32 replies to this topic

[pasten]

I reinstall (restore) windows almost every 2-3 months. What about you??? Seeing the title some would say "I do it daily" and some others "How to reinstall?". Let's see the poll results. Linuxers, see you in other post.

Reinstalling windows is a daily chore for the students studying computers. They have to switch a lot of softwares, compilers etc etc. Windows as we know, will not tolerate a whole lot of (Un)installations and will ultimately slow down the whole system. This is not the case with Linux. Just consider this, I installed Red Hat WS 3(the older version which was lurking around with me) a year ago, full installation (4GB). The boot time initially was terribly slow. Because by default Linux runs everything during startup, even the sendmail daemon(it takes around 10 seconds) which is not needed for normal use. Then I read articles about linux and disabled all those stuff. The change was just superb and still haven't reinstalled it. Back to windows..

I actually wanted to give you some tips on reinstalling windows. Especially the professionals, say web developers using dreamweaver, flash, local apache, php. They setup nice settings to suit there needs. After this why reinstall??? Forget those students, what if your system gets virus, ok you're using the anti*** but they don't always help. For example some days ago my system was hacked by some .scr scripts. The result, my whole folders in root of every drive(even C:) was hidden and also creating there respective blank folders(basically .scr extension with folder images). I knew it immediately because I always keep the settings "Show hidden files", "show system files", "show extension of known file types" checked. Amazingly the script took back its work after rebooting. But now I wasn't able to see hidden files and extension. It did all sorts of registry edits. I had to reinstall... Oops again off track, now back to the tips...

Reinstalling Windows (The good way):

First method:This one is a common one. You install some software like Norton Ghost and make up a backup of freshly installed system (Fresh windows with essential softwares installed) and burn it to dvd. Now whenever the system crashes you just restore it with dvd. Check those tons of articles for more info on this.

Second method: I worked out this trick which I thought will never work. The basics are same you install fresh copy of windows with essential softwares like antivirus. Now you archive everything in your C: drive like .zip(it takes time) and either move the archive to another drive or burn it to dvd. NOw when odd thing happens you just pop in some live cd distros of linux which support the fat partition viewing and format the C: drive(you can use win cd's fdisk for formating) and restore it with the archive which you placed in other drive or dvd. Voila! Isn't that fantastic. It saves you money buying software like Norton Ghost. Any opinions, help request about this trick are welcome.

If you don't want to reinstall windows there are some rollback softwares available which restore windows to previous state in case of power failure (hoping this is not your case) or other problems. There is also one software (anybody point out that please) which disregards any changes during a session including folders created or softwares installed. This one is very useful for internet cafes.

That's enough from me. Now its your turn to tell everything you wanted to about this topic.

[Animator]

That's pretty cool. I've also used similar approaches for migrating Linux systems onto other hardware / multiple installs etc.

One thing on the Windows front though... wouldn't it be smarter to make that zip from a LiveCD rather than from within Windows? I'm just thinking that if there's a system file there with no read access (can't imagine why for admin though)... by using a Live CD you'd be more likely to pick it up.

Also, Linux (on Live CD) has more reliable backup commands in way of tar, dd etc.

Edited by Animator, 14 August 2008 - 11:51 AM.

[Saint_Michael]

I say this, if your reinstalling windows on a monthly basis you have some serious hardware issues because that is not necessary. As for a slow down issues, it is a matter of cleaning out the registry the hard way or getting a registry cleaner that works (glary utilities). Also it not just the software that causes slow downs it is the hardware as well and so replacing at the minimum, RAM, Processor, will help speed the computer up.

Of course at the other end of things, replacing the hard drive and the motherboard will help increase the speed. However, I do understand that with the really old computers that a weekly to month reinstallation is necessary, either because the hardware cannot be replace or the operating systems are no longer supported.

[Erdemir]

I agree with you about Norton Ghost.
If my system is not working properly, I don't need to reinstall windows. I was using Norton Ghost to backup whole disk. Now I am using Acronis True Image. Whey my system is down, I only copy important documents from disk c: to disk d:, and then bring back the backup file by Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image. Using this way is only 10 minutes or less. But installing a new windows takes 39 minutes and installing useful programs takes at least 20 minutes, and look, our one hour has already been spent.

