Friend hasn't reformatted in almost 5 years

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: Ausm

Originally posted by: tfinch2
Why do you noobs reformat so much? I've never reformatted before for maintenance, only to go from Windows 2000 to Windows XP, and that was almost 2 years ago.

I don't know any power user that doesn't have to reformat at least once/year


Ausm

LOL

Are you one of those IT guys that reformat or image for every single problem?

Case fan or wireless mouse batteries died? Step aside, I'm a POWER USER! REFORMAT THAT SH!T!

 

[ElFenix]

original install date: 1/24/2006

of course, that was the day i built this machine.


i think the 'reformat' is seen as a dork badge of courage

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: compuwiz1
PC performance has nothing to do with reformatting, except for to n00bs. They seem to think that's the fix all for everything. I have not reformatted my main comp in almost 5 years. It works fine.

It's essentially a quick fix for removing all hidden malware and keeping your OS organized.

I dare you to reformat today and see if things run any differently. I assure you, it's good practice to reformat frequently. N00bz don't reformat.

 

[Pepsi90919]

Original Install Date: 12/02/2005, 2:45:26 PM
System Up Time: 13 Days, 22 Hours, 48 Minutes, 1 Seconds


february 12 2005 was my windows XP professional upgrade over home edition. home edition had been installed since 2004.

FVCK reformatting. if you need to do it, you suck at computers.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: compuwiz1
PC performance has nothing to do with reformatting, except for to n00bs. They seem to think that's the fix all for everything. I have not reformatted my main comp in almost 5 years. It works fine.

It's essentially a quick fix for removing all hidden malware and keeping your OS organized.

ie if you don't know how to do anything else, reformat.

I dare you to reformat today and see if things run any differently. I assure you, it's good practice to reformat frequently. N00bz don't reformat.

Speak for yourself. I'm building a new system almost every couple of months (not for myself), and over xmas, built 5, so i know what a new install should run like... and none of my systems are any slower than these new installs.

Good practice to reformat frequently LOLOL

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
Original Install Date: 12/02/2005, 2:45:26 PM
System Up Time: 13 Days, 22 Hours, 48 Minutes, 1 Seconds


february 12 2005 was my windows XP professional upgrade over home edition. home edition had been installed since 2004.

FVCK reformatting. if you need to do it, you suck at computers.

No one needs to do it unless things are totally screwed. For some users, it's not worth your time hunting for solutions when 100 things are broken. Take the guy I helped - he was deathly afraid of reformatting and tech support in general, wasn't a 1337 user, and his Windows install was truly screwed. He had issues upon issues. He had spyware. I wasn't about to waste my time installing spybot and then fixing all of his OS problems when it took me about 2 hours to get his entire system exactly how he wanted it (including old game/app installs, a few new apps like firefox and spybot, and my favorite Windows tweaks).

For the record, you suck at computers if it takes you more than the time between lunch and dinner to completely reformat a system to your complete satisfaction including tweaks, updates, and app/game installs.

It's never a necessity, but it is really nice to do from time to time.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: Looney

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: compuwiz1
PC performance has nothing to do with reformatting, except for to n00bs. They seem to think that's the fix all for everything. I have not reformatted my main comp in almost 5 years. It works fine.

It's essentially a quick fix for removing all hidden malware and keeping your OS organized.

ie if you don't know how to do anything else, reformat.

I dare you to reformat today and see if things run any differently. I assure you, it's good practice to reformat frequently. N00bz don't reformat.

Speak for yourself. I'm building a new system almost every couple of months (not for myself), and over xmas, built 5, so i know what a new install should run like... and none of my systems are any slower than these new installs.

Good practice to reformat frequently LOLOL

ie Looney needs to work on his English comprehension skillz

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
Original Install Date: 12/02/2005, 2:45:26 PM
System Up Time: 13 Days, 22 Hours, 48 Minutes, 1 Seconds


february 12 2005 was my windows XP professional upgrade over home edition. home edition had been installed since 2004.

FVCK reformatting. if you need to do it, you suck at computers.

No one needs to do it unless things are totally screwed. For some users, it's not worth your time hunting for solutions when 100 things are broken. Take the guy I helped - he was deathly afraid of reformatting and tech support in general, wasn't a 1337 user, and his Windows install was truly screwed. He had issues upon issues. He had spyware. I wasn't about to waste my time installing spybot and then fixing all of his OS problems when it took me about 2 hours to get his entire system exactly how he wanted it (including old game/app installs, a few new apps like firefox and spybot, and my favorite Windows tweaks).

For the record, you suck at computers if it takes you more than the time between lunch and dinner to completely reformat a system to your complete satisfaction including tweaks, updates, and app/game installs.

It's never a necessity, but it is really nice to do from time to time.

man, for me that takes days. all the background programs, file associations, everything you take for granted in windows like file system views, shortcuts, passwords that were always saved within email programs or "remember this password" functions that you have no clue what they are... ugh.

but it sounded like you were advocating reformatting for everyone.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Originally posted by: JohnKimble

Originally posted by: darkswordsman17
I don't think my roomate has reformatted in like 3 years.

