[-]

That_Effective_6730@reddit

(1st) Click the Windows Icon, (2nd) Type Optimize (3rd) Right click Optimize (4th) Left click run as administrator (5th) Agree if asked (6th) Click drives to optimize one at a time (7th) Click optimize (8th) Click the "Change settings" and set a schedule if it's not already scheduled. Based on how long it's been, and how powerful your computer is, this should certainly make it run better. On the other hand, this will slow it down if it's running in the background. This feature is something that is often overlooked. If your computer shows that it has been a long time since the last time it was ran, you should notice a significant difference.

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Foxtrot_Uniform3211@reddit

It's a myth. In old days of Windows 98 and XP people did that but it was because they were just digital illiterates and they clicked every stupid malware on the Internet.

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heeman2019@reddit

Not after windows 7

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jakegwilliam@reddit

I still do it once a year

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deleted_by_reddit@reddit

[removed]

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[-]

rochford77@reddit

Y'all remember CCleaner 😭

[-]

Some1InDaWorld@reddit

i mostly remember the multiple times it introduced malware in updates tbh

[-]

AdKraemer01@reddit

I had to do it twice yesterday. Don't ask.

Apparently, according to the internet, the problem is either my drivers, my GPU, my RAM, or my SSD.

So it's not my CPU. Probably.

[-]

GTRagnarok@reddit

Back in the hard drive days, I used to reinstall Windows every once in a while. Haven't felt the need to do that since moving to SSDs.

[-]

SmallHourInsomnia@reddit

This is right here. I used to work in a computer repair shop, and it was crazy what a fragmented hard drive would do to performance. If you knew how to defrag them properly, you'd see a nice increase in performance, but nothing worked better than a reformat and fresh OS install.

There's a surprising amount of physical reason for this, but basically, SSDs made it a moot point, and yes, Windows has gotten a bit better at self managing this stuff, too.

[-]

craftsman_70@reddit

Same.

But I think it might have more to do with Microsoft doing a better job with Windows 10 than older versions in cleaning up after itself.

[-]

shipshaper88@reddit

Older versions also used to just get corrupted periodically, requiring a reinstall.

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5kyl3r@reddit

i think that was more fragmentation than anything, which SSDs solved by having no moving parts so the overhead of fragmented files is negligible compared to the old spinny bois

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shipshaper88@reddit

I think it was more than just fragmentation. Fragmented files could still be read, they were just slower. Older versions of windows would periodically just self-corrupt and not be able to boot again. Probably just related to system file corruption based on uncontrolled access by all software to all disk drive contents, including system files, and random bugs triggering a corrupting overwrite of important system files.

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5kyl3r@reddit

not that anybody should be defending microslop, but i think at that point it was more than likely faulty segments, those mechanicals were so incredibly unreliable. i've had so many drives die back in the day, but still never lost a single SSD, knock on wood. that also correlates with not having had to use the windows bootup options integrity check thing since i switched to SSDs, which leads me to think any corruption was probably those old spinning turds. writing to disk is a pretty sturdy process that just didn't have nearly the issues memory management can have

[-]

EBrown8534@reddit

I remember the days when running sfc /scannow was just a placebo to convince yourself it wasn’t totally screwed, now it’s actually fixed major problems I’ve had with PC’s. Just one example of how Microsoft has done a ton of successful work to make the Windows PC much less fragile.

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shipshaper88@reddit

Honestly I kinda remember a lot of Microsoft “tools” not really doing what they were supposed to do. Like the rollbacks you could supposedly apply when your OS got corrupted but it never worked.

[-]

EBrown8534@reddit

Same. I had a situation recently where my PC was totally bonkers, kept running into graphics driver crashes, ran check disk and SFC and both reported “we have fixed things” (sure you have), but surprisingly after both of those the graphics crashes stopped.

[-]

bobsim1@reddit

Well, windows 10 did the same to me after an update but also worked a couple years until then.

