I was discussing the overall performance of my PC with a network guy.. He mentioned that there is nothing wrong with doing a clean (new install) of my OS on a yearly basis. I am considering doing that next weekend as an experiment into what I really need on my PC (at last look there were about 50 items in my startup file half of which I have turned off..)

I'm not sure a clean install is necessary just to figure out what you need to uninstall. It seems a bit extreme and wasteful to go through the entire process instead of browsing the add/uninstall program list and figuring out what needs to go.

If your computer is anything like mine, you will have to remove a bunch of stuff after you reinstall your OS. Just remember to make sure all your files are saved to a cd or something so you don't loose them!

Actually we used to clean install from time to time too. Over time varies things can cause corruptions in the OS and a clean install will fix those as well the problems you are having.

Vindication! Just kidding.. that's pretty much what my friend was telling me. the other thing was about the bunch of straight CLUTTER on my desktop and in Programs.. I look at that stuff and realize I'm not using 1/5th of it. I have programs I loaded to look at A web page.. WTF is that? And I have discovered that merely turning something off in Run.. Start doesn't mean it will stay off.. I've had programs turn themselves back on after updates.

Add/remove works pretty well though.. but that list doesn't show everything either.

I use a registry cleaner to help remove programs for good. Many times after doing a delete or uninstall the registry information still remains and that can cause problems. I don't think I'd ever do a OS reinstall unless things just broke all together. I have too much on there and it would be a huge pain to put it all back. I think using correct maintenance procedures is best.

Chris

Clean installs are good. They give you the opportunity to remove a lot of crap and clutter that you have accumulated over time. Quite frankly however, I wouldn't be doing it until my computer really freaks out - too much work and reconfiguring than I care to do.

I understand the desire not to have to go through a lot of re-installing and setting tweaks..(we all like the way our screen looks just fine, thank you). So tell me what product you recommend for the registry cleaner. and if you have a favorite are there any setting tweaks that have saved you time or effort?

There are times though that the effort of keeping a system healthy can just become too much and a clean install is the easy answer. I've been there all too often.

I do clean installation yearly. After a fresh installation i install Tune up utilities to maintain my system performance.