reinstalling windows how often do you do it?

jas72 · 31 Mar 2009 at 10:57

My PC has been getting slower and slower, formatting and tweaking hasn't helped much

I'm buying a new hard drive (currently all games and data are on the one HD?

Do you think I should format my old one and reinstall windows once I get my new one?

Any advice on creating slipdisks or is it worth the bother (my disk has SP2 already.)

Also if I do decide to format can I just image the disk onto the new one first and if so will that avoid me having to reinstall all my DLC from steam and reinstall and patch my MMOs (WOW, WAR and LOTRO) and FSX which total about 45 gigs.

I know this forum has some knowledge on these issues sorry for the repost but no other thread really covered my area.

zytok · 31 Mar 2009 at 11:32

jas72 said:
My PC has been getting slower and slower, formatting and tweaking hasn't helped much

I'm buying a new hard drive (currently all games and data are on the one HD?

Do you think I should format my old one and reinstall windows once I get my new one?

Any advice on creating slipdisks or is it worth the bother (my disk has SP2 already.)

Also if I do decide to format can I just image the disk onto the new one first and if so will that avoid me having to reinstall all my DLC from steam and reinstall and patch my MMOs (WOW, WAR and LOTRO) and FSX which total about 45 gigs.

I know this forum has some knowledge on these issues sorry for the repost but no other thread really covered my area.

If your old one is struggling, it may be that your Windows install is fubarred so personally I'd be tempted to remove the old drive whilst you reinstall Windows on the new one from scratch. Install all your drivers and download all the Windows updates. Then plug in the other drive and use something like Acronis to make a disk image of the first new drive onto the old drive for future use.
You could leave your Steam folder untouched on the second drive. When you reinstall Steam, just point it at the existing folder eg. d:\Steam.
Not sure about your other games but many games don't actually require full installation. You could run the install off the CD and sometimes it just checks the existing installation for errors and reinputs settings into the new registry. Obviously you'd need to alter the default game installation folder as it normally puts things in c:\program files\
Run a full disk check/defrag on the old drive and if reports bad sectors, you may want to consider ditching it before it gets any worse.

ssmacc · 31 Mar 2009 at 12:06

Since Windows 7 i've been installing every other week, one week Vista then the new build of Windows 7 etc. although this is on a HTPC so it takes less than an hour to do the lot. I wish i could point to formally known as My Documents an easier way than one place at a time though...

Ucof · 31 Mar 2009 at 12:53

I only reinstall when my PC goes **** up, which thankfully, isn't often

Hudzy · 31 Mar 2009 at 13:25

I'm normally doing it once every three months or so. I never plan to, just works out that way.

reflux · 31 Mar 2009 at 13:26

Used to be every three months with XP, but these days, once every six months on Vista.

Happy · 31 Mar 2009 at 13:36

Hudzy said:
I'm normally doing it once every three months or so. I never plan to, just works out that way.

Same. Usually bored one day and just think 'meh might as well'

nex20 · 31 Mar 2009 at 13:37

On my own private PC I tend to only do it when something seriously annoys me or ****s up.

ShakenNstirred · 31 Mar 2009 at 13:37

my xp PC was last reinstalled in 2003
my old laptop with XP 2002 and my vista laptop 2007

jas72 · 31 Mar 2009 at 13:45

I bought OO defrag as my HD sounds like it's grinding gears when running it nearly vibrates the box.

also all apps are now taking 5-7 seconds to even start when I click the icon.

I think I'm going to get the new HD and do a reinstall like zytok said.

SimonC · 31 Mar 2009 at 14:43

ShakenNstirred said:
my xp PC was last reinstalled in 2003
my old laptop with XP 2002 and my vista laptop 2007

I can beat that, our desktop was purchased in 02 and has never been reformatted.

bledd · 31 Mar 2009 at 14:46

jas72, what os do you use?

vista is poor imo on 2gb.

linktoinsanity · 31 Mar 2009 at 15:04

I agree with bledd. Vista needs >2GB imo, and then you may aswell go 64 bit. Otherwise your better off with XP or the Windows 7 beta tbh.

I usually reformat every 6 months, or when things go wrong...

Smit · 31 Mar 2009 at 16:29

I never Reinstall windows unless something goes badly wrong.

My machine doesn't tend to slow down too much because I tend not to install anything other than essentials and also I run virus and malware scans every few days and also defragment my HDD frequently. (Also store most things on an external drive so my main drive never gets filled up)

asim18 · 31 Mar 2009 at 17:16

I reinstall Windows every 18 months or so.

I clean registry, temp files, defrag, etc, every other week.

1337z0r · 31 Mar 2009 at 17:23

Just usually if I feel my PC is running slow, I've broke something or at the minute its down to new builds of Windows 7 being released Frequently. I've formatted twice since the weekend due to new builds of Windows 7.

Arterion · 31 Mar 2009 at 17:31

Once every 6 months or so, just to clear out the clutter and the slight slowdown because of it.

Most recent reinstall (last week) I moved on to Vista x64, so not sure if this cycle will hold true for this OS.

Also depends if/how quickly I adopt Windows 7.

Tummy · 31 Mar 2009 at 17:41

Currently updating Vista after a reinstall.

Reinstall every 12 months or so, Sometimes it's nice to have a fresh install.

QlimaxUK · 31 Mar 2009 at 17:41

various reasons but its very rare i will reinstall now (twice a year at best), although i did have to reinstall twice last weekend

, my reason/warning; if anyone is using a 'VLK' to get windows updates, they have blocked them so use a version of windows that installs straight to SP3