Ghosting

I was wondering how many people Ghost thier computers or somehow image thier drives? I know how to use Ghost, and how to install an image onto a computer.... HOWEVER, I don't know how to make an image. I want to make one for my laptop. I use my laptop as a "test" computer.... I download on it, play online, and everything else. So it's always messing up and getting viruses and everything else. So once every few weeks I have to wipe it and reinstall windows, then reinstall all my programs.

How do I go about making my own image of it, to ghost?