How often do you reinstall Windows?

[warning]

I'm running Windows XP Home version and I installed it in the Spring of 2003.  And it has been running like a charm.  I used to have to reinstall Windows 98 every 6-8 months because something inevitably would become corrupted.

Am I missing something by running an install for this long?  I've installed and uninstalled dozens or hundreds of programs in the year and a half.  Is my gaming performance suffering?

Help me Obi-Wan!

[happydog]

Before XP I did a fresh install about every 3-6 months. Now with XP I go about a year before starting clean.

[coopasonic]

Never.

I don't install crap on my PC tho, other than Trillian, games and a couple of productivity type apps. I generally skip demos and freeware/shareware of any kind and I don't surf sites of a questionable nature and I think that goes a long ways to preserving the sanctity of my Windows install.

The only times I have ever done windows installs was on new PCs or Windows upgrades.

[PaulBot]

I used to reinstall Win98 yearly because my PC's would be running like molasses.

With XP the only time I install is when I'm building a new system.

[disarm]

before WinXP, i would either reinstall or upgrade at least once a year.  win98/Me needed to be cleaned out periodically due to slowdown, but the newer OSs are much better about taking care of themselves.  i've been running the same XP install on my gaming rig for about a year now without any trouble...my backup rig has had the same XP install for a couple years now and still runs great.  personally, i'm glad i don't need to reformat all the time now...it's not a difficult process, but it is time consuming.

[stiffler]

This topic makes me feel nervous!

I don't reinstall Windows unless I aboslutely HAVE to.  My PC is like my nest.  It is setup just the way I like it with all my apps.  A complete reinstall takes an obscene amount of time since I have to locate everything and get it all customized again.

When I do reinstall I try to make a list of all the things I have installed that I want carried over.  Then I locate them and the newest patches/updates and keep the old system backed up on an external drive.

Just thinking about it makes me sweat.

[Jeff]

Far less with XP than 98/Me, that's for sure. Those older OS' were notorious for corrupting, and I was reinstalling every 2-3 months.

I've gone a year plus with XP, and could probably go longer, I'm not even sure why I did it.

Once you get all the crap weeded out, stop using IE6, etc, XP is a very healthy, sturdy OS.

[unbongwah]

Where's the "Whenever Windows f**ks itself up" option?  

That said, with Win2K and XP, I usually only have to do a reinstall when (A) I'm doing a MB upgrade or (B) I have a hard drive crash.  I try to keep my systems pretty clean and practice safe Net use (i.e., avoid IE, have a firewall & virus scanner, etc.).  I also use Drive Image to back up my system partition (though, truth be told, I don't do it nearly often enough), so restoring a dead Windows drive is not too painful (knock on wood).

[ChrisGwinn]

I actually managed to replace my motherboard without reinstalling XP.  That was odd.

I want to pull my current C drive, so that'll probably require a reinstall.

[leo8877]

At least once and year...and I'm due!

[sig20paramedic]

I haven't reinstalled WinXP in over 16 months and I have't had one problem so far.

[unbreakable]

I had Win2000 on my current computer for a loooooooooong time.  The only reason I ended up wiping it and putting on XP was because something in IE got borked, and I was too lazy to fix it.  I also need to take the WinXP certification test, so it wont help much if I dont actually have a machine running WinXP.

Sometimes I wish I had just put Win2000 on again, however.  XP does some stuff kind of weird.  But the fast switch user feature is pretty nice.

Anyway, since Win2000 came out, it really hasnt been totally necessary for a pretty good computer user to keep a stable machine for a really, really long time.  I define a pretty good user as one who isnt installing every piece of junk that comes along, and actaully gives some though to whether they are going to install something or not, and will probably uninstall stuff they arent going to use anymore.  Running defrag occasionally also scores points.

[dfs]

I jumped from Windows 3.1 to windows 2000, skiping 95,98,ME......

If I ever reinstalled windows it was because a hardware failure type event. It was never routine normal system maintenance for me.

[Biyobi]

I usually re-install one per year.  I'm due, but I'm building a new system so Im holding off until I can do both at the same time.

[Thin_J]

I used to go the once a year route, but honestly XP seems to run today just like it did when the PC was brand spanking new about 5 months ago.