How many times do u re-format ur pc?

[sweater]

I was wonderin then, how many times a yr have u re-formatted ur pc's hd...::)

On average...is it oks to re-format once a year? ...even if there's no infections or problems noticed? :dry:

coz someone said to me that re-formatting can make and improve pc performance better and the system runs faster...how true iz it? :blink: 8)

[Bob D]

Typically I format once every 12-16 months.
-{ Quote: "is it oks to re-format once a year?" }-
It's OK to format as often as you wish, or as time allows.
For me, it depends on:
How many app.s have I installed/uninstalled over a given period.
Any noticeable system slowdowns or "wierd" problems occuring.
-{ Quote: "....re-formatting can make and improve pc performance better and the system runs faster...how true iz it?" }-
I believe so. I did it to an old legacy (Win 95) notebook, boot time is now more than twice as fast.
Depends on amount of crud on your machine.
In theory, re-formatted machine will perform as it did when new "out of the box".
For me, it is time.

[GES/POR]

Somewhere between 5 and 10 times a year i guess.

[WSFuser]

i usually format every month or two. its become second hand nature for me.

[Antarctica]

Myself I hate to re-format unless I am force to.You have to reinstall all your applications, updating all your software,etc. Maybe I am lazy.:P

That's why I have FDISR. I make a clean install offline, freeze the image and save it on a external drive. In case of major problems I am back in business in no time.

[beetlejuice69]

Years ago I used to format every week. Now once or twice a year...if needed.

[lodore]

every week......?
lodore

[twl845]

I can't believe I'm reading this. Am I out of the loop? Why would you reformat your pc unless you're recovering from a disaster? I reformatted once in 2004 because I had a major problem and tech support made me. :o

[lodore]

i havent formated for 2 years.
i try to put it off and dont do it unless i need to.
also i cant go to my thread and see why...
aka no windows cd
lodore

[twl845]

I shouldn't say this because it's bad luck, but I think if you don't tweak the crap out of your pc and just let do its thing, and follow the rules, you shouldn't have any big problems. That along with regular maintainance like hd cleanup, diskcheck, defrag, regular registry clean up as much as you dare, and keeping the bugs out, a re-format should never be needed as a rule. Of course sh** happens too. :blink:

[Peter2150]

I've never reformated. I use FDISR and imaging to help keep things clean in terms of trying stuff. Also I spent the time on routinely cleaning things out. Keeps the machine running good as new without a reformat.

[Cochise]

I have never ever ever reformatted in yeah years......why would anyone want to unless of course you had total meltdown.....what's the point otherwise?....Too much like hard work if you ask me......and I think it's all in the imagination that your OS runs better::)

But apart from that I haven't any Discs to do it with even if wanted.....lodore and me are in the same Computer Rowing boat.....;D ;D ;D ;)


Cochise.....Discless in Disneyland.....

[GES/POR]

If it aint broken improve it :thumb:

[Long View]

-{ Quote: "I have never ever ever reformatted in yeah years......why would anyone want to unless of course you had total meltdown.....what's the point otherwise?....Too much like hard work if you ask me......and I think it's all in the imagination that your OS runs better::)

But apart from that I haven't any Discs to do it with even if wanted.....lodore and me are in the same Computer Rowing boat.....;D ;D ;D ;)


Cochise.....Discless in Disneyland....." }-

LOL - if you haven't reformatted in years and you don't have the disks ----- well how would you know if there are any benefits ?

why would anyone want to reformat ?-- speed and stability. Unless you never install any new programs which you don't later remove your machine will become measurably slower over time.

Reformating used to be a pain and took hours. Today I compromise and with each new machine I make a system image and more images as I build the system. Every 6 months or so switching back to an earlier image allows a quicker rebuild.

I removed Avast from a laptop a few weeks ago and its badly behaved uninstall created problems. Previously I would have either (a) lived with the problem or (b) reformated. Now all I had to do was go back to the image before avast was installed and rebuild from there - saved hours.

[Capp]

Haven't reformated or reinstalled in 6 years. Don't see a reason to. I create an image every month and do nightly backups.

It has been running great so I don't deam it necessary to reformat. :)

[solarpowered candle]

every season .

[Mr2cents]

The last time I reformatted was Sep 11, 2003. That's 3 years and 4 months ago. I install and uninstall a lot of software. The key for me is keeping the registry clean. I use a combination of 2 programs for this.

Ultrawincleaner 2002 Version This program is similiar to Crapcleaner.

Regseeker, the free version This program allows me to scan the registry, and remove files manually that Ultrawincleaner may have missed.

The main software I use for Backup is Winrescue You can find it Here (http://www.superwin.com) If you click on the link in my signature entitled " Disaster Prevention You will learn how winrescue works. Winrescue is the one program that I wouldn't be without. It has gotten me out of a lot of Jams.

