Friend hasn't reformatted in almost 5 years

[secretanchitman]

everyone tells me to reformat once a year.

i only reformat if windows somehow gets screwed up or if i feel windows is very slow after defragging, running a virus-scan, running spybot and ad-aware, and uninstalling games/programs and whatever else i dont need.

 

[bleeb]

reformatting is a waste of time.

 

[Golgatha]

I typically reformat when swapping motherboards. Anything else really doesn't require it IMO as long as you keep everything up to date.

 

[sweeper2]

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.

I agree.... a quick fix to a problem .... you can "defrag" your pc and clean it up using several software programs (which are usually free) ... unless you install a new MB or something that would cause a problem that you would need a "fresh" system... you shouldn't need to re format....

 

[Babbles]

I was just thinking that the OP (and others) probably reformat more than I reboot.

 

[bluestrobe]

Originally posted by: AMDUALY

Originally posted by: bluestrobe
I install and uninstall a lot of games and software and find at about 9-12 months it would be better to format than to go and clean registry keys and such.

WinASO...Perfectdisk. FTW

I do a lot of video editing and installing/uninstalling games and software. I never reformat until I get a new mobo and cpu which is every couple of years.

By the time I downloaded those programs, figured out how they work, I could have reinstalled the OS. I format by choice, not by need. Everyone has an opinion.

 

[blckgrffn]

Originally posted by: bluestrobe

Originally posted by: AMDUALY

Originally posted by: bluestrobe
I install and uninstall a lot of games and software and find at about 9-12 months it would be better to format than to go and clean registry keys and such.

WinASO...Perfectdisk. FTW

I do a lot of video editing and installing/uninstalling games and software. I never reformat until I get a new mobo and cpu which is every couple of years.

By the time I downloaded those programs, figured out how they work, I could have reinstalled the OS. I format by choice, not by need. Everyone has an opinion.

Amen. I can't stand using little third party apps.

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: quakefiend420
i haven't reformatted my main rig in almost a year

3 years here, 324 days uptime 615 megs physical memory free. Linux FTW

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: DaiShan

Originally posted by: quakefiend420
i haven't reformatted my main rig in almost a year

3 years here, 324 days uptime 615 megs physical memory free. Linux FTW

Agreed.

Reformatting and installing the OS is the last resort.

Personally I haven't done the noob activity in 8 years. Hell - I can't even recall the last time I booted my computers. That is the big "why the heck did I have to boot" flag.

<---still running windows ME on one comp and an XP installation that is well over 4 years old.

If you have to trash a disk

 

[Penth]

Using an image is way easier than formatting. On my server I've got an Acronis image of my machine with everything installed and tweaked how I like it. My docs and everything are installed on the server. Less than 10 minutes and I'm back at a fresh install minus whatever random apps I've installed.

Sometimes when I'm looking for a program with a specific functionality I have to go through 5-6 shareware programs before getting one I like. That leaves a lot of crap on your OS. You do that a few times and you've got a pretty good mess. I know how to go through the registry and do it manually, but when I can have a fresh install in < 10 minutes and only about two minutes sitting in front of the computer telling it to load the image, why bother doing it manually.

If it's just little things I don't re-image, but when things get messed up bad, it's not worth the time anymore.

 

[Evadman]

<--- had a WinME acting as a server using 602 pro. Wasn't rebooted for almost 6 months. I think that earns me some kind of cheap ass award for not buying a decent OS

 

[BigToque]

I'm sure this has already been mentioned, but reformatting has not been necessary since Win2k came out.

The only time you need to reformat is when you seriously fsck something up... and the only time that happens is if you're running sh!t you shouldn't be, like looking at porn sites and warez sites.

If you know what you're doing and are careful, you will most likely never get a virus or spyware, or anything unexpected.

 

[azilaga]

Been about 6 months for me, but I've found that Iolo system mechanic has actually kept my machine pretty peppy.

 

[azilaga]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: Amol

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.

Doing that makes formatting oh so much easier. My C:\ is only the OS and Programs. Everything else is on the D:\ (Basic Data), H:\ (High-Def DVR), or M:\ (Other Media)

Last time I formatted was probably beginning of the year. I'm due for another one.

I have a pretty similar setup. C:\ is the OS and all Programs (including games), all other files go on other drives. C:\ also holds little documents, papers, and lab reports since those take all of 1 minute to copy somewhere else.

I keep my OS and program files in the C: drive and keep an image of that partition. All my work files are in a separate drive. I've found that works well for me so when I do reformat and reinstall the image, I don't have to go through the hassle of reinstalling the OS and all the programs.

 

[FlyingShawn]

I usually reformat once every year or two (mostly to fix the problems I get from trying to find an ATI driver that actually works properly with my AIW 9600xt, especially getting the dumb TV tuner to work right).

Question for you guys who almost never reformat (just do "preventative maintenance"), what are some specific things you do that sidestep a lot of the problems the average dumb user has that 'requires' a format? I'm no n00b, but I'm not an IT Pro either and want to get better. I know a lot of the ultra-basics (regular defrags, spybot, adaware, good firewall, etc), but want to learn some of the more advanced stuff.

Some of you mentioned third party apps like registry cleaners...are there any that you specifically recommend? I'm on a college budget (money=0), so if there are any good free ones I especially want to hear about them.

I can't remember who, but someone on this thread recommended having separate Ghost images for the OS+Drivers and all the Apps/Program files (with data on a third partition). Any recommendations for how big I need to make each of those partitions? (again, college budget, so I don't have huge hard drives, just a 160 gig and a 120 gig). If I were to make those two partitions on the primary hard drive (with the leftover space on it being for other data), is there any way to make the computer see the third partition (data) and the second hard drive as one big drive to make managing that space easier (so "My Computer" would see three drives rather than four)?

Thanks!