How Often To Reinstall Windows

[Phil3]

When I first built my PC, it was really fast, but over time it has slowed (with the same applications it was once fast with), no doubt to various files somehow attaching itself to my computer. How often should one just reinstall Windows to get back to a fresh start? The POC "cleaners" and the like do not appear to restore all to like new performance.

- Phil

[Merc1138]

Never, unless something has caused a serious problem. If you maintain decent habits when using your computer, and don't just click the "ok" button every time it appears, you can go for years with your computer being just as fast as when it was last formatted(except for filesystem issues, but that's another matter of having good computing habits). Windows 2000 and onward(so basically everything but 95, 98, and ME) don't suffer from the same problems where the OS just makes itself crappy over time.

[ke6guj]

depends on your usage. Once a year or so is not a bad idea.

[ke6guj]

Never, unless something has caused a serious problem. If you maintain decent habits when using your computer, and don't just click the "ok" button every time it appears, you can go for years with your computer being just as fast as when it was last formatted(except for filesystem issues, but that's another matter of having good computing habits). Windows 2000 and onward(so basically everything but 95, 98, and ME) don't suffer from the same problems where the OS just makes itself crappy over time.

true, good habits can keep it running fast, but it seems that the average user is gonna get all sorts of crap installed over time, and occasional blow it out and rebuild is a good idea.

[bigmike82]

I upgrade some piece of my machine pretty much every year...be it graphics card, hard drive, memory, etc. At that point, it's generally time for a spring clean, so I reinstall as well.

[sd_shooter]

It pretty easy to keep a PC clean:
1) Install good antivirus SW, like AVG Free. Disable the auto SW update but enable the auto virus database update. They will force you to 'upgrade' about once a year anyway, so you'll always be fairly up to date on the SW. Enable all the background sniffers. I've never paid for virus software in my life.
2) Install a good defrag program like Auslogics. Set it to defrag on a convenient schedule and it will never get in your face.
3) Install a good register cleaner, Auslogics is once again recommended. Run it every 6months - 12months, this is as good as "reinstalling."
4) Uninstall programs that you don't use. When installing new SW, make sure you don't install any crapware at the same time (extra plugins, toolbars, utilities etc.) Promptly uninstall the crapware if it gets on your machine (have to do this on my wife's machine every once in a while.)
5) Make a separate partition for all your personal data (mp3, pics etc) and be diligent about saving everything away from the C: drive. Set all your SW to save away from the default locations.

That's about it. Waaaayyy easier than a clean install.

[mcubed4130]

When I first built my PC, it was really fast, but over time it has slowed (with the same applications it was once fast with), no doubt to various files somehow attaching itself to my computer. How often should one just reinstall Windows to get back to a fresh start? The POC "cleaners" and the like do not appear to restore all to like new performance.

- Phil

Depends on which version of Windows. :-)

Windows XP32 - about once a year see note below.

Windows XP64 - almost never.

Windows Vista - once or twice per week is generally good :-)

Windows 7 - no need the HW will die under stress and unlike Vista it will go "BING!" and then you know you've lost all hope of doing anything other than hitting the hard reset button ( hold power button for 10+ seconds ) :-)

P.S. yes I'm being silly - but I was a Microsoft Technet guy for 10+ years. I've learned through the years - to never touch a Microsoft OS until Service Pack 2+ is released.

To really answer the question - if it's only about "speed" just do a checkdisk and a defrag.

If your machine is just doing oddball crazy things... then it's time to reinstall. For instance - my primary laptop running Windows XP32 - keep "disconnecting and reconnecting all USB port devices". And no amount of messing with power-management or reinstalling drivers has fixed the issue... therefore it's time to re-install :-)

-Michael

[Rekrab]

Once a year has always been my mantra. Only exception is back when I was using 2k, then it was never.

Reg cleaners simply won't cut the mustard and will, 9 times out of 10, not do anything or make your system slower. The registry is an enormous file with entries for just about everything in your OS. It's not something you want to mess around with unless you REALLY know what you're doing. Don't trust some bit of software that claims to be able to automatically go through and "clean" your registry. That software doesn't know your computer, it doesn't know you, it doesn't know anything. All it does is go through and look for obvious problems. Sometimes it thinks good entries are bad, because it's a stupid piece of software and not an intelligent person.

A clean install these days takes a couple hours. You'll spend way more time trying to fix your registry or most other "problems" that crop up over time.

[L4D]

Ghost FTW.

[DaveFJ80]

Depends on your usage, and how much you stuff you download over the internet.

My advice, partition your drives and keep you OS and main apps on your C-drive. Use Ghost or some other imaging software and create an image of a good, current version of your OS, drivers, and main apps. That way it'll take about 20 min to format the partition and reinstall the image. Download current Windows updates and other current plugins, and you're good to go.

[ldivinag]

if i was working in a corporate environment without good security or recovery plan, i would suggest every 6 months or so.

[Subotai]

CCleaner is a pretty good registry cleaner. After running it, I defrag.

[NSR500]

I've got an WINXP image running right now that has been going since 2004. If you care for your gear you should be able to go for a while with no discernible drop in speed.
Otherwise, a once a year re-image is good practice.

[den888]

I only reinstall when there are serious problems.

[jarhead995]

I know gamers who reinstall every month.