# How often do you fresh install your Windows / MacOS?



## davidnaroth (Oct 22, 2022)

I've heard it a couple times that you should at some point reinstall/(refresh?) your OS. I also know plenty of people who definitely do not. The reason I ask is that Im building a new PC with the new intel processor and I was planning on just plugging my OS drive into the new machine, but Im wondering if thats a good idea or not.


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## vitocorleone123 (Oct 22, 2022)

Prior to Windows 7x64, I tried to do it every two years (I've been using Windows at home since v3.1). Since then, never. But I also have a decent idea of what I'm doing and how to keep it "clean". The newer OSes are also more robust, so digital plaque isn't as seemingly-detrimental to them.

Depending on how old your boot drive is and the previous OS, just plugging it in may not even work (e.g., MBR vs UEFI). Check that stuff. Also, I'd do my best to clean it out and clean it up first, as well as do a full image backup with Macrium.


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## davidnaroth (Oct 22, 2022)

vitocorleone123 said:


> Prior to Windows 7x64, I tried to do it every two years (I've been using Windows at home since v3.1). Since then, never. But I also have a decent idea of what I'm doing and how to keep it "clean". The newer OSes are also more robust, so digital plaque isn't as seemingly-detrimental to them.
> 
> Depending on how old your boot drive is and the previous OS, just plugging it in may not even work (e.g., MBR vs UEFI). Check that stuff. Also, I'd do my best to clean it out and clean it up first, as well as do a full image backup with Macrium.


The drive is about 2 years old now, and currently updated to the latest windows 10 package. Yeah if it doesnt work Ill just swap it back and then maybe work on a fresh install. I would just need time to go through, dig up all the install files etc for all my plugins and programs.


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## Dewdman42 (Oct 22, 2022)

I used to reinstall Windows once a year. But actually I would start with a ghost image of a clean windows install+a few apps, and I would just restore that image, which took me all of 15 minutes to do, not including reinstalling everything else over time on an as need basis. Windows registery gets bloated so easily. Back in those days it was hard to control spyware and such, some of that is easier to deal with now without having to reinstall a clean windows, but if i were running windows I would still probably do it once every year or two.

MacOS...almost never have to.


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## cloudbuster (Oct 22, 2022)

I'm mainly offline with my main music maschine, just go online for updates and license related stuff and keep it relatively clean and stable that way. Reinstalling Windows is no big thing, but all my music software a real nightmare ... 
I'm only about half way through the process on my new computer and once I'm finished this time I'll clone the whole mess and will set up an identical backup system on another laptop of the same type.


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## vitocorleone123 (Oct 22, 2022)

Dewdman42 said:


> I used to reinstall Windows once a year. But actually I would start with a ghost image of a clean windows install+a few apps, and I would just restore that image, which took me all of 15 minutes to do, not including reinstalling everything else over time on an as need basis. Windows registery gets bloated so easily. Back in those days it was hard to control spyware and such, some of that is easier to deal with now without having to reinstall a clean windows, but if i were running windows I would still probably do it once every year or two.
> 
> MacOS...almost never have to.


Good practice for the old days of Windows. No need now.


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## HarmonKard (Oct 22, 2022)

davidnaroth said:


> I've heard it a couple times that you should at some point reinstall/(refresh?) your OS. I also know plenty of people who definitely do not. The reason I ask is that Im building a new PC with the new intel processor and I was planning on just plugging my OS drive into the new machine, but Im wondering if thats a good idea or not.


That won't work. You can't just take your OS drive and plug it into a new build - unless the MB and processor are identical. If they are different, you can use the same physical drive, but you need to reinstall Windows.


