Whenever Windows starts to break down to the point that it becomes a major problem, which is usually about every 6 to 8 months. I intend to switch to using images soon though. :-p

I used to format alot. Atleast twice a month or more for a while, just because things didn't seem right on an install, lol.

that doesnt make sense

In earlier times when I was "sloppy" using Windows 98 I had to reinstall very often

since I broke the system occasionaly.

Later I did never really have to reinstall since I always could repair

the system with "sysrec" which only over-installes on the current system.

So I do very well on my Windows 98 now.

On my Windows XP Laptop I never had to reinstall yet.

[offtopic]

Did you hear about this:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=78399

[/offtopic]

Now B2T!

Edited July 11, 200620 yr by winxpi

not really a bug in windows XP/2003, your deliberately trying to crash it. under normal circumstances, XP and 2003 are fine. that sort of thing could crash anything.

About every half a year. When things start to really crawl, it is usually time to reinstall. I try not to keep anythign importanat on the workstation itself, and keep my data on a linux server lol

Generally speaking, the OS doesn't get trashed. It's the garbage that it stashes in little out of the way places that eventually builds up to the place that performance is affected.

I searched through my own system to locate all the folders where "crapola" is stored.

I then put all those locations into a list and made that part of my XPCleanup.bat program.

I then put my cleanup batch file in my startup folder for a daily cleanup.

A well maintained computer will NEVER need a re-install of the OS.

Reinstalling winders makes as much sence as putting a new motor in your car because the oil needs changing.

NO intelligent person would ever do that.

Cheers

True, but at least on a car you can find the oil drain. I hate having to play Sherlock Holmes all the time to figure out what crap is floating around that I don't need.

I used to do it every three months but now that i use nlite and addons i do it every month

Once a month, that's what uA discs are for

I am lazy and reinstall is time consuming.

So I try it once a year.

Hehe...

I reinstall often for testing and me usually screwing something up.

I try to use a Virtual Machine, but there are times when you need to see how it's going to react in the real world.

I'm surprised not a whole lot of people use imaging software (such as Ghost or TrueImage).

If the image is crapped and you don't have a UA disc, you'll have to start from scratch.

I made a ghost bootable dvd and tried to include the image on it but the maximum size dvdrws I have are 4.7gb

when i reload my computers i dont have much to install anyway, so i just reload it manually. that way i never lose my touch