[-]

MakanLagiDud3@reddit

Too bad Windows 10 is EOL :/

[-]

Key_Weather5706@reddit

They had a reason, everyone hated windows 10. now with aislop no one expects good software anymore xD

[-]

Blackpaw8825@reddit

I still do it. Who knows what driver mismatches have built up, any viruses I've not caught, clean up all the "I'll just leave this here and organize it later" that I'm good for.

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absentlyric@reddit

I too, used to re-install Windows every few months.

Mostly because something would just get corrupted from a virus or whatever and I had to.

I still have my copies of Windows 2000 and boot floppies with the instructions from having to recover so much.

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Cavi_@reddit

i still do it yearly just because

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CombatMuffin@reddit

Not for the same reasons, but id you are a heavy user with. lot of configurations, over time, over multiple updates, it can be easier to just start from a clean slate than to tweak things when you start to feel it's getting "cluttered"

But it's such a minimal inconvenience that for most, you don't need to.

[-]

czj420@reddit

""The biggest surprise was discovering that even solid state mass storage could benefit from SpinRite's rewriting of its media. Due to "read disturb", SSD and Flash storage slow down when they are only read and never written which affects most operating system files. People say that their SSD-based laptops no longer perform as well as they once did -- now we know why."

Research "ssd read disturb"

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MWink64@reddit

It's not even necessarily read disturb. Data stored in NAND degrades over time. On some drives, this can happen to a noticeable extent in a relatively short period of time (potentially even a matter of weeks). And contrary to popular belief, most SSDs do not frequently refresh their contents (which would burn through P/E cycles).

[-]

Daneth@reddit

I notice that certain steam games take a really long time to launch, and all my drives are old. Like elden ring which Ive never uninstalled in the years since it came out.

[-]

Wojtkie@reddit

Would you ever defrag your hard drive? I wonder if that’s what you were basically doing with a fresh install.

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Yellow2345@reddit

Defrag, format and reinstall Windows 95.

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hamfinity@reddit

There's no reason to defrag before formatting. Formatting already gives you a blank drive that is free from fragments.

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Yellow2345@reddit

The joke was more about Windows 95, but yes you’re right about the HDD formatting.

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PigSlam@reddit

The OG "lawyer up, hit the gym, delete facebook."

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oetzi2105@reddit

You should make sure to clean up your drive once in a while. SSDs get slower as they fill up

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moonski@reddit

well only once they get over 90% full really.

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pinkycatcher@reddit

It’s worked for me. But it was a windows 11 install that started as windows 7 and I kept it around for probably a decade.

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SquirrelTeamSix@reddit

I still do it just because I love the feeling of empty hard drives lol

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_steve_rogers_@reddit

Same. I used to have to do it yearly or shit slowed to a crawl. Now I haven’t had to since I bought my PC about 3 years ago

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u551@reddit

This. I just recently did a fresh install of win11 when migrating to it from 10. Before that, it was some win 7 install i did in 2013 or something, just tossed the same SSD in when changing computers, and updated from 7 to 8, 8.1 and 10 without reinstalls. Noticed zero issues whatsoever. We've come a long way from win95/98.

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xl129@reddit

All the cool kids ghost their os and keep a copy on a CD

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Dead_AT@reddit

It depends on what you do to your computer. Download torrents, sketchy programs, sketchy websites, browser addons. Sometimes it’s faster to just reinstall windows instead of troubleshooting the issue.

[-]

Strict_Card819@reddit (OP)

I’m sweeter than a fucking potato, never went to free movie websites, virus links, phishing websites, exe files that aren’t games / apps like steam, battlenet, or riot.

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Dead_AT@reddit

That’s good. You should be fine then, but drivers do go funky even if you are on the up and up. You would know if something was weird then. If it feels fine don’t bother reinstalling.

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Styloire@reddit

I've never done a fresh re-install in 10 years (other than upgrading from W10 to W11, I guess). I don't know how much work it is, but it feels like a lot of effort. Was alwaya afraid I'd mess something up or not do it right. Not to mention, I don't know if I still have the activation code, of if that's even required.