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## fakemaxwell (Oct 22, 2022)

If you have an entirely new motherboard and processor, start fresh. It takes a couple hours and you're already building everything new anyway. Not worth it for the potential headaches (and yes it probably will not work anyway)


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## ZeroZero (Oct 22, 2022)

The problem is finding/remembering the apps you have, they can take ages to set up. Even if you have your data on a seperate drive often the main app is on C. 
I had a problem with my desktop frezing and recycle bin vanishing. I spent days trying to solve this, even more than eight hours with MS help. No satisfaction. Only a complete format and reinstall did the trick but this took me weeks of full time work and lots of emails to various developers to get my programs back.
Before this, I had not completely fresh installed windows for about ten years - all was working fine. 

I say try simply refreshing windows or upgrade to Win 11 2H22 (latest) - keeping your apps. If it works, you have lost nothing. If it does not, then you can always format and start again but be prepared for a LOT of work tweaking settings, much of which you have probably forgotten you did. Latest windows is working fine here.


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## RogiervG (Oct 22, 2022)

davidnaroth said:


> I've heard it a couple times that you should at some point reinstall/(refresh?) your OS. I also know plenty of people who definitely do not. The reason I ask is that Im building a new PC with the new intel processor and I was planning on just plugging my OS drive into the new machine, but Im wondering if thats a good idea or not.


I only reinstall when i find that the OS is hogging down or if i've done sooooo many installs/uninstalls, i notice leftovers here and there (which there shouldn't be, if the darn uninstallers did their work properly, by actually uninstalling everything they installed.)


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## ZeroZero (Oct 22, 2022)

fakemaxwell said:


> If you have an entirely new motherboard and processor, start fresh. It takes a couple hours and you're already building everything new anyway. Not worth it for the potential headaches (and yes it probably will not work anyway)


A couple of hours??? It took me weeks of work, just downloading an orchestra is a couple of hours. And yes it will work normally if you swap to a new mobo. Occasionally, rarely, some software security systems (such as Spectrasonics) will recognise a new mobo and refuse to authorise until you login in again and verify your system again, but that is minutes of work.


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## HarmonKard (Oct 22, 2022)

ZeroZero said:


> And yes it will work normally if you swap to a new mobo.











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ZeroZero said:


> A couple of hours??? It took me weeks of work, just downloading an orchestra is a couple of hours.



Why are you downloading? Why not just transfer the data from your ext. backup HDD?


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## fakemaxwell (Oct 22, 2022)

ZeroZero said:


> A couple of hours??? It took me weeks of work, just downloading an orchestra is a couple of hours. And yes it will work normally if you swap to a new mobo. Occasionally, rarely, some software security systems (such as Spectrasonics) will recognise a new mobo and refuse to authorise until you login in again and verify your system again, but that is minutes of work.


I would posit that you might want to come up with a better system. All I did was copy the contents of my C: drive to an external hard drive for a reference/backup, and then one by one install everything that I still wanted onto the new install. All samples and project files are on different drives so no need to redownload anything huge.

"Recycle bin disappearing" is not a normal occurrence when installing a new system. Your experience obviously was painful but that seems outside the regular experience.


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## ZeroZero (Oct 22, 2022)

fakemaxwell said:


> I would posit that you might want to come up with a better system. All I did was copy the contents of my C: drive to an external hard drive for a reference/backup, and then one by one install everything that I still wanted onto the new install. All samples and project files are on different drives so no need to redownload anything huge.
> 
> "Recycle bin disappearing" is not a normal occurrence when installing a new system. Your experience obviously was painful but that seems outside the regular experience.


This depends on how many apps you have, I have hundreds a back of of everything would be over 10 tb. I selectively back up.


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## MartinH. (Oct 22, 2022)

I never believed in the rite-of-ritual-reinstall that many windows users sacrificed their time to. My OS faith is "never touch a running system". 

I might buy a laptop soon-ish, is there any way to just "transfer" as much as possible from my current desktop system so that I don't need to re-install every little thing on the laptop? The desktop is fairly new, less than a year. It seems like a waste of time going through the chore of re-installing dozens of programs and plugins one by one, half of them with their own stupid DRM schemes that make you jump through hoops just to get it run.


