Reinstalling Windows 7 and Windows Update

[Alley Cat]

I have a gaming system.  How often would it be best to reinstall Windows 7 after a reformat ?

 

On my previous XP tower, I had to reformat once a year.

 

Also, something keeps disabling Windows Update every single time I reboot.  And re-enabling Windows Update sometimes end in an error, so I have to change the update settings again, then run Windows Update.

 

 

[Noir Angel]

You shouldn't have to do it all that often if you're careful, I've had Windows 7 installs going for 2 years that haven't started suffering so rather than periodically formatting I'd personally only do it of your system starts getting sluggish or you get problems.

As for your issue with Windows Update... Do your updates install successfully or do they keep rolling back?

[Max Norris]

I have a gaming system.  How often would it be best to reinstall Windows 7 after a reformat ?

Unless you somehow trash it and don't have a backup handy, never. That's an old myth.

[mjedi7]

I've been using Windows 7 on my desktop PC for 3 years, and I have to say thanks to Chrome, Steam & Dropbox I think, in case of an emergency format or reinstall, everything could be pretty easy, as long as you save your files on the cloud. Using  and SSD for Windows and another HDD for your photos, music, videos, steam games.

Maybe before formatting, you could save important files on dropbox, or doing a backup of your iTunes database if you care about playlists, plays count, smart playlists, etc. Saving serial numbers, configuration files.

I wish for some kind of skydrive integration in Windows 7 SP1 like Windows 8.1, where all your settings are stored in the cloud, that was the only thing that I really enjoyed about Windows 8.

But like I said before, reinstall just when it's an emergency, like when Windows is getting slow because of a virus, windows update, system error or some kind of bad software installation. But in that case sometimes it's better to going back to a certain restore point.

Cloud backup or physical media it's always recommended.

[Sir Topham Hatt]

I've not had to re-install Windows 7 yet...

[_dandy_]

> How often would it be best to reinstall Windows 7 after a reformat ?

 

"After a reformat"?  Strictly speaking, exactly once.