Do you format and install Windows every x time?

[+Warwagon MVC]

How often do you reinstall Windows?

 

[The Evil Overlord]

Because I'm a pirate and have all the hax for it :p

  :shiftyninja:

[Lord Method Man]

Only when setting up a new PC.

[Andre S. Veteran]

The last time I had a computer slow down over time was because of a faulty hard drive. I find that Windows, and especially Windows 8, doesn't get slower over time like it obviously did back in the Windows XP days.

[tsupersonic]

Since Windows 7, only if there is a change in my drive configuration (new SSD), or if I want the next version of Windows

[+Warwagon MVC]

I added the 3rd question, to maybe see a pattern of people with HDD vs SSD and that maybe SSD's are so fast that people who have them don't notice their computer slowing down over time as people with HDD's.

[The Evil Overlord]

I added the 3rd question, to maybe see a pattern of people with HDD vs SSD and that maybe SSD's are so fast that people who have them don't notice their computer slowing down over time as people with HDD's.

I never noticed any real slow down, until yesterday I was still rocking a mechanical HDD (24 July 13) pc used to boot up to windows in approx 90-120 secs ready to use

I only got the SSD as it was cheap,

I will admit SSD on an 11 year old pc I still notice the difference, now it takes less than or about 1 minute, ready to use

[Max Norris]

Only install is that first install, barring any major hardware changes or OS upgrade.  Even with XP never saw the need for that "freshing up with a reinstall" nonsense, old XP installation was years old.. preventative maintenance takes care of that.

[Hum]

Not in a long time.

 

Had a bad virus/trojan problem on XP, years ago.

 

And I have cloned over my XP to new drives, when the hard drives got screwy.

 

Not at all with my 2 Windows 7 computers. :laugh:

[ramesees]

Built my current machine in Sept 2011 with an OCZ Vertex 3 SSD.

 

No reinstalls here, no need to. Machine flies along, Windows doesn't appear slow or corrupted and booting is near instant :D

 

Will probably worry about re-installing Windows when I rebuild a new computer in around 18 months time or so

[lmaobox]

 

How often do you reinstall Windows?

 

 

I don't. 

[derkim]

Just did it a few days ago, after failing windows 8.1 install.

I actually just reinstall after a new Servicepack or new windows release.

[10thmandown]

Good topic.

 

XP pre SP3 - every 3 months

XP SP3 - every 6 months

Windows 7,8 - never; just upgrade, reinstall is not needed

[Jub]

I always jump between current and previous versions of Windows. I get frustrated with the current one for missing something I like in the previous one, and then go back to the current one because it has features the previous don't.

 

I know, tard-alert.

[+devHead Subscriber²]

The last time I had a computer slow down over time was because of a faulty hard drive. I find that Windows, and especially Windows 8, doesn't get slower over time like it obviously did back in the Windows XP days.

I have to agree; with Windows 8 and now my SSD, I haven't reinstalled Windows since I did a install of Win8 (after vascillating for several months between 8 and 7).  My next 'clean' install will be Windows 8.1 when it comes out.

I added the 3rd question, to maybe see a pattern of people with HDD vs SSD and that maybe SSD's are so fast that people who have them don't notice their computer slowing down over time as people with HDD's.

 

I think it's probably a combination of both Windows 7 and 8 not bogging down over time like Windows XP did, and the fact that you don't have many of the inherent problems with fragmentation on a HDD when you're using an SSD.  My boot time sped up a month or so after installing Windows 8, and it still comes up in about 10-15 seconds when I do a complete boot.  Most of the time I just put it to sleep.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Good topic.

 

XP pre SP3 - every 3 months

XP SP3 - every 6 months

Windows 7,8 - never; just upgrade, reinstall is not needed

 

I used an XP SP1 and SP2 for about 4 years on the same install.

[bodmas]

I always test all newly released applications including OS even alfa and beta one if I find it on net. so it depends. but as a whole my re-installation OS number goes upto 6-7 a year.

