July monthly poll

[Computer Hope Admin]

When was the last time you reformatted your computer?


For the month of July we thought it would be interesting to see when the last time you reformatted (erased your computer and started over) if ever. Feel free to comment about why you ended up having to do this, how long you troubleshot the computer before doing it, and/or how long it took you to get everything installed again.

All past monthly polls and results can also be found on the Computer Hope poll page.

[paudashlake]

I do it all the time just because I get bored with what is on my computer at the time.;

[unlovedwarrior]

i cant remember 3-6 months ago

[patio]

Monthly...
Of course this requires regular backups and a decent imaging app.

[computeruler]

I think I last reformatted on April 20th 2009

[Calum]

For this computer, it was a few weeks ago.
I moved to a new motherboard and case, then moved back to my old board, so I reformatted both times.  Also had to reformat again because I installed to the wrong drive - yeah, laugh it up, I was half asleep.  At least I didn't format my 1TB by mistake and lose all my important stuff, although that did nearly happen.

[macdad-]

Had to get mine reformatted a week ago(HD crash), after the repair the warranty was still good on the HD and they gave us a new one(with three times the capacity  )

[Mulreay]

Monthly...
Of course this requires regular backups and a decent imaging app.

This is probably a stupid question but what benefit do you get from re-formatting monthly?

[Aegis]

I was thinking that same stupid question, Patio.

[Buzzintx]

Reformatted just a couple of weeks ago, I tried XP 64 for a while but had to many issues so now I back to XP 32. I'm waiting for my copy of Windows 7 that I have already pre-ordered then I'll doing it again. 

[patio]

August 22nd.....not much longer.

[Broni]

Win 2K old computer few years ago.
Win 98 computer, long time ago, I believe, twice.

[patio]

This is probably a stupid question but what benefit do you get from re-formatting monthly?

Hard to say ....
It's an old school habit i never lost.

But i rarely see any performance hits on the benchtest machine and none of the 5 OS's even hiccups.

[Broni]

Someone has a lot of free time on hand

[Mulreay]

Hay whatever floats ya boat!

[Aegis]

Hard to say ....
It's an old school habit i never lost.

No school like the old school...and who knows how much headache and heartache you've dodged over the years?

Well, except for the headaches, here.     
(I include myself.)

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

I've only ever reformatted once due to a problem with Windows Update. That's all.

[computeruler]

 

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Are you trying to tell me something?

[Mulreay]

Are you trying to tell me something?

I'm with you on this one.

[quaxo]

I don't think my desktop has been formatted since it was upgraded just over a year ago.

My laptop was formatted (restored) as soon as I got it back home. See, often when you buy computers in Thailand, they immediately fill it with pirated software like Windows, Office, and just about everything else. While my laptop did come with an authentic version of Vista, they had stuck a bunch of other crap on it while they were "checking" it. Needless to say the system was all screwed up by the time I got it, so as soon as it was out of the box and powered on.

[Cityscape]

I reformat one of my 2 computers at least every 3 months.

My Xp desktop normally 3 times a year.
I'm getting ready to do a reformat again soon.

And my other one....anywhere between 14 days to 2 months.
The shortest time for a reformat is about 3-4 days.
For example: I had XP Media edition in February. I reformatted to XP Pro for march. In early April i switched to Windows 2000. A week later i installed XP Pro alongside. Then in early June I reformatted again and installed Ubuntu Linux.

Hard to say ....
But i rarely see any performance hits on the benchtest machine and none of the 5 OS's even hiccups.

What are the "5 OS's"?

[patio]

DOS 6.2 Win98SE Win2K XP and Vista.

[Broni]

We don't like ME, do we?

[Aegis]

We like YOU a lot!  Windows Millenium was the only Windows version I actually uninstalled after just a month or so.

[Broni]

I actually never touched it. I only heard, and read about it. It was enough "experience" for me

[Quantos]

I didn't format out of choice.  My craptop went in for a video issue, I got a brand new craptop out of the deal, man, was I irritated...

[Semysig]

I resist doing it at all costs.  It's a living to reinstall all the apps and configure them again   I believe this is by design by the demonseed that is M$!

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

I resist doing it at all costs.  It's a living to reinstall all the apps and configure them again   I believe this is by design by the demonseed that is M$!

You can use HD Imaging software (such as Acronis True Image) to take a picture of your hard drive and print it to the newly formatted hard drive, thus keeping everything you previously had.

