How often do you reinstall XP? - Page 5

Luke · 05-28-2009, 09:19 PM

^ but it is possible, who knows with ME lol.

carnageX · 05-28-2009, 09:22 PM

Lol true true.

95BlackGA · 05-28-2009, 11:55 PM

I get bored a lot, so when I was running Windows XP, I reinstalled it a lot. Sometimes a few times a month. Microsoft didn't like me for a while, because I never made a direct image of the boot disk...

hikaricloud · 05-29-2009, 08:56 AM

People, play nice. That's my only warning.

Osiris · 05-29-2009, 09:15 AM

I reinstall for 1 of 3 reasons:

1. I just need to get back up and running
2. I've exhausted all my resources and had to reinstall as a last resort. Even if its not fixed, I still learned something new along the way.
3. I just want a fresh system

You are not going to learn much if you reinstall without finding what the problem is. What if it happens again? You just going to reinstall? You may have an image that you can apply to your system, but it may not be the fastest solution, even thou imaging can take only minutes. But all that’s doing in some cases is covering up the problem you have no idea how to fix or there might be no fix. I understand the imaging of a computer due to virus infections, even if the virus is no more, there can still be damage making your system unstable. Each time you reinstall and then start the process all over again, you learn new things, at least I do.

If you are in a corporate environment, imaging may seem like a fast and easy solution, but again, how do you fix the problem if it happens again? What if it happens on 100 or more computers? No one in their right mind will reinstall as a first resort. A fix is needed and needed ASAP. It’s easier to apply a patch by GPO or any other means of pushing updates than reinstalling or imaging. There are so many different variables, you just need to make the call for yourself as to what the best solution for YOU is. If that's reinstalling on first resort, then that’s your solution. If it's last resort because you like to tweak settings, update drivers, Google, update windows, remove junk or whatever else it is you need to do to find the fix, then the final resort is your option.

Luke · 05-29-2009, 09:50 AM

Quote:

1. I just need to get back up and running
2. I've exhausted all my resources and had to reinstall as a last resort. Even if its not fixed, I still learned something new along the way.
3. I just want a fresh system

those are 3 good reasons

EricB · 05-29-2009, 10:15 AM

back to the subject on hand. I don't work in a corporate environment. then reinstalling would be a last resort then but it's not just your computer that we are talking about. this subject isn't about computers in a corporate environment.

now I fix computers for a living. in the beginning I would try to fix everything just because that was the techie side of me.

but after year of fixing computer, my years of experience has taught me that's it's just easier to back up the data and settings (that are in the application data folder) and then reinstall windows rather then just fixing a problem. fixing a problem can take hours, even days and even then it's no guarantee that the problem is truly fixed. People sometime return fixed computers because the problem was not truly fixed. the problem is fixed with the reinstall.

I once fixed a computer using a guide post here because the person had an expensive program that he lost the disk to. I spent 8-10 hours fixing it. I can fix 5-6 computer in that time if I did them one by one and the those computer won't get returned to me like the one that took 8-10 hours did that I used the guide on.

if I care enough about computers then maybe I would still try to fix every last problem but I got other things going on in my life so I just go with what's efficient because my experience tells me that, that is better to do anyway

hikaricloud · 05-29-2009, 10:55 AM

Both your post and his response was deleted. We don't need any of this bickering.

Osiris · 05-29-2009, 10:57 AM

Corporate Environment was just an example.

Now I don't repair computers for a living, just a side job since 2000. Most customers fear of losing data, even if I guarantee them I back it all up, usually because someone else already messed it up for you. So my first plan of attack is to see what the problem is, can it be fixed, can it be fixed without reinstalling, can it be fixed and still be a stable install, privacy issues with spyware, viruses, etc. Customers have tweaks, settings, user accounts, etc that they don't want to be without. You gotta make the customer happy at all times. I've reinstalled a lot of systems for customers, knowing what I know now, probably half if not more didn’t need to be reinstalled.

You are exactly right, It's easy and fast to reinstall a customer’s computer but it’s another thing to actually fix the problem at hand. You want the customer to feel as comfortable as possible, ensuring their data is safe and will not be lost.

These days, it’s really not that hard to fix a problem, there all kinds of info out there, it’s not like only one person has had an issue which there isn’t a fix to yet. Some problems can be complex but most are easy.

You do what you do because you are good at it and it works best for you, the same with me. But after working as an LAN Admin since I was 19, dealing with frustrating Engineers, Plant Managers, CEO's, etc, are no different than yours or my customers. Data is data and no one wants it lost. If only and only you can absolutely 100% guarantee that their data is safe then by all means, go right ahead. I reimage a lot but I deal with over 2,300 computers, servers and laptops between KY, OH, IN, Mexico, WA, VA, MI, NC, and Germany. But that also means I have a killer backup system which I create 2 backups, a manual and image. But just because you cover yourself with good backup hardware, doesn’t mean you won’t have any issues with it. I remember I lost over 800GB of data, on a WD My Book, was brand new. Even took it to a Data Recovery Center, no data was recovered. I say it’s my fault because I lost the data, even thou the hardware failed. But that doesn’t make a difference to the user with the lost data. If the user was in the US, I would have taken the extra day to find the problem, fix it and ship it back. Since the user is out of the county, the ship it to me NDA, I receive it by 12 noon, reimage it and have it sent back out NDA by 3pm. The user is usually dead in the water, so getting the laptop/computer back to the user is important. Anyways……

I’m not trying to change anyone’s mind on how they do things, just giving my thought and experiences on the situation.

hikaricloud · 05-29-2009, 11:06 AM

^^ Completely understand where you are coming from.

Obviously on a smaller scale, but at the shop I worked for years, we always assess the problems first, and then go from there. If it's something a few quick scans will fix up, we scan, run some maintenance stuff, and boom. Done.

But to properly assess the situation in the first place, we have to do some trial and error. For example, a problem we were having with a bunch of computers at one point was Malwarebytes refusing to install. You would actually have to change the name of the installer for it to work, and even then, you couldn't run it afterwards. It would just hang in the task manager and never pop up. Changing the .exe to run it didn't work either.

On machines like that, we decided to back up and reformat, because it was more trouble than it's worth. But Our first instinct isn't to format just because there's problems. Most customers would prefer it to not be formatted, even with the promise of backup, in my experience. So if there's a chance of cleaning it up, it's used as a last resort.

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