how often do you re-install your OS ?

[daveqb]

just curious as to how often keen computer enthusiast re-install their OS due to it becoming unstable because of overlcoking , fiddling or for any reason....

 

[nihil]

Never.

 

[Gyrene]

Whenever I get bored using my current OS

 

[CubicZirconia]

I try to avoid reinstalling my OS if at all possible, so I have to go with "hardly ever."

 

[Thor86]

Does Ghosting count for re-installing? If not, then, never.

 

[KouklatheCat]

Every six months to a year to clean up crap. Seems to run faster after the reinstall......

 

[Scuttle]

I had a really bad patch where I was having to format every other weekend because of some screw up I had made in the registry or program. Then my machine fried so I've been using an old Dell laptop (p3 700 w/ ATi Rage 8mb card) for the past 3 months and now had any need to format it. Hopefully the trend will continue in 3 weeks time when I've got my machine back in working order.

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: KouklatheCat
Every six months to a year to clean up crap. Seems to run faster after the reinstall......

Same here

I just went from a 12+ month run of WinME to a fresh install of XP and my broadband connection loads webpages almost 2x as fast

 

[KouklatheCat]

Before I got my wife her own computer I was having to reinstall ever couple of months. With all the crap she downloads and installs.....GRRRRRRRRRR

 

[Nothinman]

Only when absolutely necessary. My current Win2K install is ~1 year old only because the last install didn't survive my switch from IDE disks to SCSI disks. My current Linux install is ~5 years old =)

 

[vash]

My main machine has Win2k Pro, my secondary is Win2k server and my dedicated server is running Win2k server.

The dedicated server won't see a reinstall of the OS for a LONG time -- Win2k is plenty stable. I only reinstalled Win2k on that box because I installed DX8 and it started to flake out (damn that requirement of DX8 for dedicated sound support, of all things).

The second computer doesn't get a reinstall that often (maybe once every two years). This machine tends to play games, but not much else, so its hardly touched.

As far as my main machine goes, I just reinstalled Win2k on it (from XP Pro). For some reason, XP just started to "hang" on certain things. Dunno why it started to happen, but Win2k didn't do it to me, so I switched back.

Generally speaking, my main machine sees a reinstall at least 2-3 times a year. I tend to get bored with the configuration often, so I'm always messing/tweaking the box. Usually, when I get a cpu/mobo upgrade, a new install is definitely in order. I'll be holding off on that until I get my hands on a 64bit processor (AMD's of course). Once I get that new chip/mobo/ram, 64 bit/66mhz cards, a full reinstall is in order.

vash

 

[dlaw]

Very often.

 

[Nothinman]

Usually, when I get a cpu/mobo upgrade, a new install is definitely in order

Why? Most of the time you just update the IDE drivers (and 4in1s if you're using a VIA piece of crap) and possibly the HAL and you're good to go. I went from a Tbird 900 to dual AthlonMP 1.2s and didn't have to reinstall.

I'll be holding off on that until I get my hands on a 64bit processor (AMD's of course)

If you really need a 64-bit processor why not get one now? An Alpha or UltraSparc isn't that expensive and they've got a lot more testing and QA behind them.

Also you do realize that Intel and AMD's current offerings can do 99% of all the things their 64-bit chips will do, right? The only benefit is a larger per process address space and easy/flat support for memory >4G, you can put up to 64G in certain Intel/AMD setups now but it's a bit of a hack.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Thor86
Does Ghosting count for re-installing? If not, then, never.

Same here... But with this new game I have, Morrowind, I did a fresh install of XP and nothing else. Then went and optimized every setting possible. It simply ran like a dog before. Also had to modify the games ini file for performance reasons. Anyway before I was crashing to the desktop every two hours and now it's about every 8. And went from getting 20-40 fps to 35-60!

 

[nightowl]

On my main maching for school, about twice a year. On the one I am using know, It has been almost a year since I installed Win2k. Everything still runs like it did when I first installed 2k. Granted I do not install every little program on this box like my main machine.

 

[Dusty2]

With 98se it was every six months or so . But with XP it's been plus 6 months and with the hasel of calling in to get a 102 digit code everytime I don't plan on reinstalling very offen . I found that running new programs (games) on the XP machine and leaving the 98se machine alone has reduced crashes and the need for reinstalls there too.

 

[n0cmonkey]

I generally reinstall OpenBSD every 6-8 months. They have a new release every 6 months and I like to reinstall rather than upgrade. But I will be doing a couple of upgrades soon, since I dont want to bother other people with a reinstall.

 

[dbrown39]

I have win98se and never needed to reinstall and this machine is loaded with tons of software. To me reinstalling is just an easy way out of a problem. Most problems can be traken care of by cleaning out all the files that are no longer needed or replacing ones that you find are corrupt. Just my way of fixin things.

DB

 

[Haden]

Every 2 month, sometimes even more often.
I always get that feeling that OS has some trash (after reinstalling it really starts running a bit faster).

Even now with my debian linux box I got my hands itching for clean reinstall... maybe just old habits

 

[vash]

If you really need a 64-bit processor why not get one now? An Alpha or UltraSparc isn't that expensive and they've got a lot more testing and QA behind them.

Also you do realize that Intel and AMD's current offerings can do 99% of all the things their 64-bit chips will do, right? The only benefit is a larger per process address space and easy/flat support for memory >4G, you can put up to 64G in certain Intel/AMD setups now but it's a bit of a hack.

I don't NEED the 64bit processor, like most people don't need them. I tend to adopt newer technology, especially when it comes to home computing. I realize that there are 64bit processors out there (Sun, Intel, etc), but none of them run as fast as I want to run my apps, nor do they have a "general" purpose use. With Hammer, it'll run all my exisinting applications faster AND it'll run the 64bit really fast.

A majority (including myself) of people aren't going to be benefitting from 64bit anything in the immediate future and waiting for software to catch up would be a better things before buying the hardware, but I'm an early adopter, so I itch to upgrade to new things.

vash

 

[FoBoT]

i can't answer

for my windows PC's:
i change the hardware/hard drive so often that the OS never has time to go bad -> "because your OS had become unstable for whatever reason ??"

for my linux PC's:
linux doesn't "become unstable for whatever reason" , unless you mess it up yourself

 

[Nothinman]

but none of them run as fast as I want to run my apps, nor do they have a "general" purpose use. With Hammer, it'll run all my exisinting applications faster AND it'll run the 64bit really fast.

Compaq and Sun both have 800Mhz+ chips and you can install NT 4 and Win2K (up to RC3) on Alphas, I had it on mine for a bit just to see it run. I currrently have Debian GNU/Linux on it and with over 5000 apps in their distro I'd say that's plenty general use for me =)

 

[PrincessGuard]

I reformat + reinstall at every new service pack or major hardware upgrade, e.g. mobo or hard drive.

Aside from that, I almost never reinstall because I messed something up. Win2k is fairly forgiving for most mistakes. Last time I did was because a piece of spyware that I tried to remove completely hosed IE and nothing I could do would fix it.

 

[Mem]

Only when I put a new OS on my PC or motherboard/HD change,I use Ontrack SystemSuite V4 to keep it running great until then and for removing the old invalid registry entries in my PC,it has kept my old 98 PC running great now for 2 years without any stabiity problems,I also use it for my XP PC now as well.

So probably somewhere between 18 - 30 months or so.

 

[JonathanB]

reinstalling is just an easy way out of a problem. Most problems can be traken care of by cleaning out all the files that are no longer needed or replacing ones that you find are corrupt

I agree. I just reinstalled once my win 98SE 'cause I'm new to PC's and am learning to install/uninstall/ and hacking the reg.