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How often do you re-format?

Originally posted by pbXassassinX1524
wow, how could it survive a format? Unless its imbedded in some hardware somehow?
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The virus could reside in the BIOS or a part of the hard drive that doesn't get wiped during a format.
 
everything gets wiped in a format though, well everything in a data store perspective (im talking about a real format not fat table delete)
 
Originally posted by jacuzz1
The Less you reformat the less of a newbie your are.
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Hehe..true. I reformat only when my anti-virus subsription runs out...j/k.
 
once, maybe twice a year, usually when i do a mobo or HDD upgrade.. i actually use my computer for real work so i've drastically cut down on the re-formatting just for the heck of it. just can't spare the downime anymore.

i do keep up on my virus updates and i thoroughly clean old crap out of the registry every couple of months.

i have a separate drive for all my data and it gets backed up to a separate network drive every night.
 
I've been thinking I'd like to get a hold of some nice drive imaging stuff and just have a nice clean install ready to go so that all I would have to do is install a few games or something.
 
I never reformat. Never had a need to on my own pc's. But I'm very picky about what I put on my pc. It takes me 2-3 days to get my personal system back to where it was originally, not using a ghost product and re-installing and manually configuring everything. Only time I do it on pc's I work on is if things are really screwy and unable to get the machine to perform normally.

The ghost thing mentioned is a great idea and on my next system build for myself that's exactly what I'm going to do. Get a clean windows install all patched up and ghost it.
 
Used to format every two or three months but then I got a bigger HD and filled it up. Now I can't format since I have no place to back up my documents because there's too many of them.
 
I try to minimize because it just annoys me having to reset all my preferences and nitpicky settings.

Usually once a year is sufficient for my tastes, but half the time, it happens on a situational basis. Within the last month, I've had to reformat about 4-5 times due to several problems with my system. Major annoyance, to say the least.

Dark Assassin
 
This thred just reminds me how god awful the registry is. The fact that Windows baloons like Rikki Lake regardless of how well you treat your machine is huge design flaw. I'm getting pissed off just thinking about it...
 
Once a year for my 3 main/mostly used computers. The other 4 only when I upgrade something (mb).
 
I don't see why you would want to format constantly. Last time I formatted was most likely around the time Win2000 was released, as my HD failed. Before that I had used the same data since I had a 386.
 
I reformat usually around every 4-5 months, generally more often in the summer than when in school.
 
Originally posted by matoch
Either that or you have a P4 3.2 that runs like a 386.
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One could try to figure out what piece of crap software/driver that one downloaded and installed for no good reason other than to say he had the latest version and remove it...but that would actually take skill, which would be apparently lacking if one download and installed shit software (read Kazza) in the first place. But of course, some folks find the Windows XP installation screen warm and comforting along with the 3dMark benchmark routine.

Note: Not aimed at matoch specifically, but more so in general to all the know-it-all's that act like they know what is going on but in reality tend to screw their own shit up so bad that a weekly/biweekly/monthly format is routine. Once you step outside and see the sun shining, the birds, the green grass, trust me, re-installin windows will not seem quite as fun as it does now. Give it a shot. Just wait till you run into on them other people...you know....girls.
 
I do it every few months or so, when I get so much crap that I just want to start over. I know I could go through and clean it up if I really wanted to, but it really is just easier to start fresh. I also do it whenever I do any major system upgrades, like a new (different model than before) motherboard/cpu combo. Frankly I just don't trust Windows to change all those important drivers and not explode.

For example, I just got a RAID controller from a friend and I'm going to format so I can run a RAID 0 setup instead of the 2 seperate drives I have now. Its been a few months since the last install, and while I don't really need to do an install it couldn't hurt.
 
I format when I get a new drive. Other than that I don't 'reload' to make my machine run faster because it never 'slows' down. It's called maintainence and I don't install every version of every demo or every free piece of software I find.
 
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