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Do You Really Need to Regularly Reinstall Windows?

Reinstalling Windows is inconvenient. You have to back up all your data, go through the install process, reinstall all your favourite programs, and restore that data. This sucks up valuable time.

Why Windows Slows Down Over Time

The main reason people reinstall Windows is because it slows down over time. But why do Windows systems slow down over time?

• Startup Programs: Examine a Windows system that’s slowed down and you’ll likely to find many additional startup programs have been installed, lengthening the boot process, cluttering the system tray with useless icons, and consuming CPU, memory, and other system resources in the background. Worse yet, some computers may come with a huge amount of useless startup programs out of the box thanks to manufacturer-installed bloatware.
• Browser Plug-ins, Services, and More: Applications that add shortcuts to Windows Explorer’s context menu can make right-clicking on files take much longer if they’re badly programmed. Other programs may install themselves as a system service, so they’re running in the background even though you can’t see them. Even if they aren’t in the system tray, useless programs can slow down your PC.
• Heavy Security Suites: Some security suites are often very heavy, consuming a lot of resources to perform all their funcitons. Unfortunatly this is often a necisary evil to stay safe online, however some security software like AVG does a much better job with a lighter background workload than many.
• PC Cleaning Tools: PC cleaning tools are generally scams. Paradoxically, they can make your computer even slower if they add themselves as a startup program and run in the background. The scammiest PC cleaning programs may even install additional spyware and other junk. Use the free CCleaner instead of paid PC cleaning tools.
• Other Junk: Poorly written applications may clutter your system with useless DLL files and fill your registry with useless entries. The worst applications may not clean up properly after themselves, leaving this stuff on your system even after you uninstall them.
• Browser Toolbars: Legitimate browser extensions can slow down your browser enough, but junk add-ons like the terrible Ask.com toolbar can slow things down even more.

In other words, the main cause of a Windows system slowing down over time is installing junk software.

How To Prevent Windows From Slowing Down Over Time

To keep your Windows system running like new, you need to take proper care of it.

• Install only software you’ll actually use. Choose well-written, lightweight programs that respect your system instead of slowing it down.
• Pay attention when installing software and avoid installing browser toolbars, spyware, and other garbage software that can slow down your computer.
• Regularly uninstall software you don’t use from the Control Panel. Even useful software may run in the background and slow things down.
• Occasionally use a tool like CCleaner or Disk Cleanup to remove the temporary files wasting space on your hard drive. You don’t have to reinstall Windows to get rid of these.
• Take proper care of your web browser, too. Use a minimal selection of browser extensions. If you don’t use a browser extension, uninstall it — it’s just taking up system resources and slowing your browser down for no good reason.
• Carefully select lightweight, minimal security programs. All you really need to install on Windows now is an antivirus — and Windows 8 users don’t even need to install that.

So When Do I Need to Reinstall Windows?

If you’re taking proper care of Windows, you shouldn’t need to regularly reinstall it. However it’s all too easy to get complacent and let junk build up over time to a point were it’s simply easier to re-install rather than try to fix everything.

Obviously, if your Windows system has slowed down and isn’t speeding up no matter how many programs you uninstall, you should consider reinstalling Windows. Reinstalling Windows may often be a faster way to get rid of malware and fix other system issues than actually troubleshooting and fixing the specific problem. However, you should try to take better care of Windows in the future.

If your Windows computer is running fine, you don’t need to spend hours reinstalling your operating system — even if it’s been years since you last reinstalled Windows. That’s a sign you’re doing a good job of taking care of your Windows system.

Re-installing Windows

You can re-install Windows yourself however there are several ways depending on the manufacture of your computer and what discs you have etc. Some manufacturers will install a “recovery partition” on your hard drive which allows the relatively automatic re-installation. This differs from machine to machine but can be quite easy.

If you don’t want all that hassle, consider the a full service from Computer FX. For a fixed fee this will backup your personal data, format the hard drive and re-install Windows from scratch making sure to get all the latest updates etc.