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## ZeroZero (Oct 22, 2022)

For clarity, I usually have no issues transferring a system drivev to a new mobo. Only twice, over about 30 years or so, have I had to do a clean re-install of apps. On the whole manufacturers have always been helpful.


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## ZeroZero (Oct 22, 2022)

MartinH. said:


> I never believed in the rite-of-ritual-reinstall that many windows users sacrificed their time to. My OS faith is "never touch a running system".
> 
> I might buy a laptop soon-ish, is there any way to just "transfer" as much as possible from my current desktop system so that I don't need to re-install every little thing on the laptop? The desktop is fairly new, less than a year. It seems like a waste of time going through the chore of re-installing dozens of programs and plugins one by one, half of them with their own stupid DRM schemes that make you jump through hoops just to get it run.


There are programs like Samsung Magician that will clone a system drive to another drive.


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## PaulieDC (Oct 22, 2022)

HarmonKard said:


> That won't work. You can't just take your OS drive and plug it into a new build - unless the MB and processor are identical. If they are different, you can use the same physical drive, but you need to reinstall Windows.


This. Machine ID will not be the same if you transfer the drive. It’s a special ID that’s created by Microsoft from the combination of the specific motherboard and CPU and windows install.

i’m about to post a different issue that relates to this, where the latest Windows updates are changing the machine ID and all of a sudden some of our software plug-ins are not activated because they think they’re on a different machine, even though your PC Name is the same. The PC name actually has nothing to do with it, my Steinberg account showed two different PCs with the same name, one activated and one not activated. It’s all about the machine ID and Microsoft updates are now more aggressive and things are getting changed under the hood. Given all that, definitely reinstall windows clean. You should do that anyway because then you start with a clean unbloated Registry.


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## davidnaroth (Oct 22, 2022)

HarmonKard said:


> That won't work. You can't just take your OS drive and plug it into a new build - unless the MB and processor are identical. If they are different, you can use the same physical drive, but you need to reinstall Windows.


I had to do this once when a bad cpu fried and Mobo got damaged in the process, I went to best buy and bought a mobo and cpu, basically replaced just those parts, and everything booted up and has been working since then.


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## davidnaroth (Oct 22, 2022)

After reading all suggestions I think Im going to try just doing a clean install on a new drive and slowly reinstall everything.

My setup is a bit complicated, I have an old VEP machine from 2016 Im using which probably needs to be recycled, so my current DAW comp will become the VEP machine and I use the new comp as the DAW machine.

I'm in the middle of projects until May, so I think trying a quick solution could backfire. It might take weeks to get everything installed, but once it all is I should be solid to spend a day migrating my system.


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## Paj (Oct 22, 2022)

I hesitate to give any advice/info about this without categorically stating that you should have a clone of your system drive before you do anything.

I did once move a (Win8) system drive to a new computer and had it boot with the aid of the Win8 CD repair mode, after which it had to be re-authorized by actually contacting MicroSoft online and allowing them remote access to re-establish a booting OS. That actually took a couple of hours (total). This is not an unusual situation for MS Support and they can be very helpful once given the specifics from you. I've also done the alternative---a clean install with a fresh version of Win10. That took months of software re-installations, re-authorizations, and tracking down things that didn't or couldn't make it from one system to the next. It's nothing to look forward to.

You might want to consider purchasing a new OS license on the necessary media, place your previous drive in your new system, boot from the new OS media and use the option to keep all your data on your previous drive rather than a complete installation. Again, something to ask MS Support about.

I've been using a dual-bay offline cloner ("toaster") for years to regularly back up my system and primary data drives (i.e., my non-library drives) and have recently noticed that a perfectly-cloned system drive is now triggering a repair response on Win10 when substituted for the original system drive. It didn't used to do that. I surmise that not only the CPU/MoBo identifiers are being used but also the HD hardware identifiers. It wasn't fatal, it did get automatically adjusted by Win10 during boot-reboot, and did not subsequently interfere with transparently returning the original system disk to the system but it is a recent wrinkle.