He's installed a ton of programs and all kinds of crap. I'm sure he probably has a virus or two and some spyware as well. He does at least keep Windows updated.

He even plays quite a bit of games. He's been playing Oblivion on his 9700 AIW, and I don't think he's updated the drivers in about a year (which he only did because of some issue with KotOR.

He's kinda odd when it comes to computer stuff. He's got this humongous 19" Viewsonic CRT that I can't even stand to look at the picture quality its so bad (I don't think he's even adjusted it at all either). He also has no problem playing his PS2 through his tuner, which bothers my eyes really badly. One of his sticks of RAM went bad about two years ago. I told him to just contact the manufacturer (I think its Geil) and RMA it. Instead he bought another stick of RAM off Newegg and still has the other one sitting on his desk. I don't think he's cleaned his computer of dust since he's gotten it either.

I don't badger him about it since he seems to have no problems with it.

Sounds like me. Lazy as fvck.

And then their desktop has like 500 icons and if you hit arrange desktop they kill you.

I had to laugh.

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: eminemrh25

Originally posted by: Phil

Originally posted by: compuwiz1
PC performance has nothing to do with reformatting, except for to n00bs. They seem to think that's the fix all for everything. I have not reformatted my main comp in almost 5 years. It works fine.

Yep. Goddamn noobies.

3-6 months = you have no idea how to not fvck-up Windows.
Also, 30 minutes to an hour to reinstall, update and install applications? Ya right.

You haven't used Windows XPL then have you? It installs in around 7mins, and I have a batch script that will install most every program I need in about 15-20mins. Updates get downloaded in around 5-10mins...

From power-on to a usable desktop in seven minutes? Uh-huh.

 

[manlymatt83]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
He was smart enough to have a second hard drive that he used to keep backups of all of his important stuff, so formatting wasn't even a big deal. I finally convinced him that he'll get a nice performance boost. He was getting blue screens on bootup every now and then. I told him it was time. He's been much happier with his system's performance. It's a Dell 1.7GHz P4 with 256MB of ram and a Geforce2 MX 64MB graphics card.

I reformat about once every 3-6 months. It keeps things running smooth and doesn't take more than 30 minutes to an hour if you know what you're doing. This includes download time for latest updates and drivers My friend was deathly afraid of reformatting, afraid that it'd screw up his computer even more, until I told him how often I reformat.

Anyone else come across users that let their computers rot for years and years without a good tech support guy around to keep them clean? I'm sure there are some good stories lingering around here

I run BSD 4. Haven't "formatted" in over 5 years, just keep upgrading.... uhh... works great

 

[ajayjuneja]

3 years and running, no reformats! If you know what you're doing, your computer will be fine

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: compuwiz1
PC performance has nothing to do with reformatting, except for to n00bs. They seem to think that's the fix all for everything. I have not reformatted my main comp in almost 5 years. It works fine.

It's essentially a quick fix for removing all hidden malware and keeping your OS organized.

I dare you to reformat today and see if things run any differently. I assure you, it's good practice to reformat frequently. N00bz don't reformat.

Noobz don't reformat, that's true - it's only noobz that consider themselves "powerusers" that format stuff every two days. Foformatting is only good if you can't maintain your pc otherwise. I've had the same windows install since early 2003 and it runs the same as when it was loaded. Learn how to *maintain* your system and you won't have these issues.

And did you just say that reformatting frequently is a good practice?? HA!

 

[rbV5]

I dare you to reformat today and see if things run any differently. I assure you, it's good practice to reformat frequently. N00bz don't reformat.

Its a poor practice that serves to seperate the user from the bones of his PC. "Uh Oh, issues...must be time to reformat again" Why learn to troubleshoot, just reformat.

It also invites less knowlegable users to loose entire volumes of data, run into permissions issues and pork their PC, usually for no good reason other than because some bozo told them they need to reformat to "fix" their PC.

Reformatting is a basic utilitarian task not a maintenace task IMO.

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: compuwiz1
PC performance has nothing to do with reformatting, except for to n00bs. They seem to think that's the fix all for everything. I have not reformatted my main comp in almost 5 years. It works fine.

It's essentially a quick fix for removing all hidden malware and keeping your OS organized.

I dare you to reformat today and see if things run any differently. I assure you, it's good practice to reformat frequently. N00bz don't reformat.

Are you retarded? A quick fix? If I went to reformat it would be anything but quick. Reformatting is only necessary for people that don't know how to do a little preventative maintenance. I haven't reformatted my home machine since I built it and it runs just fine.

 

[StuckMojo]

I've got a laptop at my colo that hasn't been rebooted since December 14 2001.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: Feldenak

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: compuwiz1
PC performance has nothing to do with reformatting, except for to n00bs. They seem to think that's the fix all for everything. I have not reformatted my main comp in almost 5 years. It works fine.

It's essentially a quick fix for removing all hidden malware and keeping your OS organized.

I dare you to reformat today and see if things run any differently. I assure you, it's good practice to reformat frequently. N00bz don't reformat.

Are you retarded? A quick fix? If I went to reformat it would be anything but quick. Reformatting is only necessary for people that don't know how to do a little preventative maintenance. I haven't reformatted my home machine since I built it and it runs just fine.

