Who else reinstalls without the need to?

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skizzled

[H]ard|Gawd
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Nov 13, 2007
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Hello, my name is Jason and I think I have a problem. :p
I was wondering who else formats and starts over without a need to do so? I formatted my Vista partition because I felt like it last night and reinstalled it. Does anyone else do this?
 
I used to do this when I ran 2000, after awhile I realized just basic regular maintenance yielded the same performance results, so why spend the 25 minutes of a fresh install!

I haven't formatted this system in 4 years, it's overdue!
 
I don't make a regular habit of it but, yes, I occasionally format and reinstall for no good reason, just because I feel like it.

I do find it can be quite therapeutic, and my analyst says I should go ahead and do it when I get stressed, instead of throwing rocks at my next-door neighbour's kids. :)
 
with win 98 always felt a need or was forced too. Since Xp and Vista it has been smooth sailing. Only gets me when I install a new mobo with a newer chipset. grrrr
 
I have the same problem with my XP system. I even made a DVD with SP2, all my drivers, and all of my software installs to just pop in every time I reinstall.

You're not alone.
 
I tend to only reinstall when I do major hardware change (motherboard). I see some people think the OS performance deteriorates over time because it is full of crud. That was true with Win9x maybe due to the registry becoming full of redundant crap but size of the registry doesn't affect XP and Vista performance like it did Win9x so I don't buy it. I use CrapCleaner fairly often to delete temps files etc. and allow very few applets to auto start so I see no reason why XP or Vista shouldn't perform the same one year from now as it did today with just a little maintenance and making sure some malware doesn't hijack your PC.
 
With software like acronis/ghost/drive snapshot/driveimagexml/etc there is no need to reinstall, just backup your OS partition and when the system goes slow or gets infected, then just restore your backup and get back in business in no time :D
 
I've done this with many OSes, up to and including XP, in the beginning. Over time, I learned how to properly maintain XP do it didn't need to be reimaged. Now with Vista, I haven't really found a need to, as it seems to do a much better job of maintaining itself.
 
Thankfully I'm not alone here! I realize Vista probably doesn't have as many issues but I think I'm so used to formatting due to problems or just overall system performance dragging itself further down from the old 98 days that I do it whenever I'm bored. Those of you who don't format regularly, try it sometime, its really is therapeutic like nick8571 said. :D
 
I've never reinstalled Windows on a working machine. Quite possibly things slow down from unnecessary stuff accumulating over time (not really talking about Registry debris, mind), but the time it would take to get everything set up again has always been something I considered to be too great.
 
the only problem i see is with Vista is that it actually gets faster over time after the initial install (after the indexing etc..)
 
The only real reason I'll format and reinstall other then needing to because it is totally fucked(very rare for my own machines) is when upgrading.

I'll reformat when upgrading my boot hd for more room sometimes. Not because I need to per say but starting fresh I'll clean up old apps I don't use any more and upgrade everything that I can all at once.
 
My friends think I do more than is needed, but I always have a reason for doing so. I like to think they're usually good reasons, too. Besides that, the feeling of a clean system is good.
 
I do it. I get tired of all the plug-ins, and that crap... so, i just format and start over again... lol
 
I don't do it as often as I used to but I still do it enough that my friends make fun of me for it. :D
 
I dunno why but i love a fresh install, once a month or two i will save all pic's, movies, music and then wipe the drive and start over!!
 
I usually have a reason for doing so, but sometimes it's just an excuse to start fresh. I agree that regular maintenance yields the same results.. but sometimes when the start menu requires me to scroll myself halfway to rome just to find the app I want to launch, it's quicker to just start fresh than to sit and go through all those uninstall routines, deleting folders and registry entries that the crappy uninstaller left behind and so on.
 
Haven't really found the need since the Windows 9X days. Back then...well, Win9X would get sloppy, I'd also install and uninstall lots of games, etc.

But since then...I really don't install/uninstall much, I stick to just a few games and basic software at home. The only time I've reinstalled XP is if I'm building a totally new PC....all new hardware.

Plenty of new utilities out there to clean up old "uninstall program remnants"...like Revo.
 
I reinstall my spare computer constantly, but not to reinstall Vista or XP or anything. I frequently change operating system on it, from Linux to FreeBSD to all versions of Windows, even WFW 3.11.

I do this to keep my knowledge honed and fresh and so I know the basics of the latest stuff. I'm an IT guy and this is one way I educate myself.

I can install XP in my sleep, and I'm close to being able to do the same with Vista.
 