BTW: I've been fairly regularly using Wise Registry Cleaner for years and have not found the need to re-stablish my system due to performance issues.

Paj
8^)


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## vitocorleone123 (Oct 22, 2022)

I've been building my own computers, and computers for others, for decades (not a business, so I can't say I'm a pro) with Windows as the OS. I've been wrestling with Windows since 3.1 on DOS.

I can only said again: with Win10 and Win11, I wouldn't bother reinstalling anything - do it only as needed once you transfer the drive and some licensing chokes. Make sure your copy of Windows is retail, not OEM, though. If OEM, you might need to purchase a commercial license.

You should go onto Gearspace and ask Psychlist (Pete, who works at Microsoft) about it.

Yes, the absolute safest/best way is to do a clean install. But, damn, did I ever hate doing that and spending all that time. So I just stopped a few years ago. Zero issues.

Unless your current computer is experiencing issues, you're unlikely to experience issues on a new one with an old drive. Heck, I did an upgrade in place from Win7x64 to Win10 on to an upgrade to Win11 (before Win7 I'd always do a clean install, never an upgrade). Zero issues.

I use Wise Disk Cleaner once per month. I also use WizTree to check what's taking space. Cleaning the registry is more risky and has, generally speaking, no impact on performance in Win10/Win11 - unless something is already broken badly, I suppose. I do use Wise Reg Cleaner once per year (after making 2 separate image backups), nonetheless.

Make sure you learn, in the order of operation if you're having issues:
scandisk
sfc
dism
restore from point
restore from 3rd party image (e.g., Macrium)


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## MartinH. (Oct 22, 2022)

ZeroZero said:


> There are programs like Samsung Magician that will clone a system drive to another drive.


The data cloning I can easily do, I'm worried about the system still working on different hardware.



PaulieDC said:


> This. Machine ID will not be the same if you transfer the drive. It’s a special ID that’s created by Microsoft from the combination of the specific motherboard and CPU and windows install.


Afaik that would just void the windows licence activation and ask you to buy a new one. This happens with frequent hardware updates too, even without switching the whole PC. I'm worried about drivers though.



Paj said:


> You might want to consider purchasing a new OS license on the necessary media, place your previous drive in your new system, boot from the new OS media and use the option to keep all your data on your previous drive rather than a complete installation.


That sounds useful. Is that an option you'd choose from the repair console thingy or when booting from the USB stick with the windows10 installer? 



Paj said:


> I've been using a dual-bay offline cloner ("toaster") for years to regularly back up my system and primary data drives (i.e., my non-library drives) and have recently noticed that a perfectly-cloned system drive is now triggering a repair response on Win10 when substituted for the original system drive. It didn't used to do that. I surmise that not only the CPU/MoBo identifiers are being used but also the HD hardware identifiers. It wasn't fatal, it did get automatically adjusted by Win10 during boot-reboot, and did not subsequently interfere with transparently returning the original system disk to the system but it is a recent wrinkle.


Was that when having both disks plugged in or when you used the clone _in place _of the original?
I've had some issue when connecting two bootable drives at the same time and windows made changes I didn't want it make and after that it took me hours to get shit working again.

I still have a cloned disk backup, but I haven't dared to test if it works because I didn't want to deal with any kind of problem that could come from messing with the boot order.


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## PaulieDC (Oct 22, 2022)

MartinH. said:


> Afaik that would just void the windows licence activation and ask you to buy a new one. This happens with frequent hardware updates too, even without switching the whole PC. I'm worried about drivers though.


For re-imaging the same PC, that’s a very valid concern but actually not to worry about that one. If you have the original windows 10 key then you can just re-enter that when you reinstall. It may even come up and say that it can’t be activated and to call Microsoft and when you do they give you a series of codes that you type in and it activates. Believe me they don’t want you not using their software, lol.

