Repair install

[Modular]

I'm getting ready to format C on all three of my networked computers and start over from scratch. It's something that I like to do every once in a while to purge any potential virus issues/system stability problems etc.

Instead of completely formatting and reinstalling, would the repair install provide the same functionality as a complete reinstall on the drive partition?

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Modular
I'm getting ready to format C on all three of my networked computers and start over from scratch. It's something that I like to do every once in a while to purge any potential virus issues/system stability problems etc.

Instead of completely formatting and reinstalling, would the repair install provide the same functionality as a complete reinstall on the drive partition?

A repair install installs over the top of the existing system keeping (generally) most of your settings and apps. So if your infected it's likely to just keep the infection (unless it happened to only exist in system files which were overwritten).

How often is every once in a while? Properly maintained there really isn't any reson to do this (IMHO).

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: Modular
I'm getting ready to format C on all three of my networked computers and start over from scratch. It's something that I like to do every once in a while to purge any potential virus issues/system stability problems etc.

Instead of completely formatting and reinstalling, would the repair install provide the same functionality as a complete reinstall on the drive partition?

A repair install installs over the top of the existing system keeping (generally) most of your settings and apps. So if your infected it's likely to just keep the infection (unless it happened to only exist in system files which were overwritten).

How often is every once in a while? Properly maintained there really isn't any reson to do this (IMHO).

I agree with Bsobel here, it's best to avoid reinstall unless you are having notable problems which are beyond the point of a fast fix.

That said, Windows does seem to get a little clunky if you install/uninstall a ton of stuff. The registry gets larger and larger over time this way, and for whatever reason, even after uninstalling, tons of stuff gets left behind, depending on the sloppiness of the programmers. Symantec software is usually this way, I uninstalled Norton Systemworks 05 on a system not long ago, and then did a registry search, and there were still over 300 registry entries for the product, lol 🙂

 

[zig3695]

XP gets clunky after awhile. vista, gets faster.

 

[bsobel]

That said, Windows does seem to get a little clunky if you install/uninstall a ton of stuff. The registry gets larger and larger over time this way, and for whatever reason, even after uninstalling, tons of stuff gets left behind, depending on the sloppiness of the programmers. Symantec software is usually this way, I uninstalled Norton Systemworks 05 on a system not long ago, and then did a registry search, and there were still over 300 registry entries for the product, lol 🙂

For what it's worth:

a) The 2007 products should be much better in this regard
b) In 2005 it's not a sloppiness issue its a compatibility issue. The way multiple components 'plug' into an overall system in windows is problematic and causes people to leave some of those registry stubs in place 'just in case' since you can't always determine if they are still needed or not (use counts always get screwed up, trust me)
c) Registry size has little to do with speed at this point, but this was a big issue with the 9x line.

 

[Modular]

I'd say I do it about once a year or so. I know I probably don't have to, but I realized that I have been running all my networked machines from admin accounts for a year. I would rather just start over with everything fresh and setup the way that I like it and security settings that I trust. It's really for security reasons that I do this. I don't browse any questionable sites, but I know that there are many ICMP pings that make their way through a router and even a software firewall..

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Modular
I'd say I do it about once a year or so. I know I probably don't have to, but I realized that I have been running all my networked machines from admin accounts for a year. I would rather just start over with everything fresh and setup the way that I like it and security settings that I trust. It's really for security reasons that I do this. I don't browse any questionable sites, but I know that there are many ICMP pings that make their way through a router and even a software firewall..

Hey, its your machine and your time, but I'm a security guy and just dont find the need to do this on properly administrated machine. But, of course, to each their own...

 

[KeypoX]

Originally posted by: zig3695
XP gets clunky after awhile. vista, gets faster.

Doesnt seem like it to me.

but i would just run CCcleaner ...