I did notice a slight slowdown in my computer last week. Here's how I fixed the situation. I have a small 30 gb hardrive. I had about 14 gb of audio files accumulated. I burned every audio file to cd that I wanted to keep. Then I deleted all the audio files off the hardrive. I also had several software programs installed that I never use. I also uninstalled all those programs. I ran my registry cleaners..then ran scandisk. Now the computer is running great.

Reformatting for me is to much trouble. As long as my computer is running good. I won't be reformatting.

[TOMxEU]

I format at least once per month, ussually once per 1-2 weeks.
I did about 50 formats due to playing with nLite and 20 due to vLite.
I like, that can instal and set up everything within an hour to be done.
I would never use an image backup, because it backups old soft, errors.

[Nick Rhodes]

Only reformat when I change drives or configuration (like when my OS drive died last year).

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,
No need to reformat too much - testing is done on special dedicated machines and virtual machines. Real hardware - once 2-3 years. Testbeds - once a month. Virtual machines - 3-4 times a month.
Mrk

[herbalist]

If reformatting means literally starting over from the OS disk, that's been years.
If re-imaging to an earlier backup is counted as reformatting, I do this quite often. Usually after trying a new app or something similar. The last time was from working thru a selection of USB drivers, finding ones that worked well on my old box. I did re-partition my internal drives last fall and changed the layout around to accomodate Linux and replace an older HD that was going bad, but still used images of the same setup I was using.
I've never had to reformat or re-image because of infection or performance slowdown. All the locations (cache, temp files, etc) excess files turn up in are cleaned daily by Eraser as scheduled tasks. My registry gets replaced every time I reboot so there's no excess building up there. If anything, the last changes I made have made this old box a bit faster yet.
Rick

[Long View]

-{ Quote: ". My registry gets replaced every time I reboot so there's no excess building up there.
Rick" }-


what do you use ?

[Cochise]

-{ Quote: "LOL - if you haven't reformatted in years and you don't have the disks ----- well how would you know if there are any benefits ?

why would anyone want to reformat ?-- speed and stability. Unless you never install any new programs which you don't later remove your machine will become measurably slower over time.

Reformating used to be a pain and took hours. Today I compromise and with each new machine I make a system image and more images as I build the system. Every 6 months or so switching back to an earlier image allows a quicker rebuild.

I removed Avast from a laptop a few weeks ago and its badly behaved uninstall created problems. Previously I would have either (a) lived with the problem or (b) reformated. Now all I had to do was go back to the image before avast was installed and rebuild from there - saved hours." }-

Sounds to me like it would have been even simpler for you if you had just used 'Restore'......;D ;D ;D

Cochise.....

[Long View]

-{ Quote: "Sounds to me like it would have been even simpler for you if you had just used 'Restore'......;D ;D ;D

Cochise....." }-

LOL - Yes anyone who uses "Restore" could be called Simple - its one of the first
things I remove from any new pc installation - completely unreliable and poor even by Microsoft standards.

[beetlejuice69]

-{ Quote: "every week......?
lodore" }-

Yup I was a format freak. Just loved to do it. Now? Haha no way, only if I have to.

[Ice_Czar]

My experimental boxes (surf & media) get reformatted quite regularly on average every 9 months, but thats becuase I break them constantly with as much tweaking and trial software as I can get ;D
(Shell replacements, OS hacking, customization ect) Even then they arent reformatted just reimaged back to a known clean starting point.


My main boxes go for years without a reformat, generally embarked on only when a complete hardware reconfiguration is done. I far more slowly introduce customizations and software to them. The longest a single hardware config lasted was something like 4 years.

[twl845]

After reading the Wilders forums for a while, and seeing how some people install and uninstall software like they're changing their shorts, it's no wonder that sooner or later their pc is going to get all screwed up and require a reformat. Tweek this and tweek that, after a while the pc can't spell Windows. A pc is a machine that was built to do a specific function. I hardly ever argue with mine. It's usually right. If I suspect a problem starting, I do a dskcheck, AS and AV scan, clean out the cache, temp files etc. Usually I figure out what the cause is and eliminate it. It's usually a software problem. I try to keep it lean and mean. If a new software is slowing it down, out it goes. I would have to read up to learn how to do a reformat. :isay:

[Cochise]

-{ Quote: "After reading the Wilders forums for a while, and seeing how some people install and uninstall software like they're changing their shorts, it's no wonder that sooner or later their pc is going to get all screwed up and require a reformat. Tweek this and tweek that, after a while the pc can't spell Windows. A pc is a machine that was built to do a specific function. I hardly ever argue with mine. It's usually right. If I suspect a problem starting, I do a dskcheck, AS and AV scan, clean out the cache, temp files etc. Usually I figure out what the cause is and eliminate it. It's usually a software problem. I try to keep it lean and mean. If a new software is slowing it down, out it goes. I would have to read up to learn how to do a reformat. :isay:" }-

THREE CHEERS FOR YOU Bro'......A Man after my own heart.....couldn't have expressed it better.....;D ;D ;D

Join the D.A.F.T. Federation........."Definitley Against Formatting Temptation"..;D


Cochise.