[Calum]

And then the point of formatting your drive would be ... what?
If you just go ahead and put exactly what was on it before, back on it, there's no difference, unless I'm missing something.

[Mulreay]

You can use HD Imaging software (such as Acronis True Image) to take a picture of your hard drive and print it to the newly formatted hard drive, thus keeping everything you previously had.

Can you explain how that works to me please. Sorry genuine thirst for knowledge and I don't get it.

[patio]

I have ME installed...but on a different machine...

[Broni]

And then the point of formatting your drive would be ... what?
If you just go ahead and put exactly what was on it before, back on it, there's no difference, unless I'm missing something.

You use an image from time, when computer was working fine.

[Calum]

You use an image from time, when computer was working fine.

Sure, but from what I understood of Carbon's post, he meant - take an image, format the drive, restore the image.
Sorry if that's not the case.
Anyway, I still don't see the point of formatting and restoring like that.  I take images myself as backups, so I can restore back if something goes wrong (I usually image before I install major sofwtare or make major hardware changes), but I don't see how regularly imaging and reformatting makes sense.
Guess this is half directed at patio as he did bring it up.

[patio]

Awww  c'mon...i never said that it made sense i just answered the Poll...

 

[geek hoodlum]

June 17, 2009... Hehehe 

[JOHNDY]

today i reformated

[kizza1645]

Like this year some time......

[graylady35]

Glad I found this site.  What is reformatting your computer, and how often should it be done?

[Aegis]

Reformatting involves backing up (or, making copies) of data you wish to keep, and reinstalling the operating system of the computer, or choosing to install a different operating system.

This is generally done to correct computer problems which cannot be solved by other means.  How often it needs to be done varies with whether there is a problem to corrcect, or whether the user feels doing so will help avoid problems, or the comfort level of the computer user.

[kizza1645]

Glad I found this site.  What is reformatting your computer, and how often should it be done?

hmmm.. It shouldnt really be something you want to do.....let alone often.

It wipes your hard drive... so you can reinstall you os.

[ThomasTheXPUser]

I reformatted a couple months ago

[Text]

I hate to reformat my computer. Before this last time I did it just the other day, it had been years since I had done it.

You know, all these nifty programs out there and not one solution that I know exists to allow someone to keep all the software the installed and paid for when they reformat. Sure, I can keep my documents and that's just easy. What I REALLY want is to be able to reformat and somehow reinstall all the programs I had with all the settings already intact. Unfortunately, I end up losing my serial numbers and it really sucks.

It's the software and software settings that I lose that makes a reformat the worst.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Text, you might want to have a look at Acronis True Image.

[Steini]

Text, you might want to have a look at Acronis True Image.

I have been using clonezilla on a 8gb usb-stick to backup and restore xp-pro. It is incredibly fast just about 15 minuets to boot from usb-stick and till i boot up xp-pro.

I format my computer only when something bad happens and that is really only like once every 2 years or so or i skip that and just buy new computer. I also use apple computers and i never ever reformat them.

I used this usb-stick to duplicate  xp-pro to 20 new computers, but beware that you can run into trouble trying to get the oem-key or volume-license-key into those. I recommend only doing duplication like that on linux.

[patio]

Your XP install fits on an 8G usb stik ? ?

[Ivy]

Ok, Everyone needs to know this, An year back, I used to be reformatting my computer every month, Once I had to reformat it 4 times a month!!!!!!!! The malware removal section used to be flooding with my topics.

One day I decided that I'm not gonna call these people from my computer manufacturer company to clean my PC anymore, I almost felt like they were not cleaning the pc completely and I had to call them so many times and pay them so much money!! So I decided to learn to reformat my own computer, I read up a lot of guides and tutorials but it was confusing, but then Patio gave me this tutorial and that was it, I reformatted my computer and ever since I have never ever had a virus or any kind of malware on my computer.

Proof

[squall_01]

there is a limit to how many times that you can do that if it isnt a one offered with your machine.

[kpac]

I reformatted my computer and ever since I have never ever had a virus or any kind of malware on my computer.

That would depend on how careful you've been on the Internet...

[squall_01]

why there is a line of protection tools.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

why there is a line of protection tools.

What you on about?

[Ivy]

That would depend on how careful you've been on the Internet...

Nooey, that depended on how the pc was cleaned, those people were not completely cleaning the computer,so that they could keep coming back.
And once I cleaned the pc myself, honeestly, sincerely, without any greed (lol) It was cleaned forever, My computing habits are same as Ever.

