when is it time to reformat?

[oO ShifterZ Oo]

well, my system is cool and everything but i just wanted to know when is it tight to reform? Like what signs do you have and things such like that

 

[Grandmaster]

You SHOULD refromat atleast ONCE a year... it is like getting a new PC every year!

One sign is when you notice that your system is running slower than what speed it used to run at...

hope that helps a bit..

o_87

 

[oO ShifterZ Oo]

TRUE...

DAMN, i dont want to reinstall all my programs. LOL LMAO

 

[GoNz0]

IF your puters still booting up after you go make a coffee when u pressed the button..... its format time

 

[mlog]

All your problems are over if you ...

Format your hard drive, install all your important software, then use norton ghost and make an image of your hard drive, and save it somewhere safe.

Then you can mess about till your hearts content, if it all goes pearshape, just use norton ghost and put your image back, (takes about 10 mins on my pc), and off you go again ..

EASY

 

[wbeach]

Why would you ever need to format?

I never experience these bog downs that everyone talks about.

Regular maintaince on your computer should prevent bog downs. I format in only three cases.

One I can not recover from a crash due to my own stupidity.

A virus so wide spread it can't be removed. Infected too many primary files that can't be cleaned, etc, etc.

and third if I upgrade a large portion of hardware or if I change the motherboard or cpu. Cdrom's video cards, sound cards can ususally not require a fresh install. A new primary hdd could require one, but with Xp, settings transfer wizard, probably not required although I've never tried the feature yet.

It's suppose to backup your operating system to another computer or to another drive. Something like that. It'll contain the exact same settings and such.

 

[GZFirestorm]

ya dont surf the porn, do ya wbeach? ...or purchase high-powered, videocard pushing games for that matter...

im guessing you are a minister... church computer... windows 3.1 on a brand new machine with a 100GB hard drive and 512 RAM. uses notepad for any and all changes, and keeps an ongoing diary that required you to upgrade to wordpad (size issue)

ahhhh hahaha... im just fujing ya...

 

[SaintKaden]

the best thing to do is use something like Norton Ghost to create an bootable restore cd that will restore windows and all your appz to a state of your preferance...

for instanse... Install windows, and all your main appz like office and shit (don't od and install every piece of software u own, and definately dont intall games... make other cds with your games). modify windows do whatever u gotta do to it. From regedit tweaks to theme modifs and then create the cd.

boom ure set... now when you reformat you got all your main settings preset.

its kindda like those restore cds that come with the Dell machines, only better 'cuz you made it your own!

that's my opinion!