How often do you reinstall your operating system(windows,mac,linux etc..)?

[johns0]

I reinstall windows about once a year now and that's due to upgrading the motherboard usually,with win98 it was once a month and winxp was about every 3 months.

[mrswla]

Everytime I upgrade hardware (HD, MB, CPU). I just finished installing a SSD drive, so a fresh install of win7!

[Baldrick]

I only reeinstall windows when I upgrade, about every 2-3 years.

[Backpain]

I reinstall Windows 7 about every 6 months. I beta test software and sometimes when you uninstall software, others programs start to act up and not play fare with your OS.

[hech54]

Only when I upgrade....which is hardly ever.

[lordsmurf]

pre-XP, about once every two years.
Since XP -- almost never. A few times I've done repair installs, but that's it.

Mostly just installs on new systems.

This excludes test boxes -- those are made to "blow up".

[ricardouk]

every six months, like a previuos poster said i test a lot of software and instead of defragging i usually do fresh installs.

[redwudz]

Haven't had to reinstall W7 on any of my boxes yet, Vista, the same. When I used W98, about four times a year. XP, maybe twice a year, usually my fault.

[intracube]

I think I misunderstood the question when I voted. I usually upgrade my OS (Linux) after 2/3 years, but most of the replies to the poll talk about reinstalling the same operating system - which I don't do.

'Don't ever need to reinstall' should be one vote higher.

[yoda313]

Haven't had to reinstall W7 on any of my boxes yet, Vista, the same. When I used W98, about four times a year. XP, maybe twice a year, usually my fault.

Ditto here.

Though I don't have 7 yet just vista and xp. Win 98 seemed to be about 4 times a year also. Haven't had to do it with xp as far as I can remember.

[lowellriggsiam]

XP about every 2 years, Vista Only once.

[classfour]

The closest was a recovery of an install last year. I did transfer a hard drive to another (identical - except for upgrades) Vista machine and continue to run it. I did have to install the video card later to prevent Vista from choking. Runs faster than the original. The last reinstall was 4 years ago, one month into the machine, when I had a Vista upgrade issue that hard crashed it.

[pirej]

Does "restoring a backup of system partition" count as a reinstall??
In the last couple of years i dont reinstall, i just restore a back-up from some previous time(day/week), a do a lot of install/uninstall.. of different softwares, and sometimes its easier to restore a backup than to "undo" the errors(mine or else).

[smartel]

i lasted almost 5 years with an xp install , tried tons of software , installed and uninstalled a lot
survived a long time with system restore until i couldn't do anyrhing anymore

[MOVIEGEEK]

I'm still using XP on my laptop and desktop, I average a reinstall every two years(when I buy a new HDD).
As for system restore I turn it off because it saves malware and seems to do more harm than good.

[hech54]

Despite what some people think....reinstalling Windows(any flavor) at pre-determined intervals is not cool, fashionable, recommended, etc etc etc... Nobody will think more highly of you and chicks will not "dig you" because of it.

[fritzi93]

I'm still using XP on my laptop and desktop, I average a reinstall every two years(when I buy a new HDD).
As for system restore I turn it off because it saves malware and seems to do more harm than good.

Pretty much the same here. Clean install, along with all must-have programs, and everything tweaked to my liking. Then make a bootable clone on a separate partition on another hard drive. If the OS gets screwed somehow, easiest to just boot from that drive, wipe the borked OS (full format) and re-clone from the spare. I never keep projects or important data on the OS drive.

I agree about system restore, don't depend on it.

[yoda313]

I agree about system restore, don't depend on it.

I understand that sentiment but it does work - usually.

Also it happens to be the only lasting legacy for Windows ME. An otherwise forgetablle OS in most regards.

[gadgetguy]

Only when I need to and that hasn't been for several years.

[cal_tony]

I have an old computer ( 10+ years old)that has never really caused me any problems. I keep wanting to get a get a new computer just to get one. I keep waiting for this one to break down but it hasn't. For my use it's fast enough to convert my BRs to MKV s in under an hour but just not fast enough to watch them on my computer.

