Legacy of Microsoft...

[Nowhere]

http://www.msfn.org/

"How many times a year do you reinstall your OS?"
(poll on the left)

edit: hm, and I've known few people who don't connect their Windows laptops to internet at all for fear of infection...must be another legacy.

[Jammrock]

4-6

[az]

Since XP, now OSX: ~0.3

[Brian Ellis]

1-6 according to which computer. About 4 x for one computer (used for all sorts of tests) and 1 x for the others. I voted 4-6.

[Gurm]

Depends on the machine. Julie's machine has been running Vista since it came out. Before that it was running XP since I built it.

My main machine? Probably once a year at this point. Used to be once every six months. And that has less to do with it NEEDING a rebuild than with me feeling that "cleaning house" is easier than "cleaning up".

[Admiral]

I voted 4-6, worst case scenario for me, usually it's more like a couple times. It also depends on upgrades, when I change motherboard it's a must, when changing the OS hard drive you have no choice. In some rare cases overclocking corrupted the OS install (this only happened once), there's also the virus infection and installing beta software for the OS (hope SP3 RC1 for XP won't be a problem). You can take into account motherboard and hard drive failure, fortunately I've been spared of such incidents. Count in OS upgrades or dual booting while waiting for the OS to mature...

[Nowhere]

OK, this is worrying...I thought we'll have a lough at this, etc.

Instead, I believe, I see the mindset that this is normal... :|


(BTW, 0,3 - 0,5 reinstalls per year here)

[Claymonkey]

I used to be a every six months man but I've been closer to once every two years. XP for the most part is pretty damn stable... that and I probably just learn to live with 'quirks' of my build and don't want to bother rebuilding if I can help it since I deal with computers all day at work.

[Evildead666]

1-3 for me.

About every 6 months or so I decide i have screwed up XP so much its better to get a fresh install going...

[cjolley]

Linux 5-6
XP 0-1

Go figure

[Dr Mordrid]

Refreshing here is done by way of Ghost'ed fresh installs made for each system. These contain XP SP2, all MS patches and basic software installs up to the date they were created.

XP Pro SP2 has been running on our video rigs for at least 2 years in most cases, but they're watched after and taken care of - meaning no crapware or internet use other than installing patches for Windows & software.

General use systems vary. Margie and Erik have general purpose bootups that need refreshing about once a year, but they also have dedicated game bootups that need refreshing 2-3 times a year because they insist on playing Shockwave and online games

Mine is pretty stable, needing refreshing perhaps every 2 years. I don't play Shockwave games etc. and mostly visit sites that are of little risk.

Beta bootups are another matter. They often get Ghost'ed fresh installs with new builds.

[Elie]

XP 1-3 times, though I have like 5 PC's at home, so I may end up reinstalling XP on two machines more often than the others.

Cheers,
Elie

[ZokesPro]

XP, every 6 months. Reason: Kinda hard to low level a drive without re-installing windows afterwards.

[High_Jumbllama]

It has been over two years. Before that even most of my 2K & 98SE reinstalls were because I felt like it. 50% luck, 50% antivirus/antispyware/etc. . . ., and 50% I only install potentially stupid shit to a virtual machine just in case.

[Technoid]

with windows 98, every month

With w2k, progresivly loonger cycles, before I switched to XP I had had the w2k install for 3 years, and the reason I switched was C&C3, w2k was still rock stable

Lets see how many years my current XP install lasts