[HawkMan]

I added the 3rd question, to maybe see a pattern of people with HDD vs SSD and that maybe SSD's are so fast that people who have them don't notice their computer slowing down over time as people with HDD's.

 

 

Even if that was the case(despite windows not havign slowed down since the switch to the NT kernel, I even tested this when I switched from XP many eons ago when vista came around) your poll won't be able to show the correlation since it doesn't link who answered what storage medium they have to their other answers. 

 

Your poll is missing an option for those that simply upgrade their windows and thus reinstall less frequently thanwhen a new version of windows is out as well and don't follow some silly plan to reinstall every x amount of months or years because they think it will fix a problem that is caused by a software they have installed and they will reinstall right after they reinstall windows, so they should have just un-installed the offender. 

[firey]

Windows ME: Every 2 weeks
Windows XP: Every year or two
Windows Vista: Every 6 Months (was doing a lot of back and forth between Vista 32, XP 64, and Vistas 64)
Windows 7: Have only re-installed once since release, and it was because I felt like it.  No reason whatsoever.

[_dandy_]

My main machine is a VM host, and the only time I've had to reinstall it was when the motherboard had to be replaced.

 

Otherwise, every VM starts life as a copy of a clean VM folder (OS, service packs, all updates available).  If something goes so wrong that it needs to be rebuilt, I just re-copy the VM disk file from the clean folder.

 

As such, I haven't installed anything from scratch in months, and see no reason for this to change any time soon...unless it's a brand new OS...but then, I suppose that doesn't really count for what the original poster was after.

 

[edit]

Most of my other machines are simply used as a dumb terminal to remote into the VMs, so there's really nothing running on them either that would ever require the OS to be reinstalled.

[Phouchg]

Windows 7 - have reinstalled two times since setting it up for the first time, both times due to my own stupidity. Another one not so long ago due to migration to SSD that I couldn't figure out how to perform non-destructively. That makes it a bit more than once a year average.

[WAQT]

Windows 98: Every Saturday (once per week)

Windows ME: Every Saturday (once per week)

Windows XP: Once a month

Windows Vista: Once a month (sometimes twice)

Windows 7: Never (not taking in the 5~6 times I had to install because of a new computer/laptop, ssd upgrade)

Windows 8: Never installed as primary OS. A few dozen times, testing it out on a VM.

 

I have a bootable Windows 8 USB drive setup for the next time I will reinstall my primary OS again, that will be in a few months when I get the new HP ENVY 15t-j000 Quad Edition Notebook PC.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Windows 98: Every Saturday (once per week)

Windows ME: Every Saturday (once per week)

Windows XP: Once a month

Windows Vista: Once a month (sometimes twice)

 

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

When I assemble a new PC.

 

Back in XP days, I would have images and reinstallation process was a breeze.

 

Nowadays, I practically never reinstall the OS as there's no need for me to do it.

[Pupik]

https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/860008-how-often-do-you-reinstall-windows/?view=findpost&p=592035452

 

Installed Windows 8 yesterday and didn't take more than a hour to set up ALL. Pre-format went to the motherboard's developer site downloaded all the drivers for windows 8, went to the amd's site for the gpu drivers, logitech for the mouse/keyboard/headphones drivers, sound card drivers and put them in a "drivers" folder on a separated partition (still there from the format, so here's a shot of it: shot). Did the same with my most used software by downloading the latest versions and rebooted for format. After about 10 minutes the windows is installed, activated and I'm up to installing the updates which takes another ten minutes. After the updates done installing, it's time for the drivers and it's a lot faster than installing the updates as there's nothing to download, so I'll guess about 5 minutes extra. Then the software (firefox, winrar, foobar) and I'm done. All is left after it is just use Windows regularly and setup the extra small **** (installing flash on the browser, setting up the email accounts in the mail program, tweaking the windows settings and installing **** like skype and raidcall) as I go and when needed.