If I strip anything then it is my own work (or more accurately nlite/vlite/MS' own tools and me selecting options), and even then I have. Otherwise my workflow is somewhat similar to JayRo's. Likewise if you are getting it off some shady torrent site then who knows what was done, even if they claim it to otherwise be a copy of a scene release. I can not say I have had a machine compromised like that cross my bench or that I have actually heard of one but it is a real fear in that scenario.
"home basic". Do you mean the actual edition of windows 7? If so it is pretty basic and enough that it would trouble even a normal user (if you somehow magically get the X64 version, it is not retail available after all, then you are still limited to 8 gigs of RAM if some sites are to be believed and you do not have things like internet connection sharing). Some might be more concerned with the loss of the some of the media stuff (nasty old WMP is there but the center and extenders are not) but that is why we have CCCP, XBMC, Tversity and its ilk as well as stuff like VLC. Similarly there is some nice stuff but other than domains it is replicated easily enough and usually for free.