Too many don't-knows for me :/

[-]

leo7br@reddit

I haven't fully formated my PC for 3 years, but I did use this option two times when I was having issues, always felt like a fresh install, but keeping everything

https://i.imgur.com/sveLzV7.png

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quasimodoca@reddit

So is this an easy way to do the old repair reinstall?

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TallTelevision4121@reddit

Total myth. I used to format every year. I haven't done so in years and my system still runs perfect.

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Grexxoil@reddit

My system has been the same for years and it's quite snappy.

I swapped CPUs, GPUs and Motherboards too.

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Mr_ZombieFetish@reddit

I want to do that because I went from nvidia to amd but I have like 4 modlist of bethesda games and i don't want to go through the pain of setting that up 😭

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Calm_Hedgehog8296@reddit

The reasoning behind it is that if you install a bunch of shitware your computer will slow down. If you put it all back on as soon as you reset then it's the same as if you never did it. Conversely, if you don't install and delete a lot of programs, or if you don't install a bunch of stuff to begin with, you also won't notice a big change. But if you haven't done it in many years and haven't any idea what all you have installed, it probably will help

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KhazixTheVoidreaver@reddit

Potentially also gets rid of malware, and old temp files hidden in various places

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icantchoosewisely@reddit

Also cleans windows install directory.

Yesterday I installed Windows 11 on a new device. Installed size was around 22GB.

Win11 install size on my work PC that hasn't been reset in a while? 53GB

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Jonno_FTW@reddit

You should run the disk cleanup utility in windows.

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icantchoosewisely@reddit

Yeah, but disk cleanup is only of limited help, you need to dig through several different menus and apps to actually get rid of some of the junk that accumulates and it is a bit tedious (I hate that they removed it from drive properties).

If you don't know exactly what you're doing it can get a bit overwhelming.

For the average user, a reset is easier and, perhaps, faster.

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gmes78@reddit

No need to reinstall to do that.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/clean-up-the-winsxs-folder?view=windows-11#dismexe

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Chwasst@reddit

That can be dealt with. It’s not always just trash - windows will create backups of previous windows versions, restore points and other shit building up huge pagefile. All of that is removable.

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KingRemu@reddit

Yup. And if anyone is wondering how to do that just go to settings -> storage and remove old Windows versions or something like that. I freed up 10+ gigs with that once. You can also delete unused temp files and such.

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Chwasst@reddit

I also usually recommend settings some sane limit to pagefile - as it can grow up to several hundred GB if left unsupervised.

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KingRemu@reddit

What pagefile do you mean?

Because to me a pagefile = virtual memory where data is swapped if it doesn't fit the RAM but it gets deleted when it's not used. It doesn't just infinitely grow.

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Chwasst@reddit

but it gets deleted when it's not used. It doesn't just infinitely grow.

Well you would thought so, but windows is garbage OS at this point. I wasn’t able to replicate exact scenario but on my PC for past two years every few months it would grew to ridiculous 200-300 GB values and persist it even after a reboot - so either its broken or windows had a memory leaks. It just stayed that way until I cleaned it manually in settings. At some point I got fed up with it and just set maximum limit at 1.5x RAM capacity.

I think the record high I’ve been able to hit was 380 GB. When I think of it it’s kinda funny that Windows is not protected against such huge memory leak.

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KingRemu@reddit

Interesting. I've set mine to 30GB so I guess that's the reason I haven't had issues. I though the "let Windows decide" setting still applied a static limit and not a dynamic one.

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Chwasst@reddit

When I cap it to 48 GB and then set to let windows decide it starts at 48, then after some time I see 60 then all of a sudden it’s 240. I have no idea why it happens but now I just keep it capped on every machine in my house and don’t have those issues anymore.

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kawalerkw@reddit

And all the registry entries made by things no longer on your system.

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Lirael_Gold@reddit

Which probably add up to 5MB and are never referenced by anything because the program that created them isn't installed anymore.

Registry cleaners are a scam, and have more chance to break something than they do to speed your system up.

