ironwalker
World Renowned
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-31
Keansburg, NJ
clubs: | reply to lmacmil
Re: [XPHome] How often do you do a clean install?
Never.
I never reinstall due to a problem, I always figure it out. It's the analytical side of my brain and the mrfixit in me.
I don't reinstall just because it's been a long time either, that makes no sense to me. |
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jefe
Premium
join:2001-05-19
Northport, NY
 ·Verizon FIOS
| reply to lmacmil
Never.
My main desktop machine is approaching 4 years old. The WinXP Pro installation that came with the PC is still the installation I'm running. With lots of updates, of course. But never a complete re-install.
I, like others who have replied here, have never understood why some users feel the need, or are willing to spend the time, to re-install every time the moon changes phases. |
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BF69
join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN
| reply to not quite right
said by not quite right  :Just suck it up .... it was time a looong time ago. I do a fresh install with any major hardware upgrade, and "spring clean" at least once a year weather it needs it or not. Never quite understood why people will put up with a poorly running machine, or spend 10 times longer trying to fix a hosed install.  My machine is 4 years old I have never done a fresh install. My machine works fine. How do you know how my machine runs? How do you know it's running so poorly that somehow a fresh install would make it run better? |
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Wolfie00
My dog is an elitist
Premium
join:2005-03-12
| reply to lmacmil
I have never reinstalled XP since the first retail install and see no need to do it. When problems/slowdowns occur (which is very rare) it's easier to find the cause than to reinstall what by now must be hundreds of applications and tweaks on my oldest system, which I've been running as my main desktop since November, 2001!
It's true that the registry does grow and get fragmented, but I don't believe that this is a significant performance hit unless it gets truly horrendously mangled. There are tools to optimize such issues but I don't trust them and have not used them.
I'm a big critic of Microsoft so I like to give them credit when they deserve it. They did a fantastic job making XP rock-solid stable and resilient over long periods; by needlessly reinstalling, especially if there are a lot of apps involved, you're negating the benefits of that achievement! 
Not sure that the OP's problem is necessarily software related but it's a difficult thing to track down and a fresh install might be a useful investigative path. Oddly enough I had occasional lockups like that start to happen a few years ago, only when the CPU was under very heavy load -- but it wasn't a thermal problem. Very strange -- but by a process of elimination I traced it to some fault in the ACPI power management -- it would only happen after the computer woke up from sleep. The problem went away when I turned off the "sleep" feature. I'm practically certain it was a hardware issue so a reinstall or repair wouldn't have helped.
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"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" -- a corollary of Murphy's Law
"A dog is like a child who never grows old ... always there to love and be loved" -- Aaron Katcher
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onDvine
Premium
join:2005-01-29
So. CA, USA
clubs:
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to lmacmil
Have had this computer since April, 2003. Did 3 clean installs while running SP1 because things went wrong that I didn't understand well enough to fix. Don't remember what they were. The last (4th) clean install was when I upgraded to SP2 a couple years back. All's been well since; the computer runs fine. (Knock on wood.  ) As long as it stays that way I see no need to reinstall.
I defrag and use CCleaner several times a week. Also run Registry First Aid every few months and remove the stuff that's supposedly absolutely safe.
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Be content with your lot; one cannot be first in everything. ▪Aesop |
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felony
no pants
join:1999-12-05
Aurora, CO
clubs:
1 edit | reply to lmacmil
I use XP PRO, ACRONIS and BARTPE
I have several images of fresh XP installs, and 'mature' XP installs just the way I like them. If I ever have a need to revert, I've got my images backed up safely.
While I really have never had to do a fresh install, if I bugger something up it is nice to have a backup without going through the fuss of the actually reinstall process.
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i control airplanes. |
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r81984
Fair and Balanced
Premium
join:2001-11-14
St John'S, NL
 ·magicjack.com
 ·Cox HSI
·Insight Communicat..
·AT&T Midwest
| reply to lmacmil
Never with XP.
