Do you format and install Windows every x time?


How often do you reinstall Windows?  

120 members have voted

  1. 1. How often do you reinstall Windows?

    • Every 1 or 5 months
      7
    • Every 6 Months
      13
    • Every 6 months to a year
      13
    • Every Year
      15
    • Every 2 years
      15
    • Every 3 years
      5
    • Every 4 years
      0
    • Every 5+ years
      2
    • When I get a new version of Windows
      50
  2. 2. What is the reason for the reinstall

    • Windows was slowing down
      16
    • Something broke / Not acting right.
      25
    • No reason, I just like reintsalling Windows
      24
    • OS upgrade
      55
  3. 3. What kind of hard drive do you have

    • HDD and I reinstall Frequently
      11
    • SSD and I reinstall Frequently
      15
    • HDD and I don't reinstall Frequently
      39
    • SSD and I don't reinstall Frequently
      55


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At work I don't reinstall. At home I am a tinkerer and I usually end up breaking something every year or so. I keep regular backups so I just reinstall. 

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Not_sure_if_serious.jpg

 

Very serious. During the days of 98/ME, the computer I had, its was an AMD somthing, I broke its heat sink fan, and used to turn off the computer every 20~60 minutes, take out the processor, wash it, and then put it back, doing so (and to some extent porn), corrupted the windows many times with a BSOD, I was very new to the computers then, and internet was a universe unexplored, always eager to come online.
 
When I had XP, I had a better computer (than the above), but it was a second hand computer, brutally used, with a faulty graphic card, it gave me BSODs often, and i thinking its Windows, reinstalled.
 
Windows Vista was me vs learning virus/malware, learned a lot using Vista, the first new computer I got.... From Window 7, it has been rock solid performance, and me keeping my self away from virus/malware.
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Less frequently as time moves on. Used to be every 3 months or so, XP once every 6 months, with 7 and up I don't find many stability or 'bogging' down of the system. I also started doing restores rather than reinstalls as its much quicker. I rsync and DD the drive once in a while to keep up to date.

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Very serious. During the days of 98/ME, the computer I had, its was an AMD somthing, I broke its heat sink fan, and used to turn off the computer every 20~60 minutes, take out the processor, wash it, and then put it back, doing so (and to some extent porn), corrupted the windows many times with a BSOD, I was very new to the computers then, and internet was a universe unexplored, always eager to come online.
 
When I had XP, I had a better computer (than the above), but it was a second hand computer, brutally used, with a faulty graphic card, it gave me BSODs often, and i thinking its Windows, reinstalled.
 
Windows Vista was me vs learning virus/malware, learned a lot using Vista, the first new computer I got.... From Window 7, it has been rock solid performance, and me keeping my self away from virus/malware.

 

 

Thats incredible. It corrupted the data because it was overheating and crashing in the middle of accessing/writing data screwing that sector up, not because you were washing it to cool it down. Doing that likely created memory leaks due to the hung driver and just made more problems. After studying Operating Systems and how MS has evolved it makes perfect sense why newer systems are a hell of a lot more stable. Still though, at that time you had no other way to cool the computer down or even monitor the temperature before the bios said nope and hard powered it off?

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Windows ME once every 3 months

Windows 2000 once every 6 months

Windows XP SP2 once every year

Windows 7 i re-installed it once only when my HD failed.

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Still though, at that time you had no other way to cool the computer down or even monitor the temperature before the bios said nope and hard powered it off?

 

The computer I had was a thrash, 'gifted' to me by a relative, I had no money, parents couldn't afford, and no skills back then. I am sure I did not even knew what BIOS was, or we could 'read' the temperatures. I did what made sense (to me) at the time :)

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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.

 

Oh 7 and 8 definitely slow down even on robust machine, you just learned how to keep crap off it. XP was much more vunerable however.

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Never had a reinstall on my Win 7 laptop since I got it on Dec 1st, 2009. :)

 

Yes, it's that stable.

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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.

 

 

You must hae been on every shady porn site there is daily. and clicked yes to every popup.... that's the only way that makes sense. 

Oh 7 and 8 definitely slow down even on robust machine, you just learned how to keep crap off it. XP was much more vunerable however.

 

they don't. XP didn't really slow down either. don't confuse the OS slowdown myth(well on NT anyway) with crapware. 

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You must hae been on every shady porn site there is daily. and clicked yes to every popup.... that's the only way that makes sense. 

 

they don't. XP didn't really slow down either. don't confuse the OS slowdown myth(well on NT anyway) with crapware. 

 

 

I'm aware the operating system is not the culprit, hence I said keeping crap (ie crapware) off it.

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Never since I don't use Windows on any of my computers anymore.

 

But when I did, I used to reinstall every 6-12 months or so. Usually just to start fresh. With newer versions of Windows like Windows 7 and faster computers though, I rarely reformatted anymore.

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Hello

I was wondering do you format and install Windows (what edition) every x time?

Personally I use to do it when school starts and ended every year (Both my desktop and laptop). Now, its about that time (10/22/2012, 10:04:02 PM was when I installed) and was just thinking about what the rest do.

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Not me.

 

Don't have the technical know-how and just run it as it is, use CCleaner when I remember though, and I always shut my laptop off when I sleep

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I only re-install when changing Windows version, or when every other repair option has been exhausted. In these events I do a full disk erase, format and install

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I used to format it every 3 months back in the uni days!

 

Now I only format when there is a major release e.g. XP -> W7 -> W8. 

 

Or when there is a major screw-up and I think that exploring all options is going to take longer than clean install and config. 

 

Also when I get a new laptop, first thing I do is wipe it clean and do a clean install.

 

W8 -> W8.1, haven't decided yet.

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i used to do it with 95-98-xp  because the computer will noticably slow down after few month.

 

 

have not seen that effect with win7 (maybe because my pc is soo much faster)

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I don't format anymore. I've kept the same install even through hardware swaps. Went from Nehalem i7 x58 to Phenom II x4 990FX to i7 Ivy Bridge z77. I've had a few recovery scenarios where I either did a restore point roll back or used the Windows disc to fix an error. This install is from 2009 and has also been through 4 hard drive  / ssd image restores.

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Didn't we just have a reinstall windows thread earlier today?

Yup.  https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1166853-how-often-do-you-reinstall-windows/

 

But for me the only time a fresh install happens is for a new version of an OS or a major hardware upgrade.  Had to recover from an image once after a drive failure, but otherwise that's it. (You do make backups I hope..)  Winrot's just another term for being lazy with maintenance/upkeep, even with XP.

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