Here we go.....time to reformat my laptop

[Welshy]

My laptop's started to get a bit bogged down recently, and as it's had its current install for around six months, i think it's time for a fresh reformat.

As i do alot of development with my degree, i have to install umpteen tools and libraries, and it does eventually take its toll on performance. It's not a low spec laptop, on the contrary it's quite a high-spec one, but i just like a nice smooth clean system.

Am i the only one who likes to do it quite regularly? Helps to get rid of any viruses you might have missed too :D

[Mark]

Mine got 'done' after three years. Can't say I've noticed that much, apart from getting SP2 on there and removing loads of defunct crap.

[Zirax]

Yep it can help speed everything up again. However my server is still running win2k which has been on there years without issue. Really I cba to rebuild it.

If you are doing it that often, get an image of your laptop hdd and reload it... that will save hours

[Welshy]

If you are doing it that often, get an image of your laptop hdd and reload it... that will save hours
:shocked: how do you do that? I've only ever used Daemon tools and such.

I mainly just backup my documents, let windows update get the main drivers for me, and install a couple of extras myself

[8 I3ALL]

Norton ghost or True image will do a nice job of making an image for ya
You can compress it and split it over cdr/dvdr or straight onto another hard drive

[Haly]

I'm thinking of reformatting before I go back to Uni as I've got various crap getting in the way and left over bits and pieces from games, but I can't decide as I'm an idle git :p
Really must get round to creating an image to save me time, always forget :embarassed:

[semi-pro waster]

I'll be going for a fresh install as soon as I get a legit copy of XP to install on my main PC from my mate who works for a Microsoft supported games company so gets copies cheaply (I'm currently not really using the PC as it needs an clean install since I've replaced the hard drive). I am however using my laptop which has a genuine copy of XP installed though just in case anyone was worried about me eating into Microsoft's profits. ;)

However it isn't something I do all that often unless I have to, it isn't my idea of a fun day so I tend to leave it until it becomes vital or I build a new PC - which is normally sooner than it becoming vital. :)

[Welshy]

And im back, all sparkling!

I quite like doing it, as i can recustomise everything as i go, can make a nice change from how it was setup before

[Mark]

I hate it. I customise all my development environments to just the way I like them, and it takes forever to get it back the way I like it.

Visual Studio 6 I could do with a registry dump, but Visual Studio 2005 doesn't want to know about clever things like that. :/

[Stan_Lite]

I was thinking I'll have to do my main multi purpose rig when I get back.

As a multi purpose rig, it tends to get all sorts of crap tested on it and generally abused. It seems to have developed a problem with the network whereby it works fine for a few days/weeks and then suddenly drops the network (mostly after downloads). I thought it was a dodgy wireless router as the software was installed on that machine but when I got the BT home hub in, I installed the software on another machine and it still does the same. I have no idea what could cause this behaviour but it has been running non-stop on the same install for a couple of years now so a reformat should do it the world of good.

I'll probably be doing a few reformats over the next few months as it is my intention to sell off most of the Folding farm before I move house in May/June (cba lugging 10 PCs with me :embarassed: ).

Stan :)

[Mark]

Just a suggestion - if you're playing about with lots of potentially 'dodgy' stuff and you have a spare XP license (just don't tell me where it came from - I don't want to know), then get VMWare Server and try it in that. If a VM breaks, who really cares? :)

[Daz]

^^ What he said. My testing/random crap VMs are in such a terrible state, I'd hate to do that to my main rig ;D