With older OS's like 98/2000 it used to be every 3-6 months.

XP was every 6-12 months ish.

Vista only twice so far since launch, once from 32bit to 64 and again for an upgrade on a new PC, vista is very good I have to say.

I didnt even strictly need to reinstall, I had vista on a RAID 0 array, switched out EVERYTHING except the hdd array (including the motherboard) and it recognised the array, booted just fine, Vista detected the new hardware and reinstalled practically everything, 2 reboots later it was up and running as if nothing had happened.
 
I don't do so when I don't have a good reason. But I will do so without hesitation when I feel there's a need. And as far as cleaning peoples systems when they ask me to look at their home PC and it's full of malware? Oh HELL no... I say I don't work on that stuff. I'll only reinstall windows for them for a fee though :)
 
If it's a major hardware change(motherboard) on my own system I will usually reinstall...it depends. I actually can't stand clean installs on my own systems...too lazy. Other than that...images. I keep things tidy on my systems and I don't even have to image often.
 
Hi my name is Chris.

Thanks for inviting me to OS Anonymous. I have a problem with reinstalling operating systems.... but... but... it just feels so goooood
 
skizzled said:
Thankfully I'm not alone here! I realize Vista probably doesn't have as many issues but I think I'm so used to formatting due to problems or just overall system performance dragging itself further down from the old 98 days that I do it whenever I'm bored. Those of you who don't format regularly, try it sometime, its really is therapeutic like nick8571 said. :D
Click to expand...

It takes a good week of installing apps, games, patches and tweaking settings to get my system back up to where it is now so no thanks. I find reinstalling the OS and all the other stuff a big PITA. Also, I don't have to phone Microsoft to reactivate because if you only install once every 6 months or so you can just activate over the internet, takes 5 seconds to do.
 
Grimmda said:
I don't do so when I don't have a good reason. But I will do so without hesitation when I feel there's a need. And as far as cleaning peoples systems when they ask me to look at their home PC and it's full of malware? Oh HELL no... I say I don't work on that stuff. I'll only reinstall windows for them for a fee though :)
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. I know this guy who is always messing up his PC so he calls us and wants us to spend countless hours fixing it when you can just wipe and reinstall the OS in an hour. My system takes a lot longer than that because of all the apps and games I have but his is fairly simple to do because all he uses is the web mostly. He still manages to mess it up frequently though. I even gave him a copy of Ghost but he never uses it. All I ever get is a steak dinner out of it.
 
Only when absolutely necessary. I've got better things to do with my time. Not enough time as it is.

A while back when I did a fresh build I image-copied it with Ghost. The stupid Intel heatsink came loose and after a couple of hard freezes my system was borked - all the icons vanished from the control panel.

Restored my Ghost image, bam, only lost a couple of months and saved myself an hour or two of installing stuff and tracking down drivers.
 
Who else has problems with frequent OS reinstallations? This guy (points to self). Happens every 6 months to a year. It just feels so right, baby
 
While I used to do this a TON (at least every 3 months) with XP, I have refrained from it on Vista x64. This dang OS just seems to stay running fast and stable and clean. Crazy.
 
since win98 days i've always had a seperate hd for data (now a seperate file server) so i never had to worry about data loss when formatting. i used to do it every 4-6 months or so, but since xp it's more like once a year at most.
 
I like to do a fresh install once in a while. Although now with Vista, it doesn't make as big a difference as it did with XP so I do it a lot less frequently.
 
Years ago I used to reinstall all the freakin' time. I didn't know enough about troubleshooting and general OS maintenance to do otherwise, so any time I had a problem I'd reinstall.

But the last few years I had XP I started really learning stuff, and now that I'm on to Vista everything works great. At this point I'd dread it if I had to reinstall.
 
I usually do it every year or so With Win XP, or when i get infected by a damn viruses. I would like to know a little more about this ghosting software or maybe a slipstream DVD that includes All my Drivers
 
Get Acronis True Image. Install it and have it create a True Image boot cd. Boot to that cd and have it make an image of the OS partition to a second HDD or external HDD. You can also use it to create a hidden secure zone and put the image there and it will create a boot menu so you just press F11 during boot up to restore the image.

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/
 
I do this every 6 -10 months depending on what I have installed and how the machine is running. I believe in the format and start over scenario. My computer that was top of the line in December 05 only take about 20 to go from pushing the button to able to open any program on the computer. Allot of that has to do with slimming windows down though, but I think a fresh start always speeds things up.
 
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