Formatting a brand new HD

[badchad]

I have a question for the computer experts:

 

"whats one of the first things you do when you buy/receive a new computer?"

 

For me personally, I format the HD. I do this because I usually buy brand-name computers with bundled hardware/software (gateways, dell etc.).

 

My reasoning is that these "bundled" computers come with a million "Extra" features installed which slow down the computer. I feel that a clean install does wonders for a new comp.

 

My gf just bought a brand new laptop (gateway). I've implored her to format the HD right out of the box. I claim it'll increase the performance of the computer, and make it operate more smoothly and efficiently. She refuses to believe me. Am I correct in my assumption? Does anyone have any references to back up my cause?

 

Comments/thoughts?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Sure, it would open up some space, but I doubt it would operate any faster. The speed is dependent on processor speed and RAM. If you get rid of those programs, it will only open up hard drive space, and not RAM. Your processor would not get physically faster.

So I doubt it.

[badchad]

Yeah, I agree. However why does a comp. seem to slow down after long term use? For instance, I bought my computer 6 months ago. I formatted as soon as I got it. Now, 6 months later it doesn't quite operate as fast.

 

No MAJOR slowdowns, but small things. For instance, if I transform 20 mp3's into .wav files for burning. I can see it has slowed down somewhat.

 

A slightly more extreme case, I had used my last PII 400 mhz. directly out of the box. Used it for about 4 years straight. It started to get old and quirky, and someone recommended I re-format. I took the advice and noticed a large improvement of performance, still running the same programs and same hardware.

 

Just curious. Anyone else have similar stories?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

It could be the fragmenting on the hard drive.

The hard drive software is occaisionally forced to put a file in chunks, in several spots. If you defragment, it will move everything together and shuffle stuff around a bit. Most of the time this makes little difference, but I suppose with heavy use it would become a problem.

If the hard drive has to skip around to find parts of the file, it will definitely slow down.

[Jordie]

I have a question for the computer experts:

 

"whats one of the first things you do when you buy/receive a new computer?"

 

For me personally' date=' I format the HD. I do this because I usually buy brand-name computers with bundled hardware/software (gateways, dell etc.).

 

My reasoning is that these "bundled" computers come with a million "Extra" features installed which slow down the computer. I feel that a clean install does wonders for a new comp.

 

My gf just bought a brand new laptop (gateway). I've implored her to format the HD right out of the box. I claim it'll increase the performance of the computer, and make it operate more smoothly and efficiently. She refuses to believe me. Am I correct in my assumption? Does anyone have any references to back up my cause?

 

Comments/thoughts?[/quote']

 

You don't need to format a computer to speed it up! If you want to speed up her computer then I suggest checking all the applications that are starting up with her computer and remove the one's she dosen't need. You can do this by going to Start > Run > msconfig and hit the startup tab. Everything that is checked is running with the computer when it starts. You can uncheck it and save. You can also do this thru the registry but this is easier for people who aren't familar with the Windows Registry. This can help a lot if you remove applications that she dosen't need from running on startup!

 

Then you could disable all the special effects and what not that aren't needed. Check this out http://sillydog.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2742

[mossoi]

Windows does slow down over use. Essentially this is because of crap that's left behind by software that's not written very well. The registry can become large and the kernel can start to struggle.

 

Way back when, MS used to advise that machines were formatted every 6 months to avoid serious performance issues.

[Jordie]

# An operating system that is easily upgradeable. After any length of time a typical installation of Windows and software gets into a complete mess. Often the only way to clear out all the debris is to reformat the hard disk and start again. Linux, however, is much better for maintaining the system.

 

http://www.linuxlinks.com/local/why.shtml

[Callipygous]

Sure' date=' it would open up some space, but I doubt it would operate any faster. The speed is dependent on processor speed and RAM. If you get rid of those programs, it will only open up hard drive space, and not RAM. Your processor would not get physically faster.

So I doubt it.[/quote']

 

if the software packages are no longer on the computer they can no longer be set to do things like automatically start when you start your computer and be running in the background with out ever asking you, i believe thats the performance boost he was referring to.

[5614]

if the software packages are no longer on the computer they can no longer be set to do things like automatically start when you start your computer and be running in the background with out ever asking you, i believe thats the performance boost he was referring to.

yes it is the background proccess, furtheremore its the reduction of programs on the HDD, which can increase speed fractionally. its also the fact that as you fill up your HDD, even if you remove things, they still have registries and in the end programs will slow down your computer, even if they are not running and are uninstallled.

[5614]

for example, anyone with a dell (maybe only XP) will notice a rather large folder called i386 located at c:\i386 this file is not needed at all. im not saying you can just go and delete it, but if you were to format, when you've reinstalled everything needed... ie. programs and drivers that will not be there.

 

(unless you start installing loadsa uneeded dell stuff, and i dont even know if you can because you might not have the disk for it!)

[bloodhound]

hmm... its not a problem if u have all the necessary drivers. hehe. i am sure windows generic drivers will support most of the hardware, but u wont get the same performance. if u have the drivers then go for it. IF YOU ARE READING THIS BADCHADS BIRD THEN FIRST CHECK IF UR LAD HAS ALL THE DRIVERS. THEN DO IT. JUST DO IT. cos it will make ur laptop much sweeter to run. cleaner as well. save more space. and other stuff

[mossoi]

i386 contains the Windows installation files. It's used when Windows want to install a new component rather than going to the CD. You may as well leave it on there because although it takes up some space it's not installed anywhere and won't "run in the background".

[Dave]

# An operating system that is easily upgradeable. After any length of time a typical installation of Windows and software gets into a complete mess. Often the only way to clear out all the debris is to reformat the hard disk and start again. Linux' date=' however, is much better for maintaining the system.

 

http://www.linuxlinks.com/local/why.shtml[/quote']

Although it's fairly true that Windows will (eventually) have to be re-installed because of the registry issues and whatnot, have a look at this link:

 

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/OptimizeXP.html

 

It's an excellent guide to optimizing Windows XP, and I've noticed some fairly major speed improvements following this guide after not having touched the default install for about 6 months to defrag or whatever.

[Sayonara]

[url']http://mywebpages.comcast.net/SupportCD/OptimizeXP.html[/url]

I have just finished working through that page, and the speed difference is remarkable.

[bloodhound]

i havent installed sp2 cos i only heard bad things about it. has anyone tried the sp1 slowdown fix?

[Dave]

I have just finished working through that page, and the speed difference is remarkable.

 

Yeah, it really is. The boot optimizer is absolutely amazing.

 

What is not amazing is why boot speeds should get like that after only a couple months usage. Silly XP.

[bloodhound]

isnt the fix for sp1 slowdown due to memory allocation bug availabe on windows update? if not then why?

 

I ve tried BootVis like a year ago. I really dont use it nowdays, as i seem to be reinstalling windows everymonth or so.

[JohnB]

As has been said, the registry clogs itself, especially if you're installing and uninstalling a number of proggys.

 

Personally, I use System Mechanic as it will find and delete unused registry entries. I ran it on a system at work and removed some 2,000 entries. Opening even a small program will cause windows to access the registry hundreds or thousands of times. (Use Regmon and open defrag, you'll see what I mean. ) Any extra registry entries slow down the process.

 

There is also the "temp" files which are nothing of the sort. Disk Cleanup only gets the temp files that are in the Temporary directory of Windows but most programs don't stash their temp files there. The system I mentioned above had over 1.5 gigs of temp files that System Mechanic got rid of. (Some of them were dated as 2 years old.)

 

SM also has a Start Up optimizer feature that replaces the Start/Run/Msconfig bit, making life a lot easier. Oh yes, and it can also get rid of that bloody annoying 400 millisecond delay on menus, a 0 setting is amazing.

 

I don't sell the program, but I do believe it's an absolute must for the moderate to heavy user. It can recover unused and defrag the RAM on the fly. Trust me, you'll love it.