How often do you reformat your PC?

Discussion in 'Operating Systems' started by jbscotchman, Feb 4, 2018.

  1. pegasus1

    pegasus1 Ancient Guru

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    Said no adult ever.
     
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  2. KissSh0t

    KissSh0t Ancient Guru

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    That is idle cpu usage? what process is causing it to spike like that?
     
  3. jbscotchman

    jbscotchman Guest

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    I don't know, that's why I'm asking.
     
  4. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    @jbscotchman -- tried Sysinternals Process Explorer on that install yet?

    Specifically, check using it "run-as-admin" to look at if your usage spikes are caused by interrupts. It's very possible that you have some misbehaving driver if this is stealth (not seen in the stock Task Manager), in which case LatencyMon might help you narrow down who's the culprit. Since it's a fresh install, my hunch is that it's one of the drivers that you downloaded this time around that weren't present prior (eg, an older version worked fine).
     

  5. jbscotchman

    jbscotchman Guest

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    After an hour on the phone with Microsoft tech support with no luck, I ended up with a free update to Windows 10 and I love it.
     
  6. tsunami231

    tsunami231 Ancient Guru

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    Did MS try and charge you to get a fix?, last time i called MS support for there own OS they tried to charge me to fix autorun from cd drive... I never called for support form the OS again..

    Freee upgrade is always nice though
     
  7. ElementalDragon

    ElementalDragon Ancient Guru

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    It's been quite some time since i did a clean install. I know i did a clean install not too long after Windows 10 was released.... maybe another one a little while after. Couldn't tell you the last time i did. Not even my computer can tell me anymore either, apparently, because even if I try searching for it in Sysinfo, it tells me that the original install date is 1/27/18.... which was the latest major Win10 update.
     
  8. jbscotchman

    jbscotchman Guest

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    They didn't charge me because my issue stumped me and them, so finally I said "Let me upgrade to Windows 10." Which is fair because I bought Win 7 but never signed up for the Win 10 upgrade. I really don't like the interface of Win 10 but I found Classic Shell which makes it much more like old school windows which is what I prefer. Had some complications with some games like Max Payne 3 mainly, but I found a fix and its working great and my CPU usage is back to normal.
     
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  9. pegasus1

    pegasus1 Ancient Guru

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    Classic Shell is a great prog and i run it on most of my W10 machines, the W10 interface is a bit odd for me even though i find it the best MS OS by far. On my gaming PC, gaming laptop and HTPC i run Stardog Start 10 which although a paid for program, is more flexible and stable than Classic Shell.
     
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2018
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  10. Dragondale13

    Dragondale13 Ancient Guru

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    Last clean OS install here was Win10 AU.
    It messed up my admin rights to system folders, so was forced to do a clean install asap.
     

  11. umeng2002

    umeng2002 Maha Guru

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    I think I've done it once since W10 released. Frankly, W10 seems a lot better in this regard. Although, I'm tempted to again for Redstone 4.
     
  12. pegasus1

    pegasus1 Ancient Guru

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    I have a Crucial 1TB drive ready to replace the current Samsung 500gb on, il do a clean instal for that i think.
     
  13. rjambi

    rjambi Guest

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    I don't install anti-virus software. My theory is... if I get a virus, I'll just reformat. It takes less time to wipe and start again than it does to diagnose stuff all day. Therefore I probably reformat 7-8 times a year.
     
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  14. lucidus

    lucidus Ancient Guru

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    Extremely rare on 7 and 8.1. I could go years without installing it all over again. Win10 RS2 and 3 were a miserable experience on the other hand. RS1 LTSB seems to be like older versions so far.

    I also just use the .zip or portable versions of programs where ever possible instead of using installers so there's less chances of things going wrong. It also gives me the benefit of not needing to install most of my programs, just move over user data from windows.old. Steam and Gog (don't use the rest regularly) handle my game installations very well so I don't worry about installing games again like I used to do back in the XP days.
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2018
  15. pegasus1

    pegasus1 Ancient Guru

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    Best piece of advice i've seen anywhere on any subject. Dont run any form of protection on your PC, in 2018, brilliant sir.
     
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  16. TimmyP

    TimmyP Guest

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    I have reformatted once since Windows 8 came out, and that was for a fresh install of Windows 10. Its just not needed anymore.
     
  17. pegasus1

    pegasus1 Ancient Guru

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    I always fresh instal on a laptop and advise other to do so when bought new, it clears out all the bloatware most companies put on.
     
  18. Alessio1989

    Alessio1989 Ancient Guru

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    When I have a new OS (sorry Microsoft, your upgrade procedure continue tu sucks) or got a new basic hardware component (CPU-MB-new storage system).
     
  19. Darren Hodgson

    Darren Hodgson Ancient Guru

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    In answer to the thread question: never; only when installing Windows on a new PC build or when I've replaced the boot drive with another as I have when upgrading SSDs. Otherwise, my Windows installs are merely upgrades over the years (rather than fresh installs) until the time when I decide to upgrade my PC to a new motherboard/CPU/RAM which is usually every 4-5 years.

    My current PC was built-in June 2013 when I installed Windows 8 on it and has served me well through various hard drive/SSD and graphics card upgrades. Windows has also been upgraded numerous times from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 and finally through the various revisions of Windows 10.

    Normally, I would be thinking about upgrading my PC this year but the truth is that I really don't need to as games continue to run well, thanks to my decision to stick with high-end graphics cards. At 2560x1440, the resolution I play games at, the GPU is the most important element of my gaming PC with the CPU being the least. My next CPU upgrade will be to a six or eight core processor but I am holding off for as long as I can due to the Spectre/Meltdown issue and the fact that right now it isn't really cost-effective to upgrade. I'm not going to see a massive difference in gaming performance for the money I would have to pay.
     
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  20. pegasus1

    pegasus1 Ancient Guru

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    Totally agree with all above, Laptops i fresh instal right off the bat to remove bloatware and desktops when changing major hardware like MOBO and CPU. I did a clean instal on my gaming rig after the upgrade from W7 64 to W10 64 as i had a few minor issues, but the other half a dozen or so machines have been fine when transiting from other OS's to W10 via upgrade. Il be doing a fresh instal on my current gaming rig when i swap out a 500gb SSD for a 1TB one shortly.
     

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