Reformatting

[Guest]

A friend of mine tells me that you should reformat your computer every 3
months for the top performance. Is this true or is he being just looney. I
told him that a show on computers and tech I watch suggest Norton Ghost that
way once you reformat you can have it copy your system when its freshly
installed. Thusly, eliminating the need to reformat. Is this true?

 

[Ted Zieglar]

I can't give an opinion on whether your friend is looney. However, with
Windows XP there is no need to reformat for improved performance.
Reformatting for improved performance is an old idea left over from the
early Windows 9x days. Windows has come very far since then.

Moreover, with today's backup tools - of which Ghost is an excellent example
IMHO - there is no need to ever reformat and reinstall. You simply restore a
known good disk image. It takes just minutes.

If more people would learn how to backup there'd be a lot more love in this
world.

 

[Bert Kinney]

Hi Aturs,

I would call it extreme! Why in the world would one want to perform a
clean install on a system that is functioning properly, or spend money
on 3ed party software for this reason!!!

It makes much more sense to avoid the slowdowns as best you can.

Keep up to date virus software running at all times and have it update
automatically daily.
Prevent spyware from loading the best you can using Spywareblaster.
That is after removing any spyware that may be already installed.

Avoid installing software that has a history of slowing performance
such as products from Norton, and McAfee.

And using Norton Ghost in this manner will not keep the system up to
date. Everything installed in the previous 3 months will have to be
reinstalled along with all updates. Not to mention data file,
favorites and any other changes made to the system.

Sounds like a waist of time to me!