The other option is some thing that I don’t think is completely popular but I can’t suggested enough: get rid of the local login and change it to a Microsoft online ID that you create with your email address of choice. Once you do that your digital license as part of your account and you can re-image that PC every week if you like.

As far as the OP building a new machine, absolutely a new Microsoft windows license needs to be purchased. It’s a new machine with new hardware. The other license is tied to that motherboard and CPU just like registration is tied to your car. Places like Newegg and Amazon put the OEM version or what is known as “system builders version“ on sale all the time for about 100 bucks. That version is meant for people building PCs for others and avoiding the full retail price of windows, but I called Microsoft and confirmed you can absolutely use it for yourself for building your own PC, and that just means you are your own tech-support and you can’t call Microsoft. I don’t believe that’s a problem for anyone, lol! In the dozens of PCs I’ve built I always make sure the owner buys a legal copy of windows. I’m not being the license police at all, if someone wants to pirate or copy over or whatever, then that’s their choice. I’m just giving the parameters of reimaging your own PC versus a digital license versus building a new one. 😊


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## PaulieDC (Oct 22, 2022)

Here’s another tip that is legal in Microsoft’s eyes although not a common scenario probably. If you have a windows 10 home computer and your older PC is sitting in the closet is not used anymore and it has Windows 7 professional, if you’re not gonna use that PC anymore you can take the Windows 7 pro key off the case and enter it as an upgrade for windows 10 home, and it will upgrade you to windows 10 pro. and if you do make a Microsoft online ID, windows 10 pro will always be on your account and when Microsoft forces windows 11 on you, you will also have the pro version going forward. But that’s a one time deal in that sort of strange scenario. I had that scenario and it did work.


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## mybadmemory (Oct 22, 2022)

Back when I was still on PCs I did it all the time. On Mac however, never. I barely even reboot more than maybe once every few months.


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## Paj (Oct 22, 2022)

@MartinH:
"That sounds useful. Is that an option you'd choose from the repair console thingy or when booting from the USB stick with the windows10 installer?"

I seem to recall you have that option either way.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Regarding my cloning of system disks: I remove the HDs; the system (Source) and clone (Destination) disks are both in the 2-bay off-line cloner and it is operating separate and standalone from the computer (no connection during cloning). I know about Windows taking a clone "Offline" when it sees two disks with the same signature. It can be brought back online via the Storage Management Console snap-in---but why? At worst, cloning off-line/standalone usually takes about 4-6 hours* for a 2TB mechanical HD; a copy cloning to the same device via USB can take 4-6 times as long and you need software that will actually clone your operating system and without an obligatory system transfer, which is definitely not a given with all backup software.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It looks like PaulieDC (above) stamped the tickets correctly.

Paj
8^)

*The brand of 2-bay cloner can make a difference in run times. I have a pair from Amazon that clone slower that my original StarTech (still working) but support higher capacities and are not as finicky about drive brands or matching them (although the destination drive must always have an equal or greater capacity).


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## ssnowe (Oct 22, 2022)

I found that the Windows registry gets bogged down quite a bit over time causing random undocumented features/bugs to start occurring more frequently over time. To resolve this I have always done a fresh install when the opportunity presented itself.

I eventually resolved the issue completely by moving to a Mac.


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## vitocorleone123 (Oct 22, 2022)

ssnowe said:


> I found that the Windows registry gets bogged down quite a bit over time causing random undocumented features/bugs to start occurring more frequently over time. To resolve this I have always done a fresh install when the opportunity presented itself.
> 
> I eventually resolved the issue completely by moving to a Mac.


I’ve never encountered that issue from the registry since Win 7x64. I have had problems with Macs, though, with corrupt keychains, which never happens on Windows. Grass isn’t greener on either side: there’s land mines in both OS.

Pretty confident that registry slow downs are a past issue from the days of yore. No sense repeating the myth for modern OS and modern computers.