Now, I have had to reformat a friends computer. After 3 hours of virus and spyware and fixing drivers I gave up and just did a format and reinstall which took about an hour to install xp and all the extra programs. 99% of the time xp can be fixed and a reinstall is not necessary.
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For those of you playing a drinking game.... MY FRIENDS! |
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Wolfie00
My dog is an elitist
Premium
join:2005-03-12
| reply to felony
said by felony :I use XP PRO, ACRONIS and BARTPE I have several images of fresh XP installs, and 'mature' XP installs just the way I like them. If I ever have a need to revert, I've got my images backed up safely. While I really have never had to do a fresh install, something I bugger something up and it is nice to have a backup without going through the fuss of the actually reinstall process. A wise man -- and one who uses my favorite OS and two of my favorite related software tools!
Other than adding that System Restore can work wonders, too, I think you've got a winning strategy there!
--
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" -- a corollary of Murphy's Law
"A dog is like a child who never grows old ... always there to love and be loved" -- Aaron Katcher
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felony
no pants
join:1999-12-05
Aurora, CO
clubs: | Hey! Someone agrees with me!
Only thing I don't like about it is that it the images only work with identical hardware setups, which is kinda a bummer. Unless I am missing something.
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i control airplanes. |
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Wolfie00
My dog is an elitist
Premium
join:2005-03-12
1 edit | said by felony :Hey! Someone agrees with me! Only thing I don't like about it is that it the images only work with identical hardware setups, which is kinda a bummer. Unless I am missing something. Well, their Enterprise product has a "universal restore" option, but that's not practical for a home user:
»www.acronis.com/enterprise/produ···ore.html
Other than that, it may be possible to restore to "different" hardware and rely on XP's own resiliency to adapt, or do a reinstall in place to load the right drivers -- potentially a reinstall in place with a CD that's been slipstreamed with the correct drivers if XP doesn't have them. All of which is fraught with peril, I admit!
When I built a new system a few years ago as my son's gaming computer, I slipstreamed SP2 and all the required motherboard drivers into the retail copy of XP that I already owned, and the install worked like a charm. Activation was no hassle, either, since this was a legal transfer of XP Pro retail from his old system. But that was a fresh install.
--
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" -- a corollary of Murphy's Law
"A dog is like a child who never grows old ... always there to love and be loved" -- Aaron Katcher
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onDvine
Premium
join:2005-01-29
So. CA, USA
clubs:
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to Wolfie00
said by Wolfie00 :... System Restore can work wonders ... I've used that a few times, too. It probably saved me from clean installs on those occasions. |
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Maven
Premium
join:2002-03-12
Canada
| reply to lmacmil
I used to clean install on a regular basis, but I stopped when Vista came out. This OS has been rock stable for me, in fact I haven't reinstalled Vista once and I've had it since day one.
I don't know where all the Vista hate is coming from. It was rocky at the beginning because of the drivers and such, but that goes for any OS. Also, it wasn't a significant update over the already solid XP, so it may have appeared fluffy to some. But that doesn't make it a bad OS in any way, the advantages over XP in terms of stability are clear to me. |
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KB24
@amenworld.com
| reply to lmacmil
Usually I do it yearly.
It would take about 5 hours to do everything. Backing up your hard drive to external drive will take an hour...thats about 50G or so worth of files. Actual installation is 30 to 45 minutes...driver installation is another 20 minutes. Applications about half an hour...or install by demand. Then putting back your 50G is another 1 hour...then customizing it like it use to be another 15 minutes.
It's okay because I usually leave the OS installation and the backing up of files and putting it back. So I'm only in front of the computer for a total of 1.5 hours.
This will clean all those dll's you don't need and registry will be fresh. Also you don't need to look for those applications you don't need anymore or plain useless and uninstall it one by one. |
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nrf
join:2003-02-20
Morrow, OH
·Future Nine Corpor..
