Hmm.. I wonder how often do you guys format your computer?
For me I format my comp about 2-3 months.. My comp is getting slower and slower after 2 or 3 months..

I have never formated any of my computers yet.

i'm currently trying to move all my files off my mac to my winxp machine so i can format it...

its been a fresh install since i bought it about 16 months ago... its only just starting to slow down...

I havn't ever had the need to format any of my computers either.

lol maybe only me then..
i always find my comp going slower and slower..

I always format my pc every month.

HG,

You're not alone my friend ;) I format probably once every 3-6 months. I just find my pc becomes bogged down with junk I feel I "need" and also extra stuff.

I've got the entire process from "format c:" to installing all my software down to about 1-2 hours!

When I had windows ME, probably once every 3 months. Now with XP, never.

Never needed to reformat but my friend with his toshiba laptop reformats his every 2-3 days...he's a weird guy :crazy:

lol I thought only me need to format my comp every few months

Every 30 days when trial licences expire? ;)

Actually, I haven't had to reformat my PC since I upgraded from Win98 to XP a few months ago. I would have some problems with Win98 so I ended up reinstalling every few months which got to be a real hassle, but then again, I haven't started installing tons of new programs to test yet either.

I've got a 6' set of shelves full of software.. most of which I haven't even really installed and fully tested yet, but after installing a few dozen or so, the hard drive just starts getting cluttered with programs I never use.

I've rarely had to reinstall my Mac in the past 3 or so years I've had it. I did after upgrading the hard drive and after testing MacOSX when it was in Beta, but don't recall needing to after that.

If your PC is getting slower, maybe you should run some tools on it, optimize the drive, etc. They say Window, especially NT, doesn't need optimization, but they're wrong. I had a work PC that would run slow and after checking the drive, found over 1/2 the drive was fragmented. It seemed to run a little better after several optimizations.

God it would take forever to copy all files from this computer to another disk while formatting (uugghh)

2 bad ya cant load all apps into memory,then format,then re-save!!!

The Dude :)

Originally posted by ciqala
i'm currently trying to move all my files off my mac to my winxp machine so i can format it...

its been a fresh install since i bought it about 16 months ago... its only just starting to slow down...

You don't need to format with a mac. Just pop in your OS X cd and pick archive and install. It keeps all your documents and preferences, backs up all your system files to a folder in / and installs fresh copies of the system files. It's not messy like installing windows on top of its self. Its just as clean as a fresh install, but your documents/downloads etc. are preserved. And if you want to switch back, just copy the backed up files back. Or delete them if its still all fine.

OS X shouldn't ever slow down though. I'm willing to bet that checking for log files that have grown in size, as well as running top to see what is eating your resources would fix your problem

I format every ~2/3 weeks, perhaps more often.

God it would take forever to copy all files from this computer to another disk while formatting (uugghh)

I got a partition for Swap, 1 for Windows itself, 1 for Apps/Programs, and 1 for misc. files. ;)

It's not that hard to organize your disk and you can format a specific partition without losing files on any of the others. :)

I format my high use PC every six months. I have been doing this for about 8 years and it helps keep the PC moving along smoothly with a nice fresh clean registry and get rid of all that junk.

What I do is have a fresh install of XP and office and a few other things such as the bat for email and I made a image of it and copied to my file server so when the time comes I run a nice format of the drive pop in the network boot floppy which formats, paritions and installs all my software in about 20 minutes. Things get old such as office etc so when I am running a new version and reinstall everything I just upgrade whatever software I have a new version of and make a fresh image.

Works out nicely and saves a ton of time over reinstalling XP, treaking all its settings and installing everything else.

never

Usually do it every 3 months or so.

yeah same here! every month 4 me, clean out the servers ass well.. but every month is what i do!

This one here is going on 2 years since I bought it, I haven't had to format yet.

I do it around every 6 months.

Format every month, just to clean it and keep it nice and crisp!

:)

I only formatt when the HDD Dies....lol

People that never format their computers install about 5 or 6 programs and nothing else ever again.

I just buy (at work) or build (at home) a new computer every year, because I install tons of crap.

Originally posted by phision.com
You don't need to format with a mac. Just pop in your OS X cd and pick archive and install. It keeps all your documents and preferences, backs up all your system files to a folder in / and installs fresh copies of the system files. It's not messy like installing windows on top of its self. Its just as clean as a fresh install, but your documents/downloads etc. are preserved. And if you want to switch back, just copy the backed up files back. Or delete them if its still all fine.

OS X shouldn't ever slow down though. I'm willing to bet that checking for log files that have grown in size, as well as running top to see what is eating your resources would fix your problem

thanks i'll take a look into that...

however i am considering selling it also so i may need to format anyways...

Once a year.

I used to format my old Pentium 3 500mhz, every 2 months (not because I wanted to, it would just get so many errors I couldnt use it) but now ive got my P4 3.06ghz w/ HT, I havent had to format it yet.

It has been about three years since I last needed to format. :cool: I only do it if it is absolutely necessary.

I have had debian running on a 233mhz machine for over 6 years now, never formatted yet. Runs just as fast as the day I installed it. I haven't used windows in a long time, what is the point of constantly reformatting the drive?

never formatted

Every 4 - 6 months.

Those who format often, may i suggest defragging and clearing out your temp and internet temp directories first?

On an xp machine, there is no need to reinstall every month or even every year.

Chet

Originally posted by chet
Those who format often, may i suggest defragging and clearing out your temp and internet temp directories first?

On an xp machine, there is no need to reinstall every month or even every year.
Same can be said for any system. I formatted once on win95, once on win98 and haven't had to format at all since I installed ME. Keep it clean and you should have no problems. :)

3 to 6 Months on the pc but i havent format my laptop so far!

LOL @ Windows people who need to format as a part of regular monthly maintenance. Only times I have to format is when getting a new computer, or when adding a new disk, so it needs to be partioned and file system has to be created.