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## electrow (Oct 23, 2022)

Fortunately I don’t have to make a living at this. My music computer is getting long in tooth - built by Jim Roseberry end of 2015. Once it dies my DAW days are probably over. This is due to a really slow internet connection. I read this thread hoping there might be a cloning option that would work. Correct me if I’m wrong. Downloading a few gigs usually takes a couple of nightly sections.


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## vitocorleone123 (Oct 23, 2022)

electrow said:


> Fortunately I don’t have to make a living at this. My music computer is getting long in tooth - built by Jim Roseberry end of 2015. Once it dies my DAW days are probably over. This is due to a really slow internet connection. I read this thread hoping there might be a cloning option that would work. Correct me if I’m wrong. Downloading a few gigs usually takes a couple of nightly sections.


Imaging software that can make a “bare metal” restore MAY work. The more up to date the OS, the better.


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## José Herring (Oct 23, 2022)

davidnaroth said:


> I've heard it a couple times that you should at some point reinstall/(refresh?) your OS. I also know plenty of people who definitely do not. The reason I ask is that Im building a new PC with the new intel processor and I was planning on just plugging my OS drive into the new machine, but Im wondering if thats a good idea or not.


It use to be crucial but not really so much any more. 
Just plugging in a old OS drive though isn't as simple as just that. You'll have old drivers, bits of software, registry items that are no longer valid but can really mess with your system especially things like old video drivers, ect.. You'll have to reactivate Windows on the new machine and reactivate many programs that use copy protection as it will be detected as a new machine. 

I did a fresh install on my old Windows 7 machine and it ran solidly for a decade, then I "upgraded" to windows 10 and things were far less solid. Then I changed machines and just and did a clean install of Windows 10 and shit was still far less solid. So I'm convinced that Windows is the problem and not the fact that it makes much of a difference if you do a clean install or not. I'm on Windows 11 right now from Windows 10 and that is about the same as windows 10.

But if you do just move over the harddrive to a new machine. Install the new mobo software and video drivers. Remove all old mobo software and video drivers. Use some registry cleaning software. I use to use CrapCleaner but lately that's just a bunch of adware so find something better. Clean the system as much as possible of old unused debris. You may delete something that you may actually need by mistake but it's probably best anyway if you reinstall your main programs like DAW and stuff just to be safe. 

So while it may be more convenient than a clean install there's still a lot of work to do to make the new machine workable and stable.


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## Tronam (Oct 23, 2022)

I have never fresh installed macOS. I've been using Time Machine to migrate from Mac to Mac ever since it first released in 2007. With all of my Windows systems I did clean installs every 1 or 2 years. Many versions were pretty fragile and could easily start exhibiting strange behavior, performance hiccups or random audio spikes that was often difficult to troubleshoot. I got really good at it though, so the downtime wasn't too much. I kind of liked the Spring cleaning aspect of it.


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## Tronam (Oct 23, 2022)

vitocorleone123 said:


> I’ve never encountered that issue from the registry since Win 7x64. I have had problems with Macs, though, with corrupt keychains, which never happens on Windows. Grass isn’t greener on either side: there’s land mines in both OS.
> 
> Pretty confident that registry slow downs are a past issue from the days of yore. No sense repeating the myth for modern OS and modern computers.


The biggest issue I had with the registry was how bloated it would eventually become over time and the sheer density of it making troubleshooting often like finding a needle in a haystack. If it did get corrupted reinstalling Windows was often a faster solution than trying to figure out what was causing the issue. Most of these opinions are rooted in the old days though when computer RAM was much more limited, drives still used FAT32 file systems and the OS wasn't yet hardened to protect critical system files from being overwritten. It's far less of an issue nowadays, but I do think the registry is an antiquated idea that's no longer necessary and only continues to persist because of how deeply rooted it is in Windows' history for backward compatibility.


