Backing up and restoring Ubuntu (fiesty) to a previous working Configuration

I'm new to Ubuntu or Linux for that matter. I recently Installed Fiesty and loved it. While I was searching the various menus, I clicked on "desktop effects" and received a message stating that I needed to install the NVIDA accelerated graphics driver.....so I did. After doing this I noticed that certain windows in the background would turn black. I rebooted and could not get any GUI at all. I tried booting no graphic mode and got the black screen that I assumed I could type commands in. Problem is I did not know what to do from there. Since I did not have anything of value on the this particular drive, I opted to reinstall. I'm not sure if the NVIDA driver caused this or not. I've dared not to install this driver again........I've said all of that to ask this question. Is there some way to save the system as it was when it was working, such as the way you create restore points in Windows? I'm still a GUI guy and not too good with the terminal or writing commands yet. Is there a package available that would allow me to make a bootable restore disk? Or maybe a way to create a recovery partition? If the answer is no to these questions, what would my options be if I were unable to get Ubuntu to start with GUI and change it back to the point that it was in before I screwed it up?
BTW, I love what open source is doing as far as leading to a MS alternative. I look forward to Ubuntu becoming more hardware compatible so I can totally do away with M$.