[-]

A_Symptom_of_Life@reddit

In the XP days I would reinstall each new year and there was a NOTABLE improvement. Haven't done that since though-- never felt the need.

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peperonipyza@reddit

You’ll inevitably get a bunch of random shit on your computer that is very difficult to remove everything fully manually. Full reset every now and then certainly won’t hurt.

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pink_cthulhu@reddit

Every year? Eh. Only when shit starts to break and I last several years now. My last install lasted till I upgraded my hardware again.

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Canadian_Border_Czar@reddit

I used to do a reformat on a yearly basis and the performance gains were worth it for sure. I was also a lot less careful about what software I installed.

Microsoft did a decent job fixing all of the stuff that required a true reformat, thus making the "reset" a thing. Now that theyve ironed out all of the critical errors, they instead make their software deliberately trash so that is just how things are, and resetting doesnt achieve much.

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elonelon@reddit

with SSD even just sata 6Gbps..nope, no need.

unless someone is fucked-up your pc setting yes. Just like mine few months ago, intern guy login his MS account into my pc, and now every time i want to open apps i need his permission. So yeah, fresh install is the way.

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ecktt@reddit

Yes, but since SSDs, you get severely diminished returns.

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thenewacount@reddit

With windows yes or i assume any mutable linux distro as the registry degrades with installing and uninstalling things and changes done there are linux distros that are immutable they are almost unbreakable and resetting doesn't change them

[-]

justlikeapenguin@reddit

I usually go and uninstalled unused apps every couple months. Haven’t had to reinstall windows in like 4 years

[-]

Fredasa@reddit

Just my own personal observations.

I try never to reboot my PC. I am always doing something with it, even when sleeping, and rebooting just means I have to wait a minute doing nothing, followed by resituating and reopening everything.

Here are the things which genuinely pile up as a consequence of this.

Windows Explorer will eventually, after a week or multiple weeks, clog. This manifests any of a few ways, but usually the first sign is when one of the taskbar window icons (pointing to an open folder) appears blank. Eventually, if one doesn't do it themselves, Explorer will crash and restart itself, taking all of the open folders with it.
VRAM utilization accumulates. Truthfully, this happens no matter how short a Windows session is, but obviously the more one does that uses the GPU, the more stuff which accumulates. How? Dwm.exe and (sometimes) explorer.exe. When I was still trying to get Stellar Blade's highest environment texture setting to work on a mere 16GB of VRAM, I would always make sure to end both of those tasks, and although 16GB ultimately proved inadequate, I got the closest by ensuring the footprints of both of those tasks were as minimized as possible. (Note: If dwm.exe has fully reserved the entirety of your free VRAM, ending the task will probably just break Windows.)

That all said, I run a clean system and know exactly what's going on in the background. The average individual who e.g. buys a laptop or prebuilt and doesn't bother to remove the inevitable bloatware probably will genuinely get something out of a fresh reboot.

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SteamDelta@reddit

I wouldn't advise it. I've had three programs stop working for me, because I've activated them with the same key too many times.

I would end up reinstalling about once a year. This year I started tinkering with Dolby Atmos, and other sound options, those drivers are really a piece of work and I reinstalled a few times last year.

My old non subscription MS Office no longer activates, nor does my Power DVD

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chr0n0phage@reddit

This can be true for people who don't understand startup items, or know whats running on their computers at all times in the background.

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Falkenmond79@reddit

I haven’t reinstalled my main windows since around 2001. it’s an 11 now and was only ever upgraded. I’m an It guy though and do my own maintenance on it, concerning temp folders etc. And yeah, it’s an 11 running on an MBR formatted drive, still.

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Correct-Caregiver750@reddit

I uninstalled Windows 10+ years ago and never looked back

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tekmak@reddit

1.) uninstall apps you don’t need. 2.) Disable startup items that are not necessary. 3.) limit size of recycle bin and empty it weekly/monthly

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Material-Job-1928@reddit

I may be old, but I still prescribe to 'zeroing' my PC annually. Backup my personal files, and nuke the HDD for a fresh install, and copy my folders from archive.

