microsoft recommends formating hd every 6months????

[goldboyd]

Some guy i know said that microsoft recommends formatting your hard drive every 6 months. is this true, it sounds like bull$hit to me.

[Dominus]

Well, thats fine by me. I end up formatting my HDD at least every 3 monthes due to something or other.

[SB]

I can't imagine they would actually come out with that info, but hey...it's M$. You never know.

I do reformat about every six months or sometimes sooner. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[Moe]

Wow, this is pretty interesting stuff, although it shouldn't surprise anyone.

I haven't reformatted in a good while (1-2 years) but I do seem to have to reinstall win95 every 6 monthes, i wonder if there is some correlation here http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

Well, i've had it, i'm going to NT/Linux, may keep 95 around somewhere, but it will not be my primary OS for sure.

[CMonster]

Maybe your friend misunderstood - perhaps he meant "defragging" the hard drive at least every 6 months.

[bringspeed]

i would imagine that it was wrong, as i couldn't possibly go that long without reformating.

[Zonker]

Format every 6 months? *LOL*

Windows does seem to screw it self up from time to time, even NT. That's why I always keep a backup on my hard drive as an image file using Powerquest DriveImage.

Defragment at least once a month is my holy grail, too.

[socalgal]

I scandisk/defrag at least every 2 weeks.

For those of us who must reformat, check out a permanent resident of my Doomed file. It will probably come in handy one of these days!

Thanks to BBA for this info - http://www.sysopt.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/000956.html

[BlueCow]

Hmmm...

[This message has been edited by BlueCow (edited 07-24-99).]

[BBA]

I still haven't formatted my OS drive!

PS: Your given me big head socalgal

BBA

[GB]

.

[This message has been edited by GB (edited 08-19-99).]

[MAGIC 8-BALL and THE ELF]

Every time I reformat my hard drive, I feel like a new person. - 8-Ball

They mean the one in the computer, Old One. - Elf

[Nathan]

Well here's my two cents.

1. I do a full defrag two to three times a week. And that's after deleteing all the files in #2, which is next.

2. I empty temp files and cache files every other day I use the computer. And sometimes daily if I'm on the net alot.

3. I rarely run scandisk. Once every month or so.

4. I only format my hard drive when I upgrade my system (meaning motherboard, hard drive, operating system etc.) or if I crash it, which thankfully has been for over two years. I understand why they say it because people are always installing and uninstalling new software. And the uninstall always leaves behind orphan files.

5. As for the Norton utilites Speed Disk, some of the previous versions didn't like FAT32 and the very large hard drives. That's why they had some 4 or 5 patches for version 3 I think it is.

[bringspeed]

well, the reason i have to reformat, personally, is because eventually, windows always permanetly messes something up, for instance, last time it was themes. and i think i'm going to have to again, my modem drivers are not working well.

[GB]

Bringspeed,
NOT WIN9X BUT USER MESSES WIN9X UP!!!
A few months ago I had to reformat HD because I messed up win98(with little help).
People like to blame others, but sometimes "you have to look in a mirror and make sure it is worth"



[This message has been edited by GB (edited 07-24-99).]

[This message has been edited by GB (edited 07-24-99).]

[BBA]

Agreed...


The only problems I have with Win9X is when I change something, like program installs or hardware changes.

It all depends on the person's computing habbits, and unix people don't have enough stuff to install cause they only crash when they try to act like windows!

BBA

[AndreBranco]

but~ will all these problems with windows 98 be solved in windows 2000? http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif


[This message has been edited by AndreBranco (edited 07-24-99).]

[SB]

I can relate to what BG and BBA say. I'm constantly messing with WIN to see just how much it can take before it croaks. IMO, WIN98 is a frog.

will all these problems with windows 98 be solved in windows 2000?

Nope.

[GB]

No, Win2000 is WinNT based OS.

