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Fresh Install Every Year or Two and Why I Do It

Randsburg

Randsburg

Newbie
I just got my system back up and running after doing a fresh install. A lot of people ask why I do this if my system is running fine and I have no problems with my PC. The reason quite simply is because it speeds up my system, gets rid of gigabytes of wasted space and makes my computer even more stable. It does not matter how good of a utility software program that you use it cannot get rid of a lot of the wasted space, broken paths, and non visible errors that Windows will keep in the file system. I am somewhat of a fanatic when it comes to cleaning my system. I periodically go in and clean the caches on my browser extensions and plug ins such as Flash Player, Adobe, Java, etc. simply because of the amount of info they will store and the default size of the cookie cache. On this fresh install I recovered a little over 3 gigs of HD space (and this was AFTER deleting all of my caches, windows backups, etc). I was impressed myself considering that I am always on top of my system. My computer does not show a huge increase in performance but it is noticeable. Something I do (and I recommend this to everyone) is to keep a log of changes you make to your computer whether its adding a a new piece of hardware, a new software program, new drivers, or even a change in your peripherals. I also recommend that anytime you install a new program (especially if its a downloaded program or driver) is that you store a copy of that program or driver on a separate drive (I use a 32g USB drive) this way if you do decide to do a gfresh install then all of your updated drivers or programs are readily available. I put every change I make to my PC into a small notebook with the date and time I installed, any problems, etc. It has saved me a lot of headaches and is well worth the time. I have seen many articles on whether a fresh install is a good idea, a waste of time, and the pros and cons. I can only speak of my experience with it and I can tell you that most users will regain a lot of memory and will see an improvement in their performance. The performance improvement will be directly linked to your maintenance habits though. I have been building computers for over ten years and have worked in a professional shop for five of those. However, I have to stress that building a computer is a far cry from programming them or being a MS Certified tech. If your PC's performance is lagging in spite of your best efforts and your sure that you have no hardware problems then I would recommend a fresh install. If anyone is interested then I would be happy to do a follow up post with my step by step procedure on how I do it. I do a fresh install of my OS every 18-24 months depending on the changes to my system and my system performance.
 
good for you.go right ahead if it makes you feel good,cause thats about all the good it will do.i had xp running for almost four years with no noticable decrease in performance. windows 7 for over two years,same thing. with proper cleanups and malware scans,housekeeping if you will there is no reason for reinstalling your operating system. i would however recommend cloning your hardrive with a program like macrium reflect. anything happens then you just boot from the backup drive,clone it to your main drive and voila,your back and running.a fresh install should be a last resort,not a first.
 
I tend to agree with aldan on this good house keeping does the job but its each to own what ever you feel happiest with

cheers aldan im going to give macrium reflect free ed a try this weekend have been looking for a free cloner
 
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All Operating systems degrade with usage over time and no matter how good your housekeeping is there is always a noticeable performance increase after a clean install every year or two.

That said, I have to agree with both Randsburg and Aldan to a point.
Nothing you do maintenance wise will result in a performance boost as good as that achieved by a clean install.

Regardless of how tech minded you are, clean installs are very time consuming if done right, it's not as simple as installing the OS and away you go, if you do it right you need to follow your clean install by completing all the OS updates and that is time consuming in itself, all the driver updates, then you need to install all your preferred programs and do any necessary updates for those too (Including the installation & updating of any security software), all the above is followed by all the personal tweaks one desires to get the system exactly to their liking.

That is why I agree 100% with Randsburg but you can be clever about the process too! and that why I also agree 100% with Aldan. Do it once, do it well & then clone it so it's much much less time consuming the next time you decide to do a clean install.

Some useful tools to help you speed up the process of crating that first tailored clean install clone,

Ninite: Great for installing a lot of the available free Progs without all the crap & in one hit too.
Code: 
http://ninite.com/


WSUS Offline Update: Making a Windows offline update backup
Code: 
http://download.wsusoffline.net/


Double Driver: Driver backup and restore
Code: 
http://www.boozet.org/dd.htm


Acronis True Image Home: Cloning your squeaky clean new install. (My personal choice but there are many other options.
Code: 
http://www.acronis.co.uk/homecomputing/products/trueimage/?adpos=1t1&device=c&network=g&matchtype=e&gclid=CPr1wuKYtrgCFe072wodXgYAhw


If anyone is interested then I would be happy to do a follow up post with my step by step procedure on how I do it. I do a fresh install of my OS every 18-24 months depending on the changes to my system and my system performance.
Click to expand...

Please do Randsburg, I'm always curious as to how others tackle this task.

I'm a firm believer of this little quote

It’s the stuff we think we know that stops us all from learning
Click to expand...

No-one knows it all & if they think they do? they are missing the possible opertunity to discover a better way of doing something ;)
 
you really don't need to go that far. we just use a pc tune up utility that dose all the housekeeping you need. just run it every month makes life easier. however, i must admit i do upgrade my pc and laptop about every two years.
 
