explain "Time to reformat Windows machine"

I hear that some users like to reinstall their Windows periodically when "it's time to reformat".

I've used XP and Vista for years with no performance problems (judged by GUI responsiveness and heavy calculations like POVray tracing). All serious maintenance I do is disable all the junk that accumulates and wants to load on startup.

Can anyone explain why would anyone want to reinstall Windows (apart from HD failure and messing up system files by the users themselves)?

 

yes what u heard is true.........i usually have to format c: and reinstall windows atleast once in a month........this is usually due to the following stuff

1.) accumulation of junk.......there are many junk stuff accumulating in ur pc and registry.......some of which u cannot remove with any automated cleaner........they do decrease ur performance......cleaning them manually is a goliath task....so better way is reinstall (ofcourse i use ccleaner to clean my system everyday)

2.) there will be error and corruption in windows files that u will have to undo......this depends on the level of usage of ur computer......if u r just the average user and does only net browsing and office work u may not need this......but if u hack the registry and try mods on windows or virtualization u are putting many parameters of windows into risk......many files get modified and corrupted

3.) increase of performance........due to the above said reasons u will get a noticeable increase in performance after reinstall of windows...

so i recommend a c: drive format and reinstallation atleast once in 6 months

 

Many people that do this often, do so because of frequent uninstalls/installs of different software. The more you try out software, the more stuff piles up. Sometimes, enough tinkering makes a person feel like they need to start fresh. Thus, "it's time to reformat".

 

Really it was a bi-product of the older versions of Windows (3.1x, Win95, Win98) and not so much for OS like XP/Vista. In the old days power users and gamers would install and uninstall lots of software/games and have leftover bits of those programs in their OS/registry/hard drive which could cause slowdowns, BSOD, and other errors. Really the only thing you could do was back off your data and format/install the OS cleanly again. For gamers this could mean a ~20fps difference so many did a clean install every 6 months to a year to regain this advantage.

Fast forward to modern OS such as XP and Vista and you really don't see the benefits like you used to. The main reason to do a clean install now days is to start fresh and clean out the clutter. For example, as Microsoft releases new service packs you have less sub patches to install and less of a chance of any conflicts (and clutter from 30 mini patches vs 1 service pack). So there are some advantages to doing a clean install periodically but with XP or Vista I'd say once every 2 years should be sufficient (unless you are having some issue that you cant resolve). XP and Vista are much more stable than the older OS and you have tools like backup/restore and restore points in both OS that allow you to roll back to a prior date, so you just don't need to go through the hassle of a reinstall as often.

There are a lot of variables here depending on how much software you install/uninstall, and what you use your computer for so your mileage may vary. For me (as a windows gamer) I find that a clean install every 1.5-2 years is sufficient for my needs. I hope this answers any questions you may have that has not been covered by the above posters.

Regards,

-Reby

 

What every poster has said before me is pretty much the reason people(myself included) re-install windows from time to time. Even though XP/Vista are far more stable than say win98 etc they can still get bogged down over time as you install and uninstall programs/drivers. You will also come across the odd error that the only solution would be to re-install windows.

For instance last year I turned on my notebook one morning and the touchpad refused to work, I un-installed and reinstalled the synaptics driver several times but nothing happened the touchpad still didn't work. I partially dismantled my notebook to check to see if perhaps a cable was loose but everything was fine. The only thing that fixed whatever was causing that error was to do a fresh install of windows. Once I did that everything was fine and the touchpad worked flawlessly. So every 6months or so I re-install windows and get a fresh start.

 

I actually reinstalled XP last night. Main reasons were that certain games have been giving me the BSOD, my mouse pointer was corrupted for no appeareant reason, and my computer was taking 20 minutes to boot. I last reformatted back in october, when I switched from vista to XP.

 

It is usually the registry which gets filled to the brim with junk that the uninstall programs and regcleaners will not find.

XP partitions (that are well-taken-care-of) can last a good 6months-year at optimal performance. (still working on actual Vista data as this laptop is my first long-term/full usage Vista machine)

Windows 98 only made it a couple months at full performance.

Windows machines are getting better at this... of course we still have the 'nix boxes that work for 10+ years without much more than basic maintenance...

 

A remarkable consensus in replies

I've heard about possible registry clutter since Win 98 and I would be very surprised if MS hasn't fixed the problem yet.

 

The main reason is that Windows puts all its eggs in only one basket.
That basket is the registry. And it is a very frail basket.
It is amazing that MS is still using the same approach used in Windows 95.

 

The adding up of system registry does not alone contribute to degrading performance. I don't think MS will be able to change this.

 

A once-a-month re-install? You must be joking. I only re-install if I get a BSOD or the performance degrades. I have too many softwares to install and takes me at least a couple of days to put them all back. The I have to go through tweaking it again which will take another day. I find getting a registry cleaner and junk cleaner the best way of improving performance. I recommend CCleaner and Auslogic.com has couple of free programs such as disk defrag.

 

I would recommend the following if your fond of frequent re-installs. Get a copy of Acronis or some other disk image software.
do a clean install, patch, install common apps, patch, then defrag.
tweak as necessary (UAC, indexing, appearance, etc.)
Once done create an image on an external drive that way you just push an image when you want a fresh start.
Much simpler and quicker.

 

This is a very good way to go about reinstalls. (except it will not take care of software that has been added after the image creation).

 

That is exactly what I do, I can reformat in 30 minutes time and have all my apps still there!

Additionally, I usually keep a running record of all major changes to the system that I would like to make "permanent" (for instance installing a new game, updating drivers to a better version, etc, etc). Next time I re-image the drive I make all those changes and create another "base" backup right away.

It wouldn't hurt to keep a 2nd backup of *just* Windows installed, with 3rd party drivers installed, etc, etc, just in case your main image goes hairy and you need to reinstall fresh for real. That way all your activation stuff is saved and it takes less time to reimage than reinstall.

 

A quote by PmDematagoda from some other forum:

This is my life story.