How often should you reinstall your operating system

[bulldog]

I run Windows 7 and have never re-installed it but recently I noticed my PC going slower and realized I have never re-installed it in over two years when I got the pc.

How often do you guys re-install Windows?

[3D]

I run Windows 7 and have never re-installed it but recently I noticed my PC going slower and realized I have never re-installed it in over two years when I got the pc.

How often do you guys re-install Windows?

I don't do it often. The only time I do it is when I get a virus I can't figure out or if my pc gets a little too cluttered to deal with.

[bulldog]

I don't do it often. The only time I do it is when I get a virus I can't figure out or if my pc gets a little too cluttered to deal with. Recently HD videos have become choppy where they never did that before and performance seems slower so wondering if a re-install will help that.

I've never done it before myself, but I have the disk that came with my Dell and think it shouldn't be too hard; I'll back up everything I want to keep on a external HD

[birchyboy]

I only do it if I'm changing hard drives. Look into some options for speeding up your system first. Look for simple things like deleting the temp files, defragging your hard drive, etc. Don't spend any money on the programs that do this for you, though. You should be able to do most of this pretty easily using GoogleFu.

[bulldog]

I only do it if I'm changing hard drives. Look into some options for speeding up your system first. Look for simple things like deleting the temp files, defragging your hard drive, etc. Don't spend any money on the programs that do this for you, though. You should be able to do most of this pretty easily using GoogleFu. Thanks :up: A buddy at work just gave me CCleaner to try first, so I assume that is similar to GoogleFU?

[birchyboy]

Not quite. GoogleFu is the ability to search for things ;)

How old is your machine? This might be a good time spend $50 and get an faster hard drive.

[bulldog]

Not quite. GoogleFu is the ability to search for things ;)

How old is your machine? This might be a good time spend $50 and get an faster hard drive. Maybe two years old, so almost thinking this is registery issues, but this advanced stuff is not my strong suit. I'd like to get a better HD, but appears better is about $200 plus for something like the
Western Digital VelociRaptor 1 TB,Internal,10000 RPM,3.5

[birchyboy]

Yeah, that's quite the upgrade. Good luck with CCleaner; hope it helps.

[bulldog]

Yeah, that's quite the upgrade. Good luck with CCleaner; hope it helps. Thanks....although not sure you were messing with me or helping as I see GoogleFU is to search :wtf: :lol:

And yes I did search before I asked, but there seems to a be a lot of opinions on when to re-install windows and I trust people on here more than a random internet search

[birchyboy]

Thanks....although not sure you were messing with me or helping as I see GoogleFU is to search :wtf: :lol:

And yes I did search before I asked, but there seems to a be a lot of opinions on when to re-install windows and I trust people on here more than a random internet search

GoogleFu was completely random. Sorry about that!

[bulldog]

GoogleFu was completely random. Sorry about that! No problem....my PC noobness thought it was a program :lol:

[Kim-n-Dean]

My main machine is XP Pro and it's been running for over eight years without reinstalling. I always disable most of the Win Services and run a pretty stout virus protection. As a matter of fact, I recently had to allow remote access to this machine for an upgrade to my Diesel Tuner and the tech at the other end said it was the fastest XP machine he's ever seen!!

Before this machine I would sometimes have to reinstall two times a year. Windows really sucks and falls apart very quickly! Can't really explain why this install has lasted so long. Maybe it's because I'm getting old and surf less porn these days...

[bulldog]

My main machine is XP Pro and it's been running for over eight years without reinstalling. I always disable most of the Win Services and run a pretty stout virus protection. As a matter of fact, I recently had to allow remote access to this machine for an upgrade to my Diesel Tuner and the tech at the other end said it was the fastest XP machine he's ever seen!!

Before this machine I would sometimes have to reinstall two times a year. Windows really sucks and falls apart very quickly! Can't really explain why this install has lasted so long. Maybe it's because I'm getting old and surf less porn these days...
Thanks Dean :) The more I am talking to people and reading online states that Windows 7 doesn't need to be re-installed very often and that was more issue with older OS. So I'll try this CCleaner that should correct registry issues and see if that helps first.

[Kim-n-Dean]

...So I'll try this CCleaner that should correct registry issues and see if that helps first.The registry is a mystery to even Microsoft, I'm sure! I know very little about it, but know enough to do my own tweaks when I remove programs or when something goes awry. Maybe that's why this thing still runs...

There's a guy who wrote an entire O.S. in assembly language with, I believe, a few hundred programs. The entire thing fits on a 3 1/2" 1.44 disk. If you think your PC fires up fast on Red Hat, try this guy's O.S.. Microsoft lost track of their code about twenty million lines of code ago.

Don't feel like looking up "this guy" right now. You guys are good with Google. He was featured on 'The Screen Savers' several years ago on Tech TV, before they completely ruined it and renamed it G4!!

[bulldog]

CCleaner worked! Prety cool free tool that cleaned my system, fixed registry errors, and easily allows you to change what programs are on the startup.

Here is free download
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner

[Ghosty]

CCleaner worked! Here is free download: http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner
Thanks, never tried that!

I reload my OS every couple years, or once a year if it starts acting funny. I sometimes have a 10+ browser tabs open at a time, when that starts behaving weird usually means a good cleanup couldn't hurt.


Don't feel like looking up "this guy" right now. You guys are good with Google. He was featured on 'The Screen Savers' several years ago on Tech TV, before they completely ruined it and renamed it G4!!
Used my best search-foo, couldn't find it. Unfortunately the 'screen savers' keywords are gonna throw it off a ton.

[TurboGizzmo]

Thanks, never tried that!

I reload my OS every couple years, or once a year if it starts acting funny. I sometimes have a 10+ browser tabs open at a time, when that starts behaving weird usually means a good cleanup couldn't hurt.


Used my best search-foo, couldn't find it. Unfortunately the 'screen savers' keywords are gonna throw it off a ton.

http://www.menuetos.net/ Perhaps?

[DFab]

Recently HD videos have become choppy where they never did that before

Make sure you have the latest drivers installed for your graphics card. The graphics card is what usually decodes the video.

[bulldog]

Make sure you have the latest drivers installed for your graphics card. The graphics card is what usually decodes the video. Thanks, I'll check that tonight. I assume in my graphics card there will be a option to update drivers?

[Kim-n-Dean]

Used my best search-foo, couldn't find it. Unfortunately the 'screen savers' keywords are gonna throw it off a ton.If my pot soaked memory serves... it was Randall Hyde.

[DFab]

Thanks, I'll check that tonight. I assume in my graphics card there will be a option to update drivers?

You'll need to download an installer for the driver from either the graphics chipset maker or the computer maker.

This should help:

http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/update-graphics-driver-windows-7.html

[bulldog]

You'll need to download an installer for the driver from either the graphics chipset maker or the computer maker.

This should help:

http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/update-graphics-driver-windows-7.html Thanks; much appreciated :up: I'll see what I can do tonight.

[Grant H.]

Only reinstall my OS when I upgrade hard drives.

About to go SSD on my computer. I have a velociraptor for my applications, and a 7200RPM 1.5TB raid array for storage.

[bulldog]

Only reinstall my OS when I upgrade hard drives.

About to go SSD on my computer. I have a velociraptor for my applications, and a 7200RPM 1.5TB raid array for storage. Damn, that is the HD I want but is like over $200...lucky!

[Grant H.]

Damn, that is the HD I want but is like over $200...lucky!

Yeah, they aren't cheap.

But without going to SSD they are some of the fastest drives out there.