How often does one have to format?

[SirFooK'nG]

Never formatted my win 7, been running it since day one that it was released.... loving it! With XP just about every 3rd month, And Vista, only once I think....

 

[House]

I had to re-format Win7 only one time after a year's of use.

 

[Nokkie]

The same here... +1

+1
Only format for an upgrade of the hardware.

The longest I went without a format was around 5 years on Gentoo.

 

[xera]

yeah my win7 lasted a year, and was still going strong, but got a new hdd, so needed to format

But in comparison its so much faster after the re-install. But then again I have so much stuff installed, re-installing takes about a day.

so from the posts so far:

win7: >= 12 months
xp: >= 3 months
vista: < 1 month

 

[kingrob]

Never had to reinstall with Windows 7 or Ubuntu & had both for over a year.

 

[Lino]

Never, just use OS X!

Well that is a load of bull!

 

[vinodh]

Well that is a load of bull!

True! There's a couple of guys at work that say the same. They believe that OSX runs the same whether it's day 1 after installation or 2 years later. Amazingly, I showed them an article in MacFormat that shows how to cleanup OSX to speed it up. Needless to say, they made more bullish$& excuses.