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mike123 said:
you really don't need to go that far. we just use a pc tune up utility that dose all the housekeeping you need. just run it every month makes life easier. however, i must admit i do upgrade my pc and laptop about every two years.
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Gerroff the fence mike lol you either do or don't

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
 
mike123 said:
we just use a pc tune up utility that dose all the housekeeping you need. just run it every month makes life easier.
Click to expand...


Please show us a "tune up utility" that actually does anything constructive? aside from Ccleaner that is.
 
there are no free ones you have to buy them they do everything you need to do clone your hard rive with one click, reg clean,clear all your cache, disable dead links the list goes on and they do work. a note to wheelo there is no need to ever do a total reformat unless you get a virus that you cannot get rid of manually. if the house keeping is done correctly their will be little or no reduction in the performance of your pc or laptop.
 
yep,ccleaner but also i go thru my registry and my computer to delete old program files and the garbage i dont need anymore. yes a fresh install does run so very quick.then you finish loading all your programs and everything else you want.now check your speed again. anyway it is most certainly to each their own.i think i shy away from fresh installs because when i was first into computers i did a lot of them.not from choice either.lol. nuff said on that subject. i use macrium for my backup of everything.if i change anything radically or have something i dont want to lose i clone my main drive to my backup.before i do that tho i run my cleaner and go thru my files and registry for junk.one thing i noticed about win 7 is that i never seem to need to defrag my hard drive,unlike xp.
 
the one i use is Spotmau Powersuite as i said it it not free and it works perfectly. it dose work on windows 8 and a update will be out in AUG.

Spotmau Powersuite:
Code: 
http://www.spotmau.com/
 
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I am in the same boat as Gman on this. So I won't repeat everything he said. However, when it comes to Acronis, I am starting to drift away from it. It has saved my butt on more than one occasion, but it has also left me with a mess and having to start from scratch as well. Also the newer versions, if you actually install on Windows, has become kinda cumbersome. I am in the process of evaluating both Macrium Reflect and Image for Windows by Terabyte Unlimited. So far I am liking both programs quiet a bit. I know Gman will come here and ask what specifics I like better, to which I will answer, I am not that far in to the evaluation yet. LOL
 
ferguj1 said:
I am in the process of evaluating both Macrium Reflect and Image for Windows by Terabyte Unlimited.
Click to expand...

I'm fortunate in that Acronis never let me down to date. I don't use the latest though and I never install it either. I boot from USB or CD to create & restore.

All that said, I'm totally open to other options. I haven't looked at either of the two you are testing ferg, please keep us posted on your findings when you are fully finished testing?
 
It very well could be user error on my part, but it was a frustrating experience nonetheless.
 
ferguj1 said:
It very well could be user error on my part, but it was a frustrating experience nonetheless.
Click to expand...

It depends on what options you want I guess? I've only ever used it for total image creation and restore and accepted the default settings as opposed to tweaking them in any way.

One thing is for sure, you need to be able to fully trust whichever system you run with, after all, it's sole purpose is to save your bacon should the need arise, right? If it lets you down then it really defeats the purpose. We need to bare in mind also that it needs to be able to handle both UEFI and the traditional BIOS as they both boot differently.
 
i wanted to see if macrium worked so much i buggered up my main drive just to see. im kinda glad it worked like it should.lol.
 
Aldan, this has nothing to do with "feeling better" if you would like cold hard statistics then please allow me to enlighten you: A study was done on the Microsoft Campus (right here where I live) in Seattle,WA and yes, it does make a difference. That being said it also depends on the usage, the changes in software and hardware that are made to the computer etc. If that study is not enough then talk to ANY Microsoft Certified computer programmer or script writer and ask them if the OS doesn't generate dead end script. This should be enough to convince you that the worlds is not flat, it's round.

---------- Post Merged at 07:31 PM ----------

Thank you Gman for your support. I had no idea that this little post would generate such a response. I thought by this time most everyone would have known that yes, the OS does degrade over time. It's because of dead end script and if you frequently change software and/or hardware then there is no way to avoid that. It is a necessary part of the OS and it will happen no matter what you utility you use. I use one that I feel is the best and that has recommended to me by other builders but it is not enough. I benchmark my PC every 6 months in order to see if if the performance is lagging. If everyone read my post carefully they would see that I do this out of necessity, not because I'm a "fanboy" of any particular way of maintaining your PC. I'm an enthusiast who simply wants to keep his rig running as cleanly as he can.
 
thank you for enlightening me.like i said,you do whatever makes you feel better. even my old system doesnt slow down appreciably over time.if you have to reinstall every year,then maybe you should be thinking about a system upgrade.absolutely no one i know does a clean install every year.it is your opinion and yours alone.post your remarks in other forumns and see what they say.enlightenment can be a very subjective concept.
 
I am going to interject before the next remarks come and remind everyone to keep it civil. There is plenty of room for opinion and personal preference and the sharing of those ideas without getting offended or taking it personal. So lets all continue sharing and learning. :)
 
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