Archive & Reinstall or SD Restore???

[flashcamo]

Hi there,

Sorry if this is an obvious & dumb question but I'd rather take advice than shed tears...

I've got a problem! A limited knowledge of what makes computers work and a non-working MacPro computer

Today I tried to install the new Adobe Lightroom 2 on my Macpro. Had some major stuff up and now I get funny performance with Finder but am basically locked out. Problems are same in either SAFE BOOT or NORMAL BOOT modes;

mouse moves, dock icons grow & shrink but that's it... no drop down menu, no icons respond to clicking, nothing. Kaput!

I've tried to find out what the problem is haven't got an answer. Tried all the ideas in the OSX 'Missing Manual" plus those I could find on the web. Strange problem?

I'm planing on restoring the system & don't know if I should either Archive & Reinstall or restore from a very recent Superduper backup.

Can you suggest which might be more painless for me? I've not done either. I have lots of various software, settings etc etc & don't want to have to sort it all out again.

All my non system data is on 2 other internal drives plus I have a 2 day old Time Machine backup that's in good shape should I need.

Many thanks for any help.
Cam.