I have not done this since I cannot download a current Windows 10 ISO, and I refuse to convert to Microslop Windows AI, and I have not noted a significant performance drop.

This, like disk defragmenting, may be a relic.

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Lv_InSaNe_vL@reddit

since I cannot download a current windows 10 ISO

Microsoft still has a download link for windows 10 up? It's 22H2, which was the last formal release from Microsoft.

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Material-Job-1928@reddit

Thanks, I can still do my (digital) spring cleaning then. Everytime I tried to find it I got linked to 11.

[-]

MWink64@reddit

Defragmenting is still a thing. Believe it or not, Windows will regularly defragment your system volume, even if it's on an SSD (and no, I'm not just talking about trimming it).

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dEEkAy2k9@reddit

i am on windows 11 for quite some time now and things are becoming spicy. i have random issues either previously working stuff and i feel like a reset would take me pretty far.

i was debating about linux but 2 out of my 3 currently played games don't run in linux.

[-]

MDParagon@reddit

Old wives tale.. ish, it's still valid. Tons of bloatware and cache/temp files are being added the more you use your device anyway

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Lirael_Gold@reddit

Windows is pretty good at clearing cached/temp files by itself (unless you have configured it so it doesn't)

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lovexvirus007@reddit

I do it occasionally. Every 2 years. Feels refreshing and fun to setup things again

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Furyfart@reddit

Used to do that but I left microslop for linux and I aint coming back

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CommandShot1398@reddit

For HDDs, they did this with fragments. Nowdays with ssds, there is little to no benefits. From the os aspect, as the time goes by, you install more updates Wich might conflict with the previous ones. So itight be helpful.

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MakanLagiDud3@reddit

Too bad Windows 10 is EOL :/

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IlikeJG@reddit

Linux definitely helps with this sort of thing. Bloat is way less than windows.

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Chwasst@reddit

I only do it when I replace my SSD to larger one - so like every 5 years. But I’m constantly maintaining, looking over journals and deleting old/big crap.

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jonstoppable@reddit

yes and no.

as you isntall apps and updates and everything, you get a lot of programs that not only add to your startup, but also add lots of dll libraries behind the scene trhat are still loaded
even with defragmenting your hard disk, its not as optimal as that first couple days after you format and reinstall windows . where windows had the best spots on the disk.

both are not necessary anymore.. ssds dont need to be defragmented, and windows is a lot better at cleaning up or dealing with orphan dlls.

so yes, in the past it would have been a big improvement

and no. now,its just for organisation more than performance ( though getting ride of old graphics drivers is good, you can use ddu for that)

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Hrmerder@reddit

Not nearly as bad as it used to be. I think the counter today should be like every 3.

....

............

But I'm on linux so it's a NOOOOOOOOoooooo

[-]

Timmy_1h1@reddit

Two years after using my gaming laptop. I started getting into memOC and CPU OC. After 2 years of using, downloading stuff and everything. I was able to get no.36 for 7945HX 4080m.

I never did a reinstall. I think I have enough knowledge that I can fix most issues and have no problems

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KlausKoe@reddit

maybe - but I even kept my installation when I did a CPU/mainboard/GPU Upgrade because some stuff I use is a nightmare to install. Always stayed at same CPU and GPU brand, that helped.

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Key_Weather5706@reddit

Windows blats up. If you know the locations of bloat its pretty easy to fix the unsmoothness.

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TheCarrot007@reddit

I used to do it all the time. It's a quick refresh.

But then again old windows would die if you put it in a machine with differenmt hardware.

FPS though? Not unless you have installed things that run in the background. Stop installing things if you do not know what they do is the easier option.

Current setup as far as I know has been running since 2021. Possibly earlier. All I remember is something borred gaming on win 10 and going to previous version was a fresh install so I instead went to insider and updated to win 11 a few months before release (pretty much everything except the motherboard has changed over this machines life).

