Clean install?

[Pepi93]

I remember the days where a clean install was a routine process at least once a year but since Windows 10, I haven't really felt the "need" that I used to with previous versions.

So my question is, aside from a new build or new SSD, are clean installs still a thing? Should it be done ever so often? If so, how often?

Curious for your input.

 

[EarthDog]

Its just a way to clean out all the crap and start fresh. It was probably more frequent back in the day, but not something required.

I'll reinstall from scratch every so often, but I'm also prepared to do so with an OS on its own partition. Refently ive kept a day 0 backup (fresh OS all program etc installed) and another that's rarely more than 30 days old.

 

[dfonda]

I remember the days where a clean install was a routine process at least once a year but since Windows 10, I haven't really felt the "need" that I used to with previous versions.

So my question is, aside from a new build or new SSD, are clean installs still a thing? Should it be done ever so often? If so, how often?

Curious for your input.

Depends on what you do...I run fah, MKV some gaming and browsing. Not much need here. Might be 2 years between build which get a new install. This last build though should last longer, with only GPU upgrades in the future.

If you have no issues I wouldn't bother. If your SSD runs out room I would consider it than instead of cloning.

EDIT: When I got the message while I was typing this that messages have been posted...I knew Edog would beat me to the post... Spidersenses

 

[Pepi93]

I figured as much, just thought I'd start a discussion since this is not something I've thought about for a long time and wondered if anything has changed. Now I'm just waiting until I decide to upgrade to Win11, no rush though

 

[Johan45]

My daily, HTPC/Gamer started out with an FX 6350 and Win7 Pro OEM. I have done the OS upgrades ( including Win8) along with two board and CPU swaps over the last five or six or seven years. This PC runs just fine now on Win11 Pro and a 5800X.
I think when MS does their large feature updates or OS change it practically rewrites the whole OS anyway. There have been a couple of times where I felt things were a bit "wonky" usually after a large update but a system file check/repair has always fixed it.

 

[don256us]

I haven't done a clean install for many years for the purpose of a refresh. I can recall doing it on Win 9x and it was always worth while but I find that with Win 7 and up that I can manage installing and uninstalling programs fairly well especially with the use of a program like Revo Uninstaller. Also, today's hardware is just so much faster that I don't always notice when things get slow. NVMe and 8c16t CPU and GPUs that can do a moon shot several times a minute, I just haven't felt the need.

 

[JLK03F150]

I did the Win7 to Win10 update on about 5 different systems & I had to clean install Win10 on 4 of them within a few months (max) of that upgrade. I haven't had to reinstall any system since then though. I agree with Johan, the Win10 feature updates help the system stay very usable. I can't speak to Win11, don't have any systems that 'qualify'.

 

[Pepi93]

My daily, HTPC/Gamer started out with an FX 6350 and Win7 Pro OEM. I have done the OS upgrades ( including Win8) along with two board and CPU swaps over the last five or six or seven years. This PC runs just fine now on Win11 Pro and a 5800X.
I think when MS does their large feature updates or OS change it practically rewrites the whole OS anyway. There have been a couple of times where I felt things were a bit "wonky" usually after a large update but a system file check/repair has always fixed it.

When windows used to do the service packs, I remember just doing a clean install and of course if any major hardware was changed. I also recall having to do one after many driver updates etc. Things just got messy and stopped working properly with repeated software updates. How's windows 11 for games? I generally have more time to mess around in the summer so I'm entertaining the idea of a switch to 11 at that time.

 

[EarthDog]

How's windows 11 for games?

Windows 11 vs Windows 10 GPUs Tested: Which Games Faster?

A head-to-head with the fastest AMD and Nvidia GPUs.

www.tomshardware.com

 

[Johan45]

Win11 is just Win10 with a facelift IMO

 

[EarthDog]

Yep. I don't get all of the hullabaloo about moving to it. It's not that different than 10.... been rock solid stable and just as if not more peformant.

Feels more like an aversion to change (which I totally get) versus the actual changes being detrimental.