore the windows folder or the registry/databases or all 3.

How do all you latest custom ROM junkies (like myself) deal with all that? Do you just flash, reinstall reinstall reinstall reinstall customize cust. cust. etc. everytime?