Is there any advantage to re-creating user accounts?

[Guest]

Hi Peeps..

A friend of mine mentioned to me that he likes to re-create his user
accounts periodically to keep XP running smoothly.

He mentioned that he backs up all relevant documents and settings for the
account and removes it, restarts his machine and re-creates the account. He
then repeats this for all accounts on his machine.

I have started to notice lately that my installation is becoming erroneous
and sometimes hangs when switching users or logging on/off and wondered if
this method is of any use.

Also, would a 'repair install' from the original XP disk help as part of
routine maintenance of an XP based machine? Is it a good idea to do a
'repair install' periodically to keep things running smoothly?

Thanks

 

[Frankster]

What your friend is accomplishing by his actions is to delete the old "user
profile" and recreate a nice new clean one. Then, you do have to
re-customize your profile, to include recreating your shortcuts and
favorites. (You can save your favorites in another location though and copy
them back afterward if you like)

An easier way to accomplish the same thing is just to log onto the machine
with a different user account, right click My Computer, choose Properties |
User Profiles, then highlight your old profile and delete it. Then, logon as
that user again. Windows will re-create a brand new virgin profile for you.

No need to actually delete the complete account.

-Frank