Run diskcleanup (including admin) now and then. and also "Clean Up the WinSxS Folder" as it is said on learn.microsoft.com and things work out fine.

Only time I do a clean install now is when I get a new laptop. But that's because it's easyier than uninstalling the nonsence it comes with, and I want a clean win pro install anyway.

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Hakaisha89@reddit

I mean, its still a thing. I got what 20 programs that boot on launch, adobe updated, armory crate and its list of softwares, asus and their list, opera gx assistant, chatterino, chrome, discord, firefox, nvidia, steam, hexchat, lghub, msi afterburner, teamviewer, thunderbird, vortex.
Still helps, just not as mucch needed as before when people installed shovelware, crapwavre, and other shit out the wazoo, especially with SSD being the common types of storage

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Morkinis@reddit

Not a thing, unless you actually notice it slow down.

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Material-Bite-5047@reddit

My pc was crashing a lot and i reset the BIOS and now it runs much better and never crashes. Not sure if thats similar but it did help a lot

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Lashmush@reddit

I think most people can just use something like Revo Uninstaller to keep their machines tidy longterm. I still find a clean reinstall so fast and convenient combined with something like Chris Titus' powershell install script to automate all the various apps and runtimes needed that it's a viable option.

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BigFatCoder@reddit

How about setup a sandbox (VM) and install all the shit there or do questionable things there.

Don't mess with your main rig. I don't even reinstall when I replace OS drives, just clone it and move on. Current W10 is installed in 2016 and never reinstalled so far. Even for new/different rig, I cloned it and re-update drivers.

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DragonflyFuture4638@reddit

It used to be like that. Back in the day around the Windows XP times, I used to do a full reinstall every year and the performance difference was evident. Not anymore... Since Windows 10 I have never felt the need to reinstall because of slowness. Either hardware has become much more powerful or operating systems have improved or a combination of both.

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Jokerloz@reddit

I still do it just for the fresh snappy feeling. I it gets rid of old errors and registery issues.

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Nitchro@reddit

I do this every year or two because crap builds up in hidden folders or duplicates or I stop using apps/games and forgot them somewhere, slowly over time run out of room even after uninstalling the things that look like they're using all my space.

Recently reinstalled Windows with minimal bloatware and then thoroughly removed all the extra stuff I didn't want on my PC before reinstalling my games. Only made about a 5% fps difference but the small uptick in my 1% lows made all the work worthwhile, I fucking hate when I see/feel a stutter in my games.

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kodaxmax@reddit

sort of.

It does clear unused files and any malware your AV missed. As well as ensuring fresh installs when you setting everything back up. All of which can make things run smoother.

But a year is completly arbitrary. There's no specific duration that will make difference.
It also doesn't guarentee your machine will run noticeably smoother. It might have already been pretty clean or whatever program was casuing issues you just reinstalled anyway.

It's unlikely to boost fps a measurable amount, unless you had a fair bit of malware or bloatware that got removed. or mayby if you had a full drive that now has more space.

[-]

Humphrey-Appleby@reddit

I used to rebuild my system every 12-18 months, but due to ongoing projects I've not done so since 2022. Even if not strictly necessary, it feels very overdue. This weekend I will finally make the move to Windows 11.

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SAHD292929@reddit

I reset my pc whenever windows fills up my drive. 256gb filled up with hidden files I can even delete

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ReverendDizzle@reddit

I’ve never had this happen and I only install windows when I build a new PC.

You’re saying you had a quarter terabyte of undeletable files?

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SAHD292929@reddit

Yes. Initially I had pictures on my windows drive. Then I started moving them when I noticed there was like less than 30gb left. So it freed almost 100gb, after 3 months it was full again. And i can't even find the files, I have already deleted windows dot old but it only freed 5gb.

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BOT2K6HUN@reddit

If you have a small amount of RAM(Like 8gigs or even 16), then it could be the pagefile, windows pretty much takes some space on your ssd to use it as memory when it runs out of actual RAM. I have 16gb memory in my pc and my default pagefile size was almost like 7-9 gigabytes.

