Do you ever reinstall your OS to start fresh?

Radec

Radec

Radec

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I've had my PC around 18months I think. Never owned a proper PC for myself before, so have been trying lot's of cool things out.

Basically, my PC is 'tangled' up, so many things all over the place. And have been wondering if to put my W7 disc in to reistall windows and start again completely fresh.

But I don't know if this is common, do many people wipe their PC's after a few years, or is it a bit overkill?
 
Likely find completely different awnsers from people but I like to do a format & fresh install every 6 months . No particular reasons other than It's easier often than cleaning crap , providing you regularly back up etc . My systems always clean and lean but sub consciously I feel better.
 
I used to do so quite regular. But now with SSD's and some knowledge of how to keep on top of it all, I vary rarely do a fresh install. I've only done fresh installs recently due to Windows 10, as I just don't like an upgraded OS, it feels wrong to me lol. But now that's done it will probably stay as it is until the next OS is out.
 
Same as above, with xp/vista/win 7 I normally liked to do a clean install every 6-12 months depending on software updates and how much junk I've installed/uninstalled etc.

On windows 8 I haven't done it as frequently although I will be trying out the 'refresh' the OS feature it has when I do in the near future (I'm going through a clean up/organise files phase).

I do make my life a little easier in that I keep my documents on a separate drive (well drives actually) to my os and program installs so it makes life easier in regards to backing up but I still do a back up 'check' before reinstalling.
 
I used to reinstall windows every 3/4 months but like others since upgrading to an ssd I just maintain the original install.
 
andy_mk3 said:
I used to do so quite regular. But now with SSD's and some knowledge of how to keep on top of it all, I vary rarely do a fresh install.
Click to expand...

Rensin said:
I used to reinstall windows every 3/4 months but like others since upgrading to an ssd I just maintain the original install.
Click to expand...

This - my laptop hasn't been touched since new (22 months ish), and my desktop hasn't been touched since I installed Windows 7... around 5 years!

The only thing I've had to do is manage space a bit - see this thread.

TBH, I would love to reformat more often, but time is an issue these days... #life :(

Cheers,

Su
 
I normally move my OS to another computer I am moving to instead of doing a fresh install. As long as you know how to
make the proper preparations before moving your OS onto another computer then there shouldn't be any issues.

Before moving my OS install onto a new computer, I normally completely remove all drivers, etc that I know won`t work
on the new computer then do a complete driver cleanup with the known tools then remove all leftover traces of them
within the system and registry then once I have connected the HD containing the OS on the new computer, I boot in
safe mode first to let windows pickup new hardware and let it install drivers it has for them then then I boot as
normal then start installing drivers, etc that windows doesn't have for the new computer .

I have also cloned my desktop OS install onto my laptop without any issues at all.
 
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frequently changing OS and as a couple above i loathe the idea of "upgrading" your OS it's just beyond wrong :( Fresh installs are the only way to go for me.
 
I like to do it regular, two maybe three times a year.

I aint got a ssd but it's interesting reading that folks who have em dont do fresh installs so regularly
Is there a specific reason why ?
 
SSDs don't suffer from Fragmentation like mechanical drives.

You should get an SSD. It will change your computing experience. They are probably the single most noticeable upgrade ive ever noticed in 15 years of PC gaming.
 
Before SSD's i'd do it once a year ish, now i only do it when building a completely new PC or when changing the boot drive.
 
Same as the other guys, used to reinstall a few times a year, but since i switched to SSD a few years back ive only had to reinstalled once for windows 10 since it wasnt getting on with a lot of programs i had installed.
 
I've not needed a fresh install since 2010. Since then, I have upgraded Windows 7 Ultimate to 8, 8.1 and now Ten. Each upgrade was performed flawlessly and I use my computer as a gaming machine. I have hundreds of games installed, my Steam library alone has 140 games installed. I have 8 HDDs and over 11 TBs of storage. I keep my machine clean and tidy and do not install crap or allow anyone else to either.

When I upgrade my Mobo/CPU I will do a fresh install but my i7 950 still cuts it no problems.
 
Nope the only time I'll format is if something major goes wrong. I'm not one for having masses of stuff installed anyway and I've got most of my stuff on separate drives.
 
I used to but installed W7 on release day, then cloned it across to an SSD a few years later and have just upgraded to W10 yesterday. So until yesterday I was still on my release day install of Windows 7 and have had one single issue during that time so I saw no point in wasting my time with a clean install for no gain.

Life is to short for that crap.:D
 
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