Should I re-Install Windows

[Fistandantilis]

I ussually reformat and re-install windows every 3-4-5 months and it is that time again, should I do it, is there any sort of benefit to it? Will windows work faster or is that short lived. I ussually do a reinstall because all the themes and stuff that I install, I did the longhorn transformation pack and then I did the flyakite theme also both of those toy with the sys32 shell or somthing like that. soooo, what do you guys think.

 

[MrChad]

If you maintain your system properly, then there is no benefit to reformatting every x months.

 

[Thor86]

Just use RegscrubXP or any decent registry cleaner. And it only takes about 5 minutes.

 

[Fistandantilis]

My main concern is that I went from the original windows then installed the longhorn transformation pack and the I installed the flyakite pack, I would think that it is getting a bit cluttered and hampered...

 

[Rilex]

Registry cleaners are dangerous as they don't know what is in use and what is not, but make a best guess. Regardless, the registry hives performance & size is not something that is an issue on any 6 - 4 year or newer machine.

If what you installed isn't impacting what you do on the machine, why reinstall?

 

[Fistandantilis]

Originally posted by: Rilex
Registry cleaners are dangerous as they don't know what is in use and what is not, but make a best guess. Regardless, the registry hives performance & size is not something that is an issue on any 6 - 4 year or newer machine.

If what you installed isn't impacting what you do on the machine, why reinstall?

thats a good point...I guess that it is the engineer deep inside me that feels that if it aint broke then fix it till it is

 

[Nocturnal]

I used to do that, in fact maybe once a month. However now, it can be many months in fact many years before I format the system and reinstall everything.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Fistandantilis
I ussually reformat and re-install windows every 3-4-5 months and it is that time again, should I do it, is there any sort of benefit to it? Will windows work faster or is that short lived. I ussually do a reinstall because all the themes and stuff that I install, I did the longhorn transformation pack and then I did the flyakite theme also both of those toy with the sys32 shell or somthing like that. soooo, what do you guys think.

I can't imagine why one would reinstall - if there's a problem, I suggest fixing it, rather than simply "reinstalling".

That said, the nLite (www.nliteos.com) CD process certainly makes it easy.

 

[JRock]

I am constantly testing new software so I reimage my laptop every other month. Ghost has made the process seamless. I backup my data and pull the image across the network. It is finished in about 8 minutes. 🙂

 

[Rilex]

What is what VPC/Virtual Server/VMWare is for 😉