Windows Clean Install

[thobel]

How often do you guys tend to do a clean Install?

On my main system I do it about every 6months
On my HTPC's I tend to do every 12 Months
On my Servers I tend to only do on a Major Upgrade

 

[c627627]

ONCE


Partition hard drive. Install only small apps on the OS partition. [Instead of installing large programs/games to C:\Program Files, maybe install them to E:\Program Files.]

Image OS partition. When windows starts acting up - reimage OS partition.

It's like having a fresh Windows install in 5 minutes.

 

[thobel]

ONCE


Partition hard drive. Install only small apps on the OS partition. [Instead of installing large programs/games to C:\Program Files, maybe install them to E:\Program Files.]

Image OS partition. When windows starts acting up - reimage OS partition.

It's like having a fresh Windows install in 5 minutes.

yeah I keep an image but alot of times I decide i want to change how I set something up etc

 

[c627627]

I keep a txt file of every monthly change I make so that I can go back and figure out what caused a problem.

Dual boots allow quick imaging of multiple versions of the other OS installation. I test something out for a while before making it part of a permanent installation. Keeping images on another hard drive and directly imaging/reimaging like that means I can reimage the entire OS faster than I can diagnose the smallest of problems.

Seconds after noticing something doesn't feel right, I nuke the entire OS and it's reimaged before even getting back from a short bathroom break.