Should you re-install Windows every year?

OP i don't run business online and don't understand the amount of tweaking you've done in windows 7. I would back-up all data in a different drive then make two partitions in the main disk. Since i use pc for basic home usage i install 7 only in a 15 gb partition, all my downloads by default go into the D drive not the main system partition hence even if i have to install 7 10 times a month there is no need to back up data as it is already backed up in D partition. I disable all "my pictures/music/movies/downloads" etc because all these are extensions of system C drive. Almost nothing ever goes in my main C drive. Hope you understand. This backing-up thing is way too simpler than what people think all over the world.
I assume u must be using some business related softwares that might need more space so u can make a 50 GB partition for windows 7 and keep all data in the secondary partition usually D.
PS: Since you use ur pc for business avoid useless tweaks for the sake of making the OS look good. I don't use/install anything that i don't really need atleast once a week.
Use:
ccleaner (to clean crap)
revouninstaller: to uninstall softwares
defraggler: to defrag.

All small sized freewares.

Agree with Rockfella 100%
That's the way I've done it for ages and it makes life so much easier

You can link your User folders to your data drive this way: User Folders - Change Default Location

This makes the backup image more compact so that if Win7 becomes irreparable, you can reimage OS/Programs partition in 15 minutes and the data is waiting and current in it's own partition "vault."

Best to put data on another HD, too, along with image.

Same here zero probs since 2007. I laugh at people who talk about "loosing data" after a fresh format/install...it amazes me really. I also wonder why companies like dell keep the main C drive as a huge 95% of the entire hdd and 5% as restore partition but dell charges money to create partitions before installation

Howie said:

Agree with Rockfella 100%
That's the way I've done it for ages and it makes life so much easier

Rockfella said:

I also wonder why companies like dell keep the main C drive as a huge 95% of the entire hdd and 5% as restore partition but dell charges money to create partitions before installation

Why would the restore partition need to be any bigger than necessary?

Why would there be a restore option? Why cant they make C drive of only 20 Gbs and leave the rest hdd space as D drive?

electrotune1200 said:

Rockfella said:

I also wonder why companies like dell keep the main C drive as a huge 95% of the entire hdd and 5% as restore partition but dell charges money to create partitions before installation

Why would the restore partition need to be any bigger than necessary?

electrotune1200 said:

I do mine every 6 months. Just to make sure it's clean.

With your drivers, files, and program installers organised. It's a 2 hour investment every 6 months. And Having a clean image with no updates or programs installed helps.

Why not?

You must be far, far more organized than I am, because the idea of finishing a clean install, including all of the drivers, programs and resetting all of the tweaks necessary in 2 hours is only a pipe dream for me. If it were that easy for me, I would make it a routine as you have, but I have been running his installation since W7 was first released.

I guess that I'm just too lazy to tackle that situation. Actually, it feels kind of good that I have run this long, because in the past I was never able to keep it going like this, because of some kind of problem that forced me to do it far more often than I cared for.

This is one reason that I have postponed doing some major hardware upgrades, because that would force me to start from scratch.

seekermeister said:

You must be far, far more organized than I am, because the idea of finishing a clean install, including all of the drivers, programs and resetting all of the tweaks necessary in 2 hours is only a pipe dream for me. If it were that easy for me, I would make it a routine as you have, but I have been running his installation since W7 was first released.

I guess that I'm just too lazy to tackle that situation. Actually, it feels kind of good that I have run this long, because in the past I was never able to keep it going like this, because of some kind of problem that forced me to do it far more often than I cared for.

This is one reason that I have postponed doing some major hardware upgrades, because that would force me to start from scratch.

A clean install, drivers, MS updates, install your apps, update them, etc, etc., then tweak my UI and everything else Takes me 8 ~ 10 hours.

I image my drives every week.. I keep three weeks worth of images on two seperate drives. I do another image prior to an app install or a big update.

If something does not turn out the way I like, I restore a drive image as oppesed to "uninstall" the app or update. That way, my machine stays clean.

Uninstalling anything, leaves a bunch of junk behind in regards to reg entries, program files in the system folder, etc. It really never completely "uninstalls"

Okay, I can understand that, but restoring from an image is totally different from doing a clean install, as the subject of the thread is about. Actually, restoring an image shouldn't require any additional driver, programs or tweaks, so an hour should be plenty of time.