[squall_01]

you can get stuff from any where like myspace or what not so I heard.

[kpac]

Nooey, that depended on how the pc was cleaned, those people were not completely cleaning the computer,so that they could keep coming back.
And once I cleaned the pc myself, honeestly, sincerely, without any greed (lol) It was cleaned forever, My computing habits are same as Ever.

Oh, so you mean the PC was so infected that all that could be done was a reformat? Then that's okay.
Just the way you put it originally sounded like it is now impossible to get malware....

[harry 48]

i have not reformatted for about 2 years don't see any need/sense  to when its going fine , unless you can show me i'm wrong 

[Steini]

Your XP install fits on an 8G usb stik ? ?

XP + sp3 + drivers + some updates + tools. The usb-stick even had some space left.

I did add java + .net + new internet explorer + flash + etc. afterwards from different usb-stick

Clonezilla strips out the pagefile and some other temporary files before it compresses everything to gzip archive. And I think that is the reason for it being so fast and small, I mean the usb-stick is not capable of reading data that fast but you are only reading gzip image and the cpu is uncompressing it in memory.

[Aegis]

i have not reformatted for about 2 years don't see any need/sense  to when its going fine , unless you can show me i'm wrong

There is a lot to be said for the adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

We can find examples of people who updated drivers, or updated the BIOS on the computer (the instruction set that tells the computer what to do, and how to "set" itself when you turn it on) who updated for no real reason, and got themselves into trouble, especially when "messing with" the BIOS.

[harry 48]

thats true aegis , i love to mess with the pc to learn but i know how to fix it and what not to touch ( most times )

[toodawgs]

Re-what-mat?

[harry 48]

reformatted , if you mean this its taking your pc back to new



http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/r/reformat.htm

[Cityscape]

Your XP install fits on an 8G usb stik ? ?

Of course it would. A fresh XP install only takes 4-5 GBs.

[patio]

Not here...but good on you.

[wobbles]

i did one computer last night, i was up to 3am, did another 2 nights before was up to 2am and did one least weekend. 2 were shuttles and 1 was a tower they all had different OS's

i love getting frustrated for FUN!!

 

[computeruler]

umm ok...
Couldnt you have started reformatting earlier?

[wow]

Last month

[computeruler]

I just got two old computers, so I might be doing some formatting soon

[mammananny]

I make a mess of my computers on a regular basis.
Mammananny

[juedjo]

I reformat when things get jacked up enough from the viruses (viri?) that are constantly going around... But there's some real good anti-virus programs out there now. I'm hoping reformatting my laptop will get it performing at 100% again. I was running it with outdated anti-virus protection and it's to the point now where it doesn't boot up right, and I haven't been able to run it from the battery in a long while, not because the battery is bad, but because of not having proper virus protection. Not sure if reformatting will fix it, I haven't used it in months. Now that I've a disc to reformat it with I shall do so! Then I'll have to come back here and change my poll answer! I'm not even sure when the last time I reformatted my desktop computer. I'm not sure if I ever have this one!

[Starwind51]

   I didn't vote because I didn't understand the question.  If you mean a total reformat that wipes the hard drive clean, never.  If you mean a disk clean up, ummm... I think I did that about a month ago.

[squall_01]

  those are two differnt things. 

[Cityscape]

  I didn't vote because I didn't understand the question.  If you mean a total reformat that wipes the hard drive clean, never.  If you mean a disk clean up, ummm... I think I did that about a month ago.

Reformat: meaning completely erasing your OS and hard drive and reinstalling a OS.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

those are two differnt things. 

That's why this is a poll....

[Kucingkurap]

at 00.00.00 31 July 2009. why?

[kpac]

at 00.00.00 31 July 2009. why?

Why what?

[Mulreay]

at 00.00.00 31 July 2009. why?

Why is it that date? Why? Why? Why? Love posts like this where you have no idea what the person means.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Why is it that date? Why? Why? Why? Love posts like this where you have no idea what the person means.

Like your posts?      

LOL

[Mulreay]

Like your posts?       

Cheek! I used to like you Carbon 

[squall_01]

I had too at one point, till I seen how he was.

[Mulreay]

I was joking.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

LOL    I'm glad it's not July anymore.

[Aegis]

Yeah, Carbon -- we saw how you were in July!   

[squall_01]

I was being serious though.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

I'm happy for you.