[wilbertnl]

-{ Quote: "coz someone said to me that re-formatting can make and improve pc performance better and the system runs faster...how true iz it? :blink: 8)" }-
Your advisor probably meant that re-installing Wndows would have a performance impact.
The act of formatting a drive doesn't do much in that area.

[Get]

Last time I did a format/fresh windows-install was 1,5 year ago. I use images for when there's a problem which can't be fixed (fast) and my pc isn't getting noticeably slower.

[Ice_Czar]

-{ Quote: "Tweek this and tweek that, after a while the pc can't spell Windows. A pc is a machine that was built to do a specific function." }-

and stuff how it looks and acts down your throat

these are of a half way tweaked W2K box Im currently customizing\building for a friend

http://i11.tinypic.com/2cwpt8n.jpg (http://i14.tinypic.com/4cvggwj.jpg)
click to enlarge

http://i11.tinypic.com/2hwftxj.jpg (http://i14.tinypic.com/43cuiog.jpg)
click to enlarge

next up linking commandline arguments (msc, cpl, exe, ect) to clickable custom icons\ meters in Samurize for the desktop
the trick here is its a 1.2 GHz Tbird box and I need to maintain its performance

[Mrkvonic]

Hello,
Ice - the word Linux is spelled all over you. For a tweaker fanatic like yourself, Linux is the tweaky tweaky paradise you dreamed of. And once you think you beat a distro - boom, there's a new one. Hundreds of flavors, thousands and tens of thousands of hacks, cheats, tweaks, twists, and so on.
Mrk

[Ice_Czar]

Im learning as fast as I can in the time allowed ;D

But as Ive mentioned before there is even stiffer resistance from my clients to switching

[Genady Prishnikov]

I keep a "base image" that is nothing but a freshly formatted, newly installed XP with the latest updates. Why go through all the hassle of a format when I can just slap an image back on that is nothing more than - a newly formatted Windows XP? I talk to a lot of people at work about this and I'm surprised how few people really understand imaging.

[Ice_Czar]

do the same but after the base software and security is installed and the rudimentary tweaks.
Especially changing the default shell folder locations (http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_shell_folders.htm) and application data paths to an isolated primary "data" partition

[strangequark]

Tweek till you can't tweek anymore, format till your usb ports bleed :-)

[wilbertnl]

-{ Quote: "But as Ive mentioned before there is even stiffer resistance from my clients to switching" }-
Do they think you are a spooky phreak? ;D

[Ice_Czar]

-{ Quote: "Do they think you are a spooky phreak? ;D" }-

silly question :P

http://i1.tinypic.com/4i21kch.jpg

of course,
but they thought that even before I started pushing NIX

[herbalist]

-{ Quote: "-{ Quote: " My registry gets replaced every time I reboot so there's no excess building up there." }-
what do you use ?" }-

DOS. (http://www.freewebs.com/herbalists/index.htm)

[farmerlee]

My personal laptop pretty much never gets formatted unless something goes horribly wrong. My other test system would get a format a few times a month.

[ccsito]

I've never reformmated a hard drive for any computer system of mine (IBM AT compatible, 486DX, Penitum II or 1.4GHz systems). I've only run ScanDisk and Defrag programs on them. I've never had a hard drive crash and expect the systems to become "useless" before that happens. The only thing that I have ever reformatted are those 3.5", 5.25" and 8" floppies.;D

[mango_salsa]

I reformat a couple times a year.

Whenever I think I have too many programs installed (I cannot resist the siren song of freeware), I'll reformat and start all over again.

[EASTER.2010]

-{ Quote: "If reformatting means literally starting over from the OS disk, that's been years" }-

I have formatted XP Pro i think only twice in 2 years and one of those was due to a Hard Drive failure. I don't recall formatting my 98SE but once in 2 years and also that OS runs circles around XP.

I think it has to do with how well you maintenance your PC with various cleaners, defrag programs etc. in that manner, because you can really tell when files pile up on your PC that need dumping/wiping by a good eraser program then a Powerful Defragment app.

Yeah though, if your PC really begins to BOG down on you and you're sure you've dumped & cleared out all areas of TEMPS and other safe files to remove, i would do a new format, but only as a last resort.

Just my own personal preference.

[lucas1985]

-{ Quote: "I cannot resist the siren song of freeware" }-
LMAO ;D :o 8)

[lodore]

well over the last few days my pc is working perfectly i might get a ram upgrade soon to get 1.5gb of ram or even 2gb lol.
but i wont go off topic.
i havent formated for two years on my main system.
my test system has only had one format recently but it is windows ME so it does have its own problems without trying the betas;D
its more like windows Me is the beta
lodore

[Ice_Czar]

-{ Quote: " a ram upgrade soon" }-

A HA! I knew you had ulterior motives :P

[lodore]

lol.
today avp.exe randomly crashed but for a few days my pc wqas running perfectly so it still could be a slight ram problem.
lodore