Anyway, back to the topic. My XP install is over 10 years old. It is the original install. I have 2 clones of the boot up drive. one 60 days old and one six months old. Every so often, maybe once every year or two, I end up using one of the clones. If it wasn't for the clones, I would have gotten a new computer at least five years ago. Also, if the clones would work in a new machine, I'd buy one now.

I just don't want to have to re-install all my old junk.

Tony

[Seeker47]

I think I'd have to say 'Never', although there were a couple of times I had to replace with a backup boot partition image, thereby losing up to a couple months worth of updates and whatever had been going on during that period. Still, extremely preferable to doing everything over from scratch.

You might think this is veering OT, but I think it is highly germane: I'm very interested in learning about and mastering "slipstreaming" (which was very possible with XP -- don't know about Win-7), by which you can supposedly have a complete do-over alternative to the boot partition image thing. Place a slipstreamed install DVD in the tray and walk away. Come back to find most all of your essentials -- including installed apps and your myriad of personal Windows customizations -- pretty much from where you left off, depending on how current your slipstream install disc happened to be. Then, the main issue would be whether there had been any critical hardware changes in the interim. If your data had been updated more often and concurrently, any loss would be minimal. I think this is how good I.T. departments might handle this.

This would be great disaster insurance for me, since I have several important apps that can't be reinstalled. (For example, a freebie edition of Womble Video Wizard 3, one of a few apps that I got from promotions at the Giveaway of the Day site. They had to be installed within a narrow time window, after which there are no do-overs.)

Another category of interest are the programs that claim to be able to migrate an installed Windows to a new computer. (There is such a module in Acronis True Image, to name one.)

If you have a track record of success with either of these methods, I would very much like to hear about it -- preferably with a lot of details.

[fritzi93]

Are your computer details up-to-date?

I have used nLite with perfect success for XP-SP1, SP2, then SP3. Supposedly one can slipstream programs as well with available "add-ons", but I never tried that. Yes, it's convenient to start the install, then go do something else for a while. When you come back in an hour it's done.

http://www.nliteos.com/

Supposedly vLite (for Vista) works "partially" with WIN 7, whatever that means.

http://www.vlite.net/

Here's page about slipstreaming WIN 7:

http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-slipstream-windows-7-sp1-into-installation-dvd-iso/

Good luck.

[EDIT] Oh yeah. It is possible on a pre-installed system, if you can believe this:

http://www.howtohaven.com/system/createwindowssetupdisk.shtml

Here's a page on slipstreaming programs into an install disc:

http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/view/web/1/

[usually_quiet]

I averaged the numbers and came up with once a year, although I have gone as long as 4 years. I usually re-install when I get a new boot drive or install software that causes problems that I can't seem to fix any other way.

[Seeker47]

Are your computer details up-to-date?
. . .

I don't think I ever got around to updating the profile here. The last couple years, I've mostly been using a later AMD Athlon X2 6400 - based Shuttle as primary desktop, which I use for video stuff. (It has XP SP3.) Looking to move on to something i7 based in due course, though I'm starting to doubt that it can be from my fave Shuttle XPC line. (But I don't know if they debuted anything interesting at the recent CES.) Whatever is next, I suppose I'll probably have to go with Win 7 -- maybe 64, because of its greater RAM-handling ability.

Thanks for those links. I had been aware of the "Unattended" one. That might have been the one I recalled that pointed to a detailed step-by-step for slipstreaming XP. (?) I've been collecting those.

[ckdexterhn]

I've only re-installed XP when there was a repair needed. I've slipstreamed SP3 on a CD with XP, but that's about it.

I like that idea about a bootable clone drive. I think I will do that the next time I put in a larger hard drive.

[Constant Gardener]

I only install an OS when building or seriously upgrading a system. Other times, such as when a gaming machine is loaded with DRM-laden remains, I restore from an image that predates the offending software installation.

[oldfart13]

I think the old adage "If it ain't broke why fix it" serves admirably here, especially with Win 7. Now that the SP1 is imminent we'll see if it breaks anything...

[16mmJunkie]

Windows, Linux, the "If it ain't broke why fix it" works well here too! Apple I never reinstall...just purchase new unit every 5 years if needed.

[Ai Haibara]

I haven't reinstalled an OS since my Win98 days. (I use all three - Windows, OS X and Linux.)