·Embarq
·AT&T CallVantage
·RoadRunner Cable
| for Vista, I found the most useful capability is that it can do a restore from a backup image no matter how bad the situation. If it gets hosed, I can easily back up to a few days ago. (my private data is on a server anyway)
From years of experience, I can say that things go wrong that take a long time to figure out, and it may be more practical and time-wise effective to do such a restore, or a fresh reload.
After rebuilding my wife's system recently, I have endeavored to keep her environment as simple as possible, not adding anything that is not absolutely necessary. The less on it the less that can go wrong. (for example, I tried the windows 7 compatibility wizard but stopped when it wanted .NET installed.)
simplicity has its benefits.
nrf |
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Wolfie00
My dog is an elitist
Premium
join:2005-03-12
| reply to Maven
Not going to get into another Vista debate here -- but just to quote some facts:
I've been running XP on my oldest system for almost 8 years now (7 years 8 months) with no problems and no reinstalls.
The time between the general worldwide release of XP and the worldwide release of Vista was 5 years and 3 months -- the longest between the releases of any two major Windows versions.
The time between the release of Vista and the accelerated rush to get its successor out the door will be 2 years 9 months -- one of the shortest between Windows releases.
I rest my case.
--
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" -- a corollary of Murphy's Law
"A dog is like a child who never grows old ... always there to love and be loved" -- Aaron Katcher
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dave
Premium,MVM
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio
·Verizon Online DSL
·Verizon FIOS
| one of the shortest between Windows releases Not hardly. Only the Vista release and the Win2000 release took longer, and they were both celebrated disaster areas.
NT 3.1 : July 1993
NT 3.5 : Sept 1994
= 1 year 2 months
NT 3.51 : May 1995
= 8 months
NT 4.0 : July 1996
= 1 year 2 months
Windows 2000 : Feb 2000
= 3 years 7 months
Windows XP : Oct 2001
= 1 year 8 months
Windows Vista : Nov 2006
= 5 years 1 month
The rule of thumb used to be "18 months", clearly violated by Windows 2000 and Vista.
(I include only real Windows systems here, not the DOS-and-derivatives line, and only the desktop releases. I used dates of first availability, as near as I could figure them). |
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Jeffrey
too dark too early
Premium
join:2002-12-24
Dix Hills,NY
clubs: | reply to lmacmil
It's tough to remember, but with Win98 and ME, I felt like it was every 9 months or so.
With XP, I think I did it once on my one Dell after 5 years. Other than that, no reinstalls for me. |
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quatrix
Premium
join:2005-02-11
Davie, FL | reply to lmacmil
The people who told you that don't know how to take care of their PCs. I upgraded from 3.1 to 95 to 98 to 98 SE to XP Pro and haven't done a completely clean install since 3.1 before 1996. Everything still runs as smooth as silk. |
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quatrix
Premium
join:2005-02-11
Davie, FL
| reply to alchav
said by alchav :Changing Mobo's is a major Hardware change and should require a Clean Load, especially from an upgraded OS. Motherboards and HDD should require a Clean Load. Uh, no. |
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mike31mets
join:2004-10-30
Bronx, NY
| reply to lmacmil
With XP I would format about every 6 months on average. The most I lasted was 1 year without reformatting. Ever since I moved to Vista which was around late 07 or Jan 08, I've formatted once in Aug 08. Every time a SP comes out I like to reformat, though in Vista SP1's case I actually waited until just right before I went back to school that year. I'm planning on formatting soon actually in order to install SP2. So with Vista this will have been about 7 months or so since I last reformatted.
While it's become more of a habit as a Windows user to reformat because of the registry, I think that was mostly when I was on XP. Things would just get slower as time went by. With Vista, it's been the opposite experience which is why I love it so much. It's been pretty stable and solid since installing. I haven't noticed any slow down either with time. I'm not sure if it's because of it's memory management or what not, but Vista boots up quicker than XP ever did for me too. So as far as I know I'll probably format again when SP3 comes out for Vista or whenever I move up to Win7. |
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