How old is your windows install?

7zark7 · Sunday at 09:34

July 2016.

ubersonic · Sunday at 13:33

16-17 years.

Started out as Vista 64 Home Premium then upgraded to Windows 7 Ultimate, then Windows 7 Professional, then Windows 8 Professional, then Windows 8.1 Professional, then Windows 10 Professional.

The OS drive had moved machines 3-4 times, and it's been cloned and expanded onto a bigger SSD a couple of times.

nft_99 · Sunday at 13:40

Got my Win 7 retail dvd from Dixons

7 > 10 > 11

tamzzy · Sunday at 14:49

when i built the pc, so works out to be sometime mid 2023 (2.5 yrs)

something daft already!! · Sunday at 15:22

7, 8, 8.1, 10, 11.

Upgraded all the way and moved to different hardware without the need for a clean install. I would guess over ten years.

Grimley · Sunday at 15:38

last night

I needed W11 for makeMKV, The linux version would not load a disc for some reason.

Fluffybob · Monday at 11:18

Fresh install Jan 2025 (new kit), usually only reinstall if I have issues tbh

Silent Bob · Monday at 11:23

About 6 months. That was around the time a Windows update was blue screening machines with certain Western Digital SSD's. Before finding the fix I re-installed Windows. That didn't fix it and was very close to ordering a new SSD.

dlknight · Monday at 11:29

My Windows install is pretty old and started off as Windows XP, probably about 12+ years ago, has been upgraded to Windows 7, 10 and now 11. Hardware had changed significantly too over the 12+ years!

Robzere31 · Monday at 20:27

5 years next month

roachyuk · 2025-10-08T13:20:05+0100

Current install about 8 years old....do you think I need to do a fresh one.

bigmike20vt · 2025-10-08T13:23:37+0100

Devrij said:
I was sitting here thinking "man I think this install is coming up on 6 years now, time to fresh install and start over", but I just checked and it seems I did that in November last year. I'm already feeling like my install is full of bloat and crap. Loads of virtual devices, hangovers from software that never quite fully uninstalls etc. I wonder if this is more symptomatic of the amount of devices and stuff I run on my pc and all the bloatware that comes with them to do the things I need (looking at you kb and mouse just to have those profiles set up).

How often do you guys wipe the slate clean?

part of me thinks i should probably do a fresh install.... from memory i think my pc was windows 7, upgraded to 8, upgraded to 10 and now upgraded to 11.

so at a guess i am gonna say mid 2016