yes backing up is a must... but it could get tricky... because if hacks include addons to the user table then you must make those changes manually... what would i do?
I would simply take a clean vb and put it into the place of the old one... then you can find out what tables need dropping or altering... that way you secure you member database and info... and imo would be best... for the templates just revert to the norm
g-force2k2