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Does XP need to be reinstalled every year or so like Win 98?

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XP seems more robust then 98. Re-loads are far less frequent since I started using it.

Just keep it in good shape. Delete IE cache, profile temp files, scan for viruses, update patches & SP's, remove unecessary programs and spyware and defrag and you'll keep it running stable longer.
 
Every year? I just worked on a PC that has an original install of Win98 back from 1998. And the antivirus software hasn't been updated since then either. Cleaned 7 viruses off of that thing, and a good bit of spyware. But it is still running well - for a 400MHz Celeron with 64MB of RAM.
They now have AVG and Spybot on there; hopefully that'll help out a bit.
So, no, even Win98 doesn't necessarily need to be installed every year.😉
 
Would you recommend clearing out the prefetch data on a regular basis, if you have significantly changed the installed programs over time? Is the prefetch data more based on profiles of the applications code and load behavior, or more based on it's current physical location on the disk?

Also, is there any easy way for an end-user to disable XP's idle-time disk-defrag feature? I run a multi-boot system, and I don't want XP deciding to re-order my various other OS partitions on me. (I really only boot into XP for LAN games, but I wouldn't want it to start de-fragging when I'm busy using the machine for fragging, if you know what I mean.)
Click to expand...

Prefetch only changes your boot time. It doesn't have any effect on day to day operations. If your boot time "feels" sluggish clean it out. I probably do it once every 6-9 months.

Not sure I'm following you on the idle time defrag.
 
No, unless you are upgrading to another motherboard that has a different chipset, even then you can get around it by changing your existing chipset information to standard, and then letting it redetect the new one once it's installed. Not doing this usually gets you the BSOD.
 
Originally posted by: Smilin
Prefetch only changes your boot time. It doesn't have any effect on day to day operations. If your boot time "feels" sluggish clean it out. I probably do it once every 6-9 months.

Not sure I'm following you on the idle time defrag.
Click to expand...

Well, I was under the impression that both of them were related - the app prefetch (which I am pretty sure affects all application loads, as well as bootup), and the fact that XP will do background disk defragmentation, during long periods of idle time, in the "System Idle Thread".

I was also under the impression, that XP's defrag algorithm, used the application and boot-time prefetch information, to lay out the disk clusters in a way that was fastest for loading, rather than setting files to always be linearly contiguous. (And that this was just one of several reasons why XP's defrag layout conflicted with Norton Speedisk's layout algorithm.)

The implication of cleaning out the prefetch cache was, that by eventually upgrading/modifying installed applications, the prefetch information would get "stale", and result in a defrag optimization that was also "stale", and therefore sub-optimal, and also a waste of time to perform.

Suffice to say, I really really don't want XP messing about with my file layout or order. Defragging is good, but I would rather do it manually, under "controlled conditions", and not automatically in the background.
 
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