How Often do you

I upgrade/downgrade/sidegrade/rebuild my systems so often that my Windows installs don't have a chance to get stale lol

But back in the XP days I'd reinstall every few months, although to be fair that was the result of teenage me breaking the OS as often as it was actual issues with Windows.

My father though... Ran the same install of XP on his Gateway Celeron office computer from about 2002 right through to I helped him pick a new system in 2014 :eek: I can't even imagine how slow that fucking thing must have been towards the end, and it wasn't much to begin with.
Even a new celeron computer is slower than molasses. Absolutely hate that processor.
 
I only install new for a new version of windows (i.e. DOS > 3.1 > 95 > 98 > 2000 > XP > 7. With 10, I just started using it last year. I knew there would be bugs so I rather wait until some of the issues are fixed. Do I ever plan to reinstall 10? Nope. I have a monthly image I create of the boot drive. I have better things to do than reinstall a windows OS including all the programs and settings.
 
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I only install new for a new version of windows (i.e. DOS > 3.1 > 95 > 98 > 2000 > XP > 7. With 10, I just started using it last year. I knew there would be bugs so I rather wait until some of the issues are fixed. Do I ever plan to reinstall 10? Nope. I have a monthly image I create of the boot drive. I have better things to do than reinstall a windows OS including all the programs and settings.
If you’re waiting for Windows 10 issues to be fixed you’ll never install it.
 
first time on my main rig was a couple of weeks ago since I couldn't get my Win10 to boot with the new mobo. Before that was back in 2009.
 
I used to do it a lot. But this is the Windows 7 install I put on right after it launched, switched from the RC version to this lol. If hardware ever becomes available I'll switch to 10 full time, otherwise dual booting for now.
 
Generally I'll only do a clean install of the OS with a major hardware change... so every 6 to 24 months.
Back during the windows 7 pre-release days I'd roll the OS every couple weeks and started keeping my user profile folders on a separate drive so I could blow away the OS without impacting my data.
After OneDrive was cleanly integrated in to Win10 I switched to moving all my user folders inside of OneDrive. This gives me a secondary cloud backup that is kept in sync across all my computers.
 
Frequently. Most recently I tried to install windows 10 alongside my normal os (2019 server) and it ended up breaking the 2019 server install... Nuked the computer and threw a fresh 2019 server copy on it.

Windows 10 causes me great distress.
 
I had Windows 10 from the beta days up to late last year...only reason I re-installed was a new build (Intel to AMD). I am sure I will take flak for this, but Windows 10 at least in my experience takes care of itself...no need to constantly re-install it, etc. I never had an issue with the yearly upgrades, etc as well.
 
I had Windows 10 from the beta days up to late last year...only reason I re-installed was a new build (Intel to AMD). I am sure I will take flak for this, but Windows 10 at least in my experience takes care of itself...no need to constantly re-install it, etc. I never had an issue with the yearly upgrades, etc as well.
Same here and same with alot of people. The angry are the loudest.
 
I'm no windows lover but I generally leave my windows part alone unless something Fs up. I have had my current 10 part for a year or so. Having said that I only use it for games... anything actually important doesn't happen in Windows. For that matter I mostly game in Linux as well... I keep the windows part around for the odd newer AAA game with BS DRM. Part of me wants to just not play them... but I admit I break down now and then to play through a AC game or something. In general if I can run it in Linux I do... and that is probably 90% of my library.

I believe the days of really needing a fresh windows install every year are mostly gone.... but MS will leave a ton of crap behind every time it updates these days. Of course you can mostly clean that from within windows now. What is most annoying about being a part time windows user is the chances of having to do the reboot shuffle every time you use it is high if you don't use it more then a few times a month. lol
 
When I was younger I prided myself on keeping a single OS install for 2-3 years or more before having to reinstall - I did a lot of cleaning to keep it that way.

Now that I'm older I realize it was just a mind game I played with myself and I'd rather have a clean OS so I probably reinstall once a year or so.
 
I'm no windows lover but I generally leave my windows part alone unless something Fs up. I have had my current 10 part for a year or so. Having said that I only use it for games... anything actually important doesn't happen in Windows. For that matter I mostly game in Linux as well... I keep the windows part around for the odd newer AAA game with BS DRM. Part of me wants to just not play them... but I admit I break down now and then to play through a AC game or something. In general if I can run it in Linux I do... and that is probably 90% of my library.

I believe the days of really needing a fresh windows install every year are mostly gone.... but MS will leave a ton of crap behind every time it updates these days. Of course you can mostly clean that from within windows now. What is most annoying about being a part time windows user is the chances of having to do the reboot shuffle every time you use it is high if you don't use it more then a few times a month. lol
I dedicate my windows computer only for games. I don't trust it for anything else. It also seems to stay pretty nicely intact when it's not used for web surfing etc. risky activities.
 
I've been using the same install of Win10 for 4.5 years. Like many here, I used to install versions prior to Win7 multiple times a year. Win10 has just been real solid to-date.
 
Finally moved from 1909 -> 20H2 and very happy with the de-bloat I ran prior to install with MSMG Toolkit. No cortana, metro apps, smartscreen, defender, no nags, telemetry, hijacking of default programs, notification spam or advertisements, no forced version upgrades in the middle of the night because you forgot to toggle a "delay feature updates" option somewhere. It's basically LTSC without the downsides.

I might do a a step-by-step guide thread for it because it has a slight trial-and-error learning curve to getting the config just right.
 
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