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## vitocorleone123 (Oct 23, 2022)

Tronam said:


> The biggest issue I had with the registry was how bloated it would eventually become over time and the sheer density of it making troubleshooting often like finding a needle in a haystack. If it did get corrupted reinstalling Windows was often a faster solution than trying to figure out what was causing the issue. Most of these opinions are rooted in the old days though when computer RAM was much more limited, drives still used FAT32 file systems and the OS wasn't yet hardened to protect critical system files from being overwritten. It's far less of an issue nowadays, but I do think the registry is an antiquated idea that's no longer necessary and only continues to persist because of how deeply rooted it is in Windows' history for backward compatibility.


OK (I'd need quantitative proof the a registry was causing performance issues at this point in a modern computer). But, if comparing to Apple, then one may also have a perspective that the Mac doesn't have issues like the registry because of Apple's planned obsolescence deeply rooted in their ruthlessness and greed instead of the relative generosity of Microsoft in their quest to remain backward compatible.

I haven't had any issues upgrading Windows with reinstalling for a good 10 years plus on several computers. Win7x64 was the beginning of equality with Mac (yes, I use both). I have had to do fresh reinstalls of MacOS because of corruptions and problems - I'm happy to hear you have not. In fact, Macs have given me more trouble overall since Win7x64 came out than PCs. Neither have given me very many issues in total. Before Win7x64, Windows was a mess with some bright spots.


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## Tronam (Oct 23, 2022)

Dewdman42 said:


> I used to reinstall Windows once a year. But actually I would start with a ghost image of a clean windows install+a few apps, and I would just restore that image, which took me all of 15 minutes to do, not including reinstalling everything else over time on an as need basis. Windows registery gets bloated so easily. Back in those days it was hard to control spyware and such, some of that is easier to deal with now without having to reinstall a clean windows, but if i were running windows I would still probably do it once every year or two.
> 
> MacOS...almost never have to.


That really brings back memories! I used to do the same thing: start with a clean slate, customize all my favorite settings, install the most essential device drivers and applications, then ghost that drive as my default starting point for future reinstalls. It's also why I started installing all my documents, applications and plugins to a separate partition so that I could easily blow away the C: drive without losing anything important.


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## ptram (Oct 23, 2022)

The last time I did some accurate manual cleaning of my Mac's system folders, I found preference files dating back to 1998.

Paolo


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## Tronam (Oct 23, 2022)

vitocorleone123 said:


> OK (I'd need quantitative proof the a registry was causing performance issues at this point in a modern computer). But, if comparing to Apple, then one may also have a perspective that the Mac doesn't have issues like the registry because of Apple's ruthless and greedy planned obsolescence instead of the relative generosity of Microsoft in their quest to remain backward compatible.
> 
> I haven't had any issues upgrading Windows with reinstalling for a good 10 years plus on several computers. Win7x64 was the beginning of equality with Mac (yes, I use both). I have had to do fresh reinstalls of MacOS because of corruptions and problems - I'm happy to hear you have not.


Oh goodness, I've been building PCs since 1995 and still do to this day. No need to turn this into a defensive, emotional debate. I have a long glorious history of like/dislike with both platforms over the years. I never would've thought suggesting the registry is an outdated, unnecessary idea in modern computers would be such a controversial opinion. If it makes you feel any better, I find it equally annoying that macOS never standardized on proper uninstall principles for applications. The fact that Mac programs in 2022 still do such a mediocre job of removing all the files and folders they throw on the drive annoys me to no end. That alone has tempted me to do a clean install of macOS one of these days, but still haven't since they haven't adversely affected memory usage or performance so far. It's ridiculous that the free AppCleaner utility isn't simply native functionality in the OS.


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Oct 23, 2022)

Dewdman42 said:


> I used to reinstall Windows once a year. But actually I would start with a ghost image of a clean windows install+a few apps, and I would just restore that image, which took me all of 15 minutes to do, not including reinstalling everything else over time on an as need basis. Windows registery gets bloated so easily. Back in those days it was hard to control spyware and such, some of that is easier to deal with now without having to reinstall a clean windows, but if i were running windows I would still probably do it once every year or two.
> 
> MacOS...almost never have to.


