How often do you perform a clean install?

kav

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I've had Windows 7 running for a little over two years and have really noticed it slowing down recently. Think it's about time to do a clean install and get rid of some of the junk slowing my PC down. I used to be able to be on the internet within seconds of the desktop appearing, now it seems like minutes pass before everything loads up. Probably going to increase my RAM up to 16GB while I'm at it, and install on a bigger SSD - 60GB gets filled up too quickly, even when I only install programs on it.

How often do you perform a clean install? Any tips on how to do the job with minimal fuss?
 
About every few months i'm terrible for it.

I wipe everything including games on D drive and then download everything again.

The amount of times I've installed Windows 7 and 8 I wouldn't like to know.
 
About once a year, sometimes more.
 
Excluding random problems / issues that require a fresh install, I do it roughly once a year, give or take a few months.

I only do my OS drive though.... I leave my games and media drives as is, or maybe defrag them if need be.
 
How often do you perform a clean install? Any tips on how to do the job with minimal fuss?

Perform your install as usual, have the system up and running/customised the way you like it then use a program like Acronis to image your system.

Next time you have an issue or the system is running slow and you can't be bothered to problem solve.. Simply re-image your system and not have the problem of setting it up again :)
 
About every six months,i like that fresh feel...:D
 
Cheers lads, yes I really miss that snappy feeling that I had when first installing everything to the SSD...looks like I have a little project for the next couple of nights lined up. :smashin:
 
I've done it about 6 times this year haha.
 
Not as often as I should but that is only because the audio programs I use require such an awkward process to re-register them again (which has taken weeks in the past).

Nothing better than a nice clean install though.
 
for me, it averages out at about once every 15 months. last one I did was at the end of last year, so I'm alright for a while yet.
 
It's easy to see who downloads and views porn from dodgy sites. ;)
 
It's easy to see who downloads and views porn from dodgy sites. ;)

I better not say how often I clean install my phone.

I was going to say how often I wipe my phone but that could be interpreted wrong.
 
as long as performance isn't being affected then only when i do a major hardware change
 
SSD performance will deteriorate with time and amount of data written to it. The speed of your SSD will also depend on how full it is.
 
i always do it every six months and if for some reson I get a virus I will also do a clean install. If i also get a problem with drivers etc mucking things up I will do a clean install :) sometime its easier doing a clean install than trying to repair or fix a problem.
 
Once a week because of the sites I don't visit. I also use narrator now :devil:

On a serious note about once every 6 month but that's just to update my image which I reinstall from. It doesn't need it but force of habit now I think.
 
Haven't done this since I built it 2 or so years ago.

Prob wont bother either. Runs perfectly fine. (touches wood)
 
Just the once here, in just over a year - otherwise I try not to. It's been glorious since installing the SSD last year, that I have no complaints at all. No slowdown or anything. i5, 16GB RAM and 128GB M4 SSD. Nothing special really!
 
Just the once here, in just over a year - otherwise I try not to. It's been glorious since installing the SSD last year, that I have no complaints at all. No slowdown or anything. i5, 16GB RAM and 128GB M4 SSD. Nothing special really!

Snap
 
Had to do it before christmas twice, once when done win 8 and then another to win 7 when had 8 issues and ditched it. But before that i had my vista on for for 3 years with just an isntall to ssd after 2.
I try to avoid it unless have serious issues as last resort would never sit one day and go stuff it im gonna reinstall, hate the sorting it out after.:nono:
Serial reinstallers just must be ocd imo.
 
I don't reinstall unless issues crop up.
 
Just the once here, in just over a year - otherwise I try not to. It's been glorious since installing the SSD last year, that I have no complaints at all. No slowdown or anything. i5, 16GB RAM and 128GB M4 SSD. Nothing special really!

same here with my i7 240gb vertex 3 and 16 gig ram you tend to get no slow down and windows 8 makes it even smoother but as many have said its just false of habbit to do a clean every so often :)
 
Never. :)
 
Had to do it before christmas twice, once when done win 8 and then another to win 7 when had 8 issues and ditched it. But before that i had my vista on for for 3 years with just an isntall to ssd after 2.
I try to avoid it unless have serious issues as last resort would never sit one day and go stuff it im gonna reinstall, hate the sorting it out after.:nono:
Serial reinstallers just must be ocd imo.

My problem is I have so many things going through my head that doing a reinstall actually calms the mind down :) its the same when i read a book , i cant read a book and take in whats happening when the Tv is on or someone is in the room talking etc .

I think overall I personally do maybe 2 a year but as a whole and this is including other peoples computers I maybe do 9 possibly 10 a year and on average it will take 4 hours to do depending on the computer and software needing reinstalled and the longest is the updates :) . I remember doing a vista update once and the total updates were like 5 or 6 gig :O lucky i was not on dial up.
 

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