It is a relatively quick fix compared to the time it takes if you can't boot up a computer due to OS being corrupted, try to fix it by booting into the Recovery Console and performing various routines, finally get into the system, look at the overwhelming amount of viruses and spyware on the computer, have to boot into Safe-Mode, which doesn't prevent all of the spyware crap from loading up, and then finally getting the computer back into shape.

That's just an extreme example, but it really is the quick and lazy man's fix to software problems.

 

[zephyrprime]

Originally posted by: EeezeeAnyone else come across users that let their computers rot for years and years without a good tech support guy around to keep them clean?

A good tech support guy doesn't need to reformat their computer all the time. I went from DOS 3.3 to Windows 98 without ever reformating. Just kept on copy old drive to new when upgrading.

And by the way, reformatting is not the efficient way to rebuld a system anyway. The efficient way to do it is to use Norton Ghost. That way, you only have to do minimal reinstalls, updates. Ghosting is WAY faster than a reinstall from CD.

 

[Rock Hydra]

I reinstall or use utilities to clean up depending on which one is more advantageous depending on time.

 

[crownjules]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime

Originally posted by: EeezeeAnyone else come across users that let their computers rot for years and years without a good tech support guy around to keep them clean?

A good tech support guy doesn't need to reformat their computer all the time. I went from DOS 3.3 to Windows 98 without ever reformating. Just kept on copy old drive to new when upgrading.

You should really reformat when installing a new OS. I can see Win95 -> Win98 not being so necessary since they were very similar, same with Win2K -> WinXP. But, for instance, Win3.1 -> Win95 I would have definitely advocated reformatting.

So long as you know how to maintain your system well by running scandisk and defrag once a month, removing old drivers when you update, etc then you shouldn't need to reformat your computer more than once a year. The obvious exception being if you make major hardware changes to your system or goto a new OS.

 

[zephyrprime]

Originally posted by: FeldenakAre you retarded? A quick fix? If I went to reformat it would be anything but quick. Reformatting is only necessary for people that don't know how to do a little preventative maintenance. I haven't reformatted my home machine since I built it and it runs just fine.

It's quick for the noobs because they only have WoW & eMule installed on their machines! :laugh:

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime

Originally posted by: EeezeeAnyone else come across users that let their computers rot for years and years without a good tech support guy around to keep them clean?

A good tech support guy doesn't need to reformat their computer all the time. I went from DOS 3.3 to Windows 98 without ever reformating. Just kept on copy old drive to new when upgrading.

And by the way, reformatting is not the efficient way to rebuld a system anyway. The efficient way to do it is to use Norton Ghost. That way, you only have to do minimal reinstalls, updates. Ghosting is WAY faster than a reinstall from CD.

How are you supposed to ghost a machine you didn't build, or have never worked on before?

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: Feldenak

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: compuwiz1
PC performance has nothing to do with reformatting, except for to n00bs. They seem to think that's the fix all for everything. I have not reformatted my main comp in almost 5 years. It works fine.

It's essentially a quick fix for removing all hidden malware and keeping your OS organized.

I dare you to reformat today and see if things run any differently. I assure you, it's good practice to reformat frequently. N00bz don't reformat.

Are you retarded? A quick fix? If I went to reformat it would be anything but quick. Reformatting is only necessary for people that don't know how to do a little preventative maintenance. I haven't reformatted my home machine since I built it and it runs just fine.

It is a relatively quick fix compared to the time it takes if you can't boot up a computer due to OS being corrupted, try to fix it by booting into the Recovery Console and performing various routines, finally get into the system, look at the overwhelming amount of viruses and spyware on the computer, have to boot into Safe-Mode, which doesn't prevent all of the spyware crap from loading up, and then finally getting the computer back into shape.

That's just an extreme example, but it really is the quick and lazy man's fix to software problems.

Bolded the part you apparently missed.

 

[zephyrprime]

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: zephyrprime

Originally posted by: EeezeeAnyone else come across users that let their computers rot for years and years without a good tech support guy around to keep them clean?

A good tech support guy doesn't need to reformat their computer all the time. I went from DOS 3.3 to Windows 98 without ever reformating. Just kept on copy old drive to new when upgrading.

And by the way, reformatting is not the efficient way to rebuld a system anyway. The efficient way to do it is to use Norton Ghost. That way, you only have to do minimal reinstalls, updates. Ghosting is WAY faster than a reinstall from CD.

How are you supposed to ghost a machine you didn't build, or have never worked on before?

Well obiously you can't do it then. But this thread is about people that are reformatting their own machines all the time.

 

[AdamK47]

One rediculous reason people reformat is for the placebo "speed" effect. They have it in their head that a reformat will speed things up. Unless the operating system is screwed there will be no increase in performance, but since they had it in their head a performance increase is going to happen they fooled themselves into believing it.

There is also an equally annoying side effect to this. The same person will believe a system to have degraded over time simply because it hasn't been reformatted. No matter how well maintained the system is. You could have the system running even better before the reformat, but then placebo effect takes over their little mind.

It's a sad affliction.