For What reasons you format your pc?

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Aktiffiso

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Hi hello i am a very paranoid windows user and when i see corruptions on my sistem include when i uninstall security software i think my machine are bad and format it. For example when i install firewalls and uninstall it i see traces of drivers, traces on registry, i really format my pc for everything, when dism cleanup image does not run well or can not repair errors i format my pc. Maybe is a litle hilarious, but i wan to know you

Why you format your pc? What reasons?

How is a unestable system?

What corruption you can tolerate?

Thanks and have nice day
 
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I have't done a reformat on the main laptop I use for two years, and don't have any plans to do so in the future. If I ever encounter problems, I take the time to diagnose and fix them. In the rare case, I can't fix them, I restore from a recent backup. I have installed and uninstalled hundreds of programs, including several different antiviruses, during the last two years, but my laptop still runs fine.

In the past, when I've done done a clean install of Windows, it's been due to critical issues with Windows or data corruption due to a failing hard drive. Of course, I should have had working backups of my system, to restore from. But, I usually didn't, back then.

To answer your questions. I would only do a format and reinstall if there was something critical wrong, which despite by best efforts, I was unable to fix. A good example would be that Windows would not boot.

On my other laptops, I often reformat them to install different version of Windows, or just to start from scratch and see for example if I have any issues running Windows Update with a clean install of Windows. So it's just for the purposes of testing, not due to any issues.
 
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Last month I Formated my PC.
Due to hardware updates from time to time, I had some issues with old drivers (garbages).

Also I had a strange issue (most possibly from driver compatibility):
Some times during the startup, my computer was staying at windows startup "welcome" screen, not going any further.
That issue appearing more often lately...
So I decided that it is time for a clean Install.
 
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Aktiffiso said:
Hi hello i am a very paranoid windows user and when i see corruptions on my sistem include when i uninstall security software i think my machine are bad and format it. For example when i install firewalls and uninstall it i see traces of drivers, traces on registry, i really format my pc for everything, when dism cleanup image does not run well or can not repair errors i format my pc. Maybe is a litle hilarious, but i wan to know you

Why you format your pc? What reasons?

How is a unestable system?

What corruption you can tolerate?

Thanks and have nice day
Click to expand...
Use Revo uninstaller to uninstall apps, drivers etc. I don't see the need to reformat unless Windows isn't working. I only reinstall when there's a new majot build for Windows.
 
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I do a clean install after testing an Antivirus solution because I believe this type of programs is very hard (or nearly impossible) to remove completely. For me I have always felt Windows less stable after uninstalling antiviuses. You can do a clean install windows and install drivers and then do a system image to recover whenever you need. This is less headache than doing a format. I used both EaseUs ToDo Home and Ashampoo Backup Pro 11.
 
Aktiffiso said:
Hi hello i am a very paranoid windows user and when i see corruptions on my system include when i uninstall security software i think my machine are bad and format it.
Click to expand...
You are definitely someone, who could use RollBack Rx Home | PC Time Machine Windows System Restore Software

Aktiffiso said:
Why you format your pc? What reasons?
Click to expand...
4 times a year, because of Windows 10 upgrades. Once to install Insider close to RTM, like now and then once for the final RTM. Upgrading takes 3 hours, while clean install + everything else takes about 1-2 hours, so I would not waste time upgrading. Clean install is better and more reliable anyway, plus I can see, what has changed.

Aktiffiso said:
How is a unstable system?
What corruption you can tolerate?
Click to expand...
I perform maintenance after every Windows update, plus I use uninstaller to get rid of software, so no corruptions or instabilities allowed on my PC. :cool:
 
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It is much easier and quicker to use system image backup, such as macrium reflect, or aomei. It will put your system back to a state prior to installing the security software that leaves behind those unwanted traces. Every time you want to uninstall security software, instead you just run a system image restore, and you are back to a clean system.
 
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when formatting my Pc, when I can't enter to Windows,most of the times, is conflict-why working people programs, the latest has been, for that install RollBack Home Edition, and between Shadow Defender, and restart in mode Shadow, and nothing I came out a black screen and could not enter nor safe mode, I am not another thing that the format.
 
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You people must have a lot of free time :) Reinstalling Windows on my machine takes me more than 8 hours, between reinstalling windows itself and the software I use and configuring everything back to the way I use it. One of the proprietary software I need for work need to be remotely configured and activated by the service provider and no, before someone asks, there is no free alternative to what it does :) May last computer went 4 years without reformating and the current one is just 6 months old :)

So to answer the OP, I never format. Most Windows corruption can be corrected if you know what you are doing. The only reason I can think would force me to format my computer is a physical malfunction of the hard disk. Even then I'd probably just buy a new disk and restore my last image.
 
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mlnevese said:
You people must have a lot of free time :) Reinstalling Windows on my machine takes me more than 8 hours, between reinstalling windows itself and the software I use and configuring everything back to the way I use it.
Click to expand...
That is one of the reasons why I do my best, to never have to reinstall Windows. I have a lot of software installed, and I've got better things to do than spend hours reinstalling software.
 
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Well kind of why to create restore points and disk images/backups, so you don't have to format every time, since it's a fact some programs can ruin your boot files or system files.

I format like once a year maybe to keep it totally clean. I still do a lot of restores of disk images. You may not want to format a lot to not kill your disk. Even more if it's an SSD.
 
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Usually it takes 4-5 years for me before need to re-format.
Also, the average time to re-install OS and every single program again is more than 12hrs.

It is not the installing, but the reconfiguring... (Usually done next day)
 
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