[bringspeed]

hmm, when themes went AWOL, i just tried to change the theme one day, and it kept having a GPF fault when i hit "apply" or "ok." so it's my fault that i tried to change my theme? shouldn't windows let me do that without giving me GPF's? in fact, there shouldn't be such a thing as a GPF. you should be able to push, and push, and push an OS, and not have any probs. it's your primary software, your OS, so it should be the best writen. windows is inherently glitchy. oh yea, thats great, if win 2000 is NT based that means it gonna cost big cash. win 98 upgrade= 79$ win nt 4.0(remeber it's an older OS)= 150$-250$ workstation. win 2000, even the workstation ver, will be prob 350$ at least. uhg!

[Mike H.]

I can't believe that nobody has mentioned anything about the most likely thing that will cause someone to have to reformat and that is the registry. More often than not, the registry will become corrupted or contain an error than would a file. The thing that sucks with the registry is that you can’t delete temp keys like you can temp files. The registry keeps growing and growing and… you get the picture. I don’t know a lot about the registry but I believe that when a key is deleted, the space in the registry file doesn’t get deleted. What about organizing the registry so it doesn’t have to look all over for the info it needs. I have a theory I am going to try. It is with a MS program called Win95 ERU (Emergency Rescue Utility). It backs up 10 System files with an exe that automatically restores them from Dos. If Windows starts to slow down or act funny restore one of the backups. I would just have to reinstall the programs that were installed after the last backup. Why has not someone written a program to Scan for errors like ‘Scandisk’ or Optimize it like ‘Defrag’ including removing the holes in it and arranging it in some way that it is more efficient at reading the data. My system.dat file is over 7.5 MB and I’m not done loading programs yet (from a clean install).

Ahh! Wishful thinking. http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[KillerBug]

GB - I agree, I always mess up my hard drives, I do things that cause Windows to destroy it self, like turining on the computer, or installing IE5 (like I have a choice when my ISP autoinstals). Windows 95 and 98 are buggy. They are messed up, Win98 more than WIN95. M$ is pushing it, and people will not take it once Linux is easier to Install, defaults to X, and runs all windoze programs.

[bringspeed]

i've heard of some good linux windoze emulators, like like one i've heard of, called win X , i've heard of some people say it's pretty good. i've got the HD space, so one of the things that is on my list of stuff i want, is red hat linux.

[bringspeed]

i opologize for the last post, seeing as it's incoherent babble. =)

[GB]

I don't know why people like to blame M$?
What about software with countless bugs from other manufacturers? When you install all those bugs doesn't mean its came from win9x.
You put in all kinds of demos, beta's, buggy screensavers what are not necessary- that where from mostly bugs come, not from Win9x installation CD
I myself had problem with Dr.Solomon AV updates(I heard about same thing from others).
Now Dr.Solomon in trash can.What about countless utilities that more messing up with win9x that helps(one of those Norton Utilities-not anymore in my PC-win98 works ok again). There are many other reasons to blame M$ not knowing the real problem.
I do this way: Win98 works good. If I install something and start act strange I just take it out.I don't have IE5-why I need it if my IE4 works good and when I read all those problems people having with IE5.
If my ISP installs something I don't want and it starts messing up, I'll change ISP.
Thats my opinion.

[Anakhonda]

GB-
I don't believe that I have ever seen anyone all over Microsoft's nuts the way GB is. It's kinda funny!

I was just wondering if GB stands for Gill Bates?

[hai]

I haven't formated my 6GB data patition even once from the day I
put it inside the case before 2 years. It's not necessary to format
HD under for me. To reinstall win98, I just deltree /windows on OS
patition, deltree everything on temporaray patition, then install.
I'm a bit paranoid to format a HD after a painful experience.

[mnx]

I re-install windoze every 6 months to 1 year. I don't mess with it I just try out apps and stuff and then delete them or whatever. Windows is a crappy platform, most of us use it becuase
1) easy to use
2) applications
I tried Linux (Debian) but I didn't have the patience. I tried FreeBSD, but the install from FTP option got screwed up half way through install. I have '95 on my puter now along with BeOS. I don't use BeOS becuase I don't have any proggies for it and it won't work with my internal modem...