Efficient Backup and Restore for Windows 10 reinstallation

[GPag]

I need some help understanding the best way to back up and restore a system I’m the event of a Windows failure.  I think this may be a long note as I try to explain what I’m looking for so please bear with me.   This is probably more of a discussion rather than just a simple question and answer.

I had to replace my laptop HDD.  I have a full system backup but I don’t want to just restore everything from that backup because a lot of unnecessary junk has accumulated over the years and I don’t want to clutter up a new installation with it.  Looking at the files in my backup, there are gigabytes and gigabytes of files that are not needed - old log files, old installation history files, gigabytes of Apple remote files and more.   There is no easy way (for me) to go through the backup and figure out wha is necessary to restore and what is not.   I’d give specific examples but I’m doing a fresh install of Windows and can’t look at my cloud backup right now.

 When the  install of Windows 10  s done I am going to restore all my personal files from the backup and reinstall the apps I need.  I figure this will give me a clean system without any of the crap that’s in the Backup set.  
After I get the system where I want it I will create a system image backup so I can get Windows working again if it has a problem in the future.   This image backup will be pretty clean because won’t have all that extra baggage that accumulates over time. 
My questions revolve around how to backup a system  and avoid carrying over the system file  junk  that has accumulated.  User files are different, I regularly backup my user files - photos , documents, downloads etc.   I’m just talking about system files. 

Does a system image backup include all system, installed apps and user files. so that restoring from an image backup gives an exact copy of all the files on the HDD at the time the image was created ?
If that is the case then I assume that this image backup should be recreated now and then as the system will change over time because of app installs, uninstalls, updates, other changes etc., all of which create more historical “junk” system files that aren’t needed.    Each  successive image will contain more of these files and any  restore that is done will just carry them forward.

How can you create a system backup that doesn’t include the historical junk and only includes the files needed by the system and installed apps?

Thanks,  hoping this question makes sense.