Reinstall Windows - How Often?

[Kingsley]

Hello

I have a T41 that is about 1 year old. I have had all sorts of programs on and off of it and recently it seems more sluggish and more prone to crashing.

I have heard the advise that reinstalling Windows every now and then helps to keep the clutter down and provides smoother use.

Does anyone have any advice? As always the experienced thoughts of the forum are greatly apprecidated!

Cheers,
Kingsley Bowles

[skanky]

i only reinstall when absolutely needed, though having ghost backups generally helps with the not having to clean reinstall.

i dont care that much for a 0.00000000000001% improvement that people "claim" to get out of reinstalling windows every 2 weeks etc, i have better things to do but if windows is genuinely slowing down then go for it!

[bevross]

I have heard the advice that reinstalling Windows every now and then helps to keep the clutter down and provides smoother use.

This doesn't make a whole lot of sense, considering the time it takes (me) to reinstall all programs & tweak everything (a few days). Plus, more and more programs only allow a certain number of installs (2 or 3) thus I save installs for when I really need them. I've not seen degradation of my systems over time, nor improvements the few times a reinstall has been necessary.

[jdhurst]

I don't reinstall unless I have to. On my IBM NetVista A30 XP Desktop, I have not reinstalled XP at all since I purchased the machine early in 2003. I reinstalled my T41 only to change the hard drive. Otherwise, I don't reinstall XP.

Several things:
1. Keep it updated - Windows and ThinkPad apps. In the case of ThinkPad apps, be alert from the documentation of stuff that must be uninstalled prior to a new installation (like NIC's, Access Connections and so on).
2. Keep temporary files under control. Delete them yourself or use the Cleanup tool. Make sure IE is set for a small cache (20Mb) if you use IE.
3. Have a competent AntiVirus / Firewall / Intrusion Detection system and keep it up-to-date.
4. Use Ad-Aware from Lavasoft. I prefer the professional version - it's cheap enough. Use it and keep it updated.
5. Consider obtaining and using Registry First Aid from Rose City Software. This cheap product saved my bacon on this T41 because it solved a startup problem without reinstalling.
6. Consider PerfectDisk from Raxco. This is an automatic defrag tool. I run mine daily at noon and work while it is defragging. Very Good.
7. Find and use Startup Cop (PC Magazine). Free utility that allows you to cleanly (and without any hassle) disable any particular driver in the Start Folder or Registry so that it won't start. You can use this to test, or to disable things without uninstalling them.

I don't reinstall, but I very much *do* take care and maintain.
... JD Hurst

[Deb Suran]

Kingsley, "operating system decay," what caused many of us to need a complete Windows reinstall every 12 months or so, has not been a problem with WinXP. If that's what you're using, you need to run some programs that will check your HDD for "scumware." JD has already suggested AdAware, and I would recommend using Spybot - Search & Destroy as well. Each seems to catch programs the other does not. Also get in the habit of backing up frequently. I just had an installation I can't get rid of with an uninstall, I'll be restoring my c:\ partition from a backup this weekend.

[Kingsley]

Thanks everyone. Thats some great advice.

The last thing I want to do is go through the trouble of reinstalling so I will update my maintenance regime with your suggestions.

Happy new year!
Kingsley