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PM_Me_Your_Deviance@reddit

Your page file won't be 100gb unless something is horribly misconfigured.

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Justhe3guy@reddit

Just use Wiztree to see all the files grouped visually and by size, it lets you open to them too

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STALKER-SVK@reddit

I have windows installation over 5 years and it still runs very fast like it did the first day so it's myth

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davyangel@reddit

Not a myth if you install ton of apps or games and even updates 3 things on on Windows can make it slower over time IME

#1 user profile keeps growing and even on fast SSD can run out of space or take longer and longer to log in

Examine options for minimizing user profile size - Training | Microsoft Learn

#2 Winsxs folder on windows keeps growing though there are tools to try to make it and keep it smaller

Clean Up the WinSxS Folder | Microsoft Learn

#3 registry still gets bigger over time though there is no longer a limit and doesn't break as easy not to mention most are discouraged from writing to it. Also users will still mess with it that don't know what they are doing and corrupt it needing to reinstall.

You should not edit registry data that does not belong to your application unless it is absolutely necessary. If there is an error in the registry, your system may not function properly. If this happens, you can restore the registry to the state it was in when you last started the computer successfully.

Registry - Win32 apps | Microsoft Learn

That's why registry cleaners are still a thing tho IME best just to reset PC if you are having registry issues and not since like they removed the limit have I seen a PC brick itself due to being unable to load registry cuz too big.

Optimizing Windows Registry

[-]

Lord_Hector_Bear@reddit

Honestly yeah, I restart my PC once in a year too.

[-]

AkiMatti@reddit

When I was still in the days of Windows 95/98, I reinstalled almost every month, I think.

[-]

VictoryMotel@reddit

Download Microsoft autoruns and use it to turn off everything that runs on startup. Your computer will run like new.

[-]

JVIoneyman@reddit

If you fiddle with stuff it seems like windows just gets bogged down over time and you end up having to do a fresh install. If you just run the computer normally, probably not anymore.

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unimportantinfodump@reddit

Ahhh remember running a system defrag and then your games would run smoothly for a little bit

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Zero_K_plasma@reddit

I restart my pc every day. Its just force of habit

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talapantas@reddit

the closest thing to Windows reset in this day and age is
restart
not shutdown.
(only applies to casuals who dont do a bunch of shids on their PCs)

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Plenty-Industries@reddit

It just makes the system overall more snappy.

Overtime, OS and apps get bloated with updates.

Uninstalling unused apps doesn't actually remove all the data they install, so that ends up slowing down the system overtime.

Even with SSD's you can notice this to some degree.

Its also just a good thing to do once in a while.

I always reformat and do a fresh OS install on occasion.

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BaneSilvermoon@reddit

That's always largely been about people who aren't diligent at keeping random stuff from being ininstalled and running in the background, and to some degree about the way old school hard drives work. Also poor cleanup via the operating system.

It's much less of a problem with modern OS, running on solid state drives. But you can still let too many junk background programs run and use up resources. This can largely be fixed without a fresh reinstall though, but it's a sure way to get rid of it.

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Atrieden@reddit

Used to do that, but since 2021 haven't done it,

windows 10 running smooth, was thinking of fresh upgrade to w11 after the expiration of support, but since got another year extension, i guess we have to wait for the real end of life.

Got a new nvme lying around for a year now..

Or maybe because of laziness as well hahaha

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jmnugent@reddit

I remember doing this back in the 90’s. Pretty much not in the past 20+ years or so.

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skyfishgoo@reddit

installing linux will make it run smoother.

LOTS smoother.

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Strict_Card819@reddit (OP)

Sorry, not learning how to code to open up google.

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Tresach@reddit

Those days are long gone unless you are working with a super barebones distro. Any of the popular distros are just point and click at this point and unless have specific software that doesnt work everything just runs. If go on a performance oriented distro like something arch-based you might run into issues occasionally with updates breaking things but if get something like ubuntu, mint, debian, etc it is pretty much plug and play. And even on “gaming” distros can get something like bazzite which is immutable and thus very hard to mess something up.

