How often do you reload your system?

[popltree2]

This may only effectively apply to Windows users, but does anyone else do a backup/format/reinstall on a regular basis on their machine(s)? I usually do mine once a year (Spring Cleaning) unless it is called for otherwise.

[wyckedone]

I just reloaded my XP system two days ago. That's the first time I've had to reload it in four years so you can imagine the amount of orphaned files from bad program uninstalls.

[treeninja]

Once every year or so.

[ironman]

I reformat about every 8 months. I don't know why 8 months just cause its 8 months.. ^^

[obviouslyinsane]

I do it every 4-8 months, all my music, videos, and documents are stored on an external disc...

[wastern]

When I'm bored.

My Mac is what I keep up and running on, that just gets reloaded when a new OS is released

The x86 gets formatted with windows and every variety of *nix when I feel like messing with something


back in college when I was on my Windows machine more I'd do it about every 2 months. Not because it wasn't work, just because I was anal and OCD when it came to tweaking windows, then going back and wanting it 100% stock...it was a vicious cycle I'm glad to be done with

[jdhore]

i usually do it ever 6 months to 1 year, but i hate it cuz it takes me like a week to do a whole reinstall to all my Windows systems

[bman]

not 100% sure, but probably once every 2 years or so...maybe less

[tokenuser]

Nope - never. My laptop (HP Compaq nc6230) is still running XP Pro as it came from the factory (minus the adware crap that it came with, plus all service packs).

But I do run CCleaner periodically, and my machine is pretty stable.

[spin]

i do it about once a day, cause im cool like that

but seriously
about once a year
if im lucky about 6months

[sonizel]

fresh image of windows every 8 to 12 months

[nextgenxbox]

Whenever its needed... usually 6 - 12 months time period.

[bman]

You guys are all normal, some people I know reformat, or reinstall every month. How or why, I don't know, its crazy.

[phool]

i agree when im bored... Im a freak when it comes to making sure all data is organized on my machine so when it gets out of hand, i backup the data, reload the OS and start from scratch again..

[striker1211]

Never, and it's runnin fine. The only problem i have is that i need to use microsoft's user profile hive cleaner because my registry is so large, or so i think. It works fine with new profiles but not on this one lol. It's the only bug i've never been able to solve, i know WHY it does it, i just dont wanna fix it, ie create a new profile.

[chadr6]

I do it at least 3 or 4 times per year.

[tdfx]

I try to do it every 6 months unless other reasons make me hehe

[senshi]

Only when I have to. The moment I see Windows starting to have fits, I back up any data I might need. Then I wait until it breaks.

[JAPPO]

once every 3 months.

I have no life.

lol

[m4rvman]

I hardly ever restore my system, i also heard its bad for the harddrive is that true?

[JAPPO]

I hardly ever restore my system, i also heard its bad for the harddrive is that true?

Yeah, it is.

[ariastar]

Every six months or so. Otherwise, it runs like hell. I'm switching to a Mac.

[noonebutme]

Way to often. At one point i was formating once a week. Before & after that, i usually formatted once a month or so - though its been almost 2 months since last format so hopefully i've broken that habit..

[sevver]

The older I get the less often I do it. I used to do it about 4 times a year, now it has been about a year and a half since I did a format and reinstall. I have also calmed down in my experimentation alot though too so that probably helps. What I used to love was windows 98, now that was a fun OS to reload. Format, uhoh, what drivers did I need again......:rolleyes: those were definately the days. lol

[thequestion]

Once every 1 to 1.5 years. Usually I do it over spring break or in august. Until then I run my utils to keep it under control till then.

[g33k0ft3ch]

Every two months, I like to have it running better after many new versions of apps I use and to have it to be squeaky clean.

[m4rvman]

I actually just restored my system. :)

[trashcan]

I reformatted and restored from an image last night. I usually restore to a pristine image every 4-6 months.

[xelloss]

I just reinstalled it on Sunday. I reinstall whenever Windows takes more then 5 mins to boot up. I have no idea why it slows down and takes 10 to 15 mins to boot up anyone know why?

[popltree2]

I just reinstalled it on Sunday. I reinstall whenever Windows takes more then 5 mins to boot up. I have no idea why it slows down and takes 10 to 15 mins to boot up anyone know why?

Start up items, things get added to the registry that load at boot, etc.

[popltree2]

Every six months or so. Otherwise, it runs like hell. I'm switching to a Mac.

I wouldn't be so quick to jump to a Mac there, little missy. Mac is not immune to these problems, they just haven't been exploited yet. It is only a matter of time before anti-virus because just as necessary for a Mac as it is for the common windows machine.

[other]

I reload windows every 20 days or so :)

[noonebutme]

I wouldn't be so quick to jump to a Mac there, little missy. Mac is not immune to these problems, they just haven't been exploited yet. It is only a matter of time before anti-virus because just as necessary for a Mac as it is for the common windows machine.
Even so, OS X is more secure then XP is by default. It's the default settings that are more important to the masses, as they wont change the settings unless there's a GUI to do so most of the time.

[m4rvman]

I mean everymonth of reloading your system or even 20 days. Why?
Don't you get tired of reinstalling programs and everything?

[striker1211]

Never, and it's runnin fine. The only problem i have is that i need to use microsoft's user profile hive cleaner because my registry is so large, or so i think. It works fine with new profiles but not on this one lol. It's the only bug i've never been able to solve, i know WHY it does it, i just dont wanna fix it, ie create a new profile.

I didn't feel like editing my post, but if anyone else has this problem SP2 solves it. I had been holding back from upgrading cuz of the "security center" until i figured out i had to get sp2 to get updates this coming patch cycle. I just disabled all the sp2 stuff and it runs just as good as it did before, after the tcpip.sys patch of course. Oh, i also had to set DEP to alwaysoff or else my desktop icons took forever to load...

[duster88]

From now on I am reformatting every year when I get back for school.

[equal1]

about 6 time every 3 months

[hegemony]

I think some people are confused about what this thread is asking. The thread is referring to formatting. Some people (I think) are talking about how ofter they restart. That or they're paranoid as all hell. I format about once every 6-8 months.

[olympic_warrior]

Last time I reloaded was 3 months ago. An error came up that said 'hal.dll is corrupt or missing...'