Using backup programs are advantage, I think.

Edited by Erdemir, 14 August 2008 - 01:25 PM.

[Nabb]

I only re-install Windows when a virus forces me to. Which is rarely. And by rarely, I mean never.

..does that one time count when I upgraded Vista to XP?

edit) Oh yeah, I don't see the benefits of re-installing. If it's for speed, msconfig and remove unwanted programs. defrag and disk cleanup every now and then, and uninstall old unused programs..

Edited by Nabb, 14 August 2008 - 01:26 PM.

[Pinkeboo]

I reinstall Windows when I have some troubles with virus. But now, I'm using Acronis TrueImage to backup my data, it's faster

[SaNJ]

Ya I keep reinstalling my windows ....
the reasons are.
--I m an computer engineering student ...so I keep experimenting with my machine
--I keep installing and uninstalling various software now and then...
--I keep more than one operating system on my machine like sometimes linux, or unix or 2000 server with sp2 always installed
--Of-course speed and viruses are the other reasons
So in a month or so I m left with no choice, but to reinstall windows..so thats my story

[pasten]

Saint_Michael, on Aug 14 2008, 06:33 PM, said:

I say this, if your reinstalling windows on a monthly basis you have some serious hardware issues because that is not necessary. As for a slow down issues, it is a matter of cleaning out the registry the hard way or getting a registry cleaner that works (glary utilities). Also it not just the software that causes slow downs it is the hardware as well and so replacing at the minimum, RAM, Processor, will help speed the computer up.

I have something to tell in there. Once upon a time I was the person who installed a lot of softwares because I was getting lot of cds and dvds from magazine etc. Once you (un)install this much, a PIV-2.2 cannot handle it. I can tell.. - I have used all types of registry cleaners and especially Regtoy-X(freeware) which does extreme cleaning (Very Dangerous) and even Restructures the whole registry hive. Even after this I couldn't find any performance improvement. Also I am the person who considers services running, defragmentation very seriously.

Quote

One thing on the Windows front though... wouldn't it be smarter to make that zip from a LiveCD rather than from within Windows?

Yes Animator you are abolutely correct, and thanks for pointing out. I didn't review my article. we have to copy(archive) the files too using another OS like SLAX(bootable cd), its really good.

Ok now here I am with another method...
How many of you have another windows OS apart from XP (you can do it with only xp, but I fear it will create licensing issues). Suppose you have win98 and xp, you can install 98 on C: drive and Xp on D:. This can be life saving particularly if you have poor hardware. Here, basically you work on xp. You can install software for web development like dreamweaver, Nuweb, php, apache etc. Then you log on to 98 and copy paste the whole xp partiotion to another folder. Now you can work on xp any way you like,  installing themes, meddle with registry, because if anything goes wrong you can log on to 98 and delete the xp partition and copy replace it with the copy you saved previously.
Whats more.. like this you can have different versions like one xp for photo editing softwares one for browsing and one for....

Edited by nitish, 19 August 2008 - 01:01 PM.

[klusk]

i install windows once every two- three months...i don't install it just becaus i like doing so..actually i have to..
after probably two- three months, my system becomes slow and i start gettinge error messages for some corrupt or missing system files and some virus or trojan infects my system that's beyond repair,i just feel the need to install new windows....

i admit that i am not that good in maintaining my OS and i am not regular in doing system scans and registry clean ups.....i just prefer re-installing the whole thing again...

and yes, the method i use...i just format the C drive and install in it.....i don't bother much about repairing the OS from the recovery CD ....

[xpress]

I usually reinstall windows everymonth. I do it for performance. I am using many programs to
clean up my registry, disk, and for defragmentation. Even though they work for some
extent, the system performance won't be as faster as fresh installation.
Thats why i like to reinstall windows everymonth. And sometimes i need to do it
for virus attacks also. Eventhough i am using a latest antivirus(free edition) and updating
daily, some viruses are keep attacking. pchhhh so fresh installation will be a best solution for me.