That said im not a blind fanboy who says its all roses and sunshine windows will be better in many ways still just by virtue of being the default everyone writes their code for. And outside a few niche cases its going to run games better despite what some people will try to sell you on.

But end of day i would say 9/10 people who switch are more than satisfied and dont have any real issues once they get over the fear of change

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skyfishgoo@reddit

it's all point and click man, just like windows

only better.

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TonyTheTerrible@reddit

It's noticable even with good hardware and m.2 drives.

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The_wulfy@reddit

Back when disk drives were the primary thing, the OS would often put stuff wherever was feasible on the hard disk. After a while this created a lot of fragmentation which resulted in longer search and read times. There was often tools to de-fragment but it was a painful and ineffective process.

Now with SSD's fragmentation is not an issue, therefore you don't really see gradual performance losses as a result.

If you were clever, in the HDD days, you would partition a section of the HDD to only run the OS. This would substantially reduce access times and limit fragmentation.

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halfsquelch@reddit

If you still run an HDD, then yes.

For all of us SSD or NVMe users, just open cmd or powershell in admin 2 or 3 times a year and run "sfc /scannow".

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DirDox@reddit

I used to burn a custom disk with windows and all my apps so that I could stay fresh but it's been over 20 years since that was necessary. Modern windows and an SSD is all you need.

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OutrageousInvite3949@reddit

I haven’t reset or reinstalled a pc in a while.

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AceLamina@reddit

Your PC is not supposed to run 24/7, even with an SSD, restarting it helps mine feel more snappy
But this was a much bigger deal in the hard drives days

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Embarrassed_Adagio28@reddit

I usually reinstall windows and debloat every 6 months and it always feels so much smoother and clean. Usually takes only an hour too cause I store my games on other drives.

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AlwaysHopelesslyLost@reddit

The # 1 fix for any technical problem is "have you tried turning it off and back on again?"

Resetting something gives it a fresh start from ideal condition. The same is true for anything in any situation.

One such situation is an OS. A fresh install is the ideal state and will work and react best. Over time, little issues add up and add instability. Most people wont notice so it isnt entirely worth it. Once I gave up being a power user I stopped reinstalling monthly/several times a year and I haven't reinstalled since last time I replaced my MB

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Sea_Perspective6891@reddit

Probably not so much nowadays but I do it anyways after driver updates. I think it helps the updates stabilize & or acclimate with the hardware but you shouldn't need to restart your PC for no reason once a year. Usually a PC restarts after an OS update which is at least once a year for most OSs anyway.

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Naerven@reddit

About a decade ago this stopped being an issue if you used an SSD for the most part. Sometimes Windows can be funky.

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cpusmoke@reddit

Not really necessary with modern PCs. If you have been running the same rig for years and years, yeah, go ahead. Can't hurt.

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Kikuriath@reddit

its a long tradition here in Turkey that a fresh installation of windows helps a lot of things including performance

now i know that a fresh installation of windows would help solve some issues that people have but im not so sure if it'd give more performance, since the computer parts we all have are degrading in real time, and will lose performance over time no matter what you do

there already is a set performance of our components, and while some may lose performance due to issues like thermal throttling due to dried up thermal paste, bad/cheap cooler etc. which can be fixed easily by the user, some of the "issues" are simply just time taking its toll on the parts and a reset or a fresh reinstallation of windows wouldn't fix it

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mikefromengland@reddit

My current W11 installation was upgraded through all the feature packs of W10 and then to W11. Largely unnecessary these days unless you're doing weird stuff with your PC. Caveat being that I work in IT and am good at fixing problems without needing to reinstall.

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RedLimes@reddit

Nowadays, Windows can be borked even on a fresh install, so in this case it might be best not mess with it if you're not having issues

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nvidiot@reddit

Eventually, yes (like few years), but not every year unless you install ton of junk software every day.

I would also do it if I had to do a major platform upgrade.