I wipe my machine every 3-6 months
Since, I will use the platform for VMware and some tinkering, testing purposes at times.
For this reason I like to refresh the OS once in a while... though as you mention, I do the image and then some Apps (will be interesting to see how this fares with Ventura onwards now!)
And it takes me so little time

Also, I add Apps on an as needed basis


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## vitocorleone123 (Oct 23, 2022)

Tronam said:


> No need to turn this into a defensive, emotional debate.


Um. 

Pointing out things that are different from your thinking or experience isn't "defensive or emotional". It's simply friendly disagreeing. Not personal.


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## Dietz (Oct 24, 2022)

davidnaroth said:


> I've heard it a couple times that you should at some point reinstall/(refresh?) your OS. I also know plenty of people who definitely do not. The reason I ask is that Im building a new PC with the new intel processor and I was planning on just plugging my OS drive into the new machine, but Im wondering if thats a good idea or not.


I had my first MIDI-equipped PC in 1984 (IIRC), followed by countless machines for music and audio on a diverse set of operating systems (DOS, classic Macs, Windows, MAC OS, etc.), but I never ever deleted a running system just to install the same OS again. 8-/


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## Arbee (Oct 24, 2022)

I tend to follow the "industrial business software" principle with my DAW, which means you install hardware, OS and DAW as a single suite and leave them alone until you reach the point where you replace all three elements simultaneously. If something breaks prematurely then yes of course, fix it, but otherwise keep it clean (offline preferably apart from updates) and keep it running. I like my creative tech life to be as uncomplicated as possible.


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## Per Boysen (Oct 24, 2022)

Today I never reinstall just for the sake of it. But when I was beta testing software I used to keep clones of the boot partition as well as the work documents partition and samples partition. On both Windows and Mac. Today I keep external SSD drives for work and samples (with at least one backup copy) but I don't make an image of the system partition.


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Oct 24, 2022)

Tronam said:


> It's ridiculous that the free AppCleaner utility isn't simply native functionality in the OS.


I have to agree here 100%
Not hard to put in a place a proper uninstallation method, though many Devs do a very good job of writing scripts to remove all files. That is a more common approach on a unix-based system


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## Mr Greg G (Oct 24, 2022)

davidnaroth said:


> After reading all suggestions I think Im going to try just doing a clean install on a new drive and slowly reinstall everything.
> 
> My setup is a bit complicated, I have an old VEP machine from 2016 Im using which probably needs to be recycled, so my current DAW comp will become the VEP machine and I use the new comp as the DAW machine.
> 
> I'm in the middle of projects until May, so I think trying a quick solution could backfire. It might take weeks to get everything installed, but once it all is I should be solid to spend a day migrating my system.


I haven't read the 2nd page but I recently had an issue with my MB (I posted on this forum and got some useful help from fellow members) that just died. I swapped for an identical model and everything was up and running. Except Windows started asking for license activation, same thing for MS Office. I had to buy new activation keys. Apart from that, everything went A OK.

_If I were you_, before going the clean install route, I would try the SSD swapping first and run tests and benchmarks to see if any issue would occur. To do this you first have to strip with a software (I don't remember which one, sorry) all the drivers from the computer. And just plug it into the new computer build. Windows will install updates and drivers for your new components. You can also install manually the drivers from each vendor page (Intel, AMD, Asus, Gigabyte etc) if you want. You will probably have to run through all your software activations but at least you won't lose any time installing AND configuring all your softwares, plugins etc. This would be a real time saver. If you also want to update your SSD system drive, just create an image backup after Windows has been done installing all the drivers.

This is what I plan to do the next time I change my computer setup.


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## richiebee (Oct 25, 2022)

I think around 2011 I had a double hard drive failure. I installed the OS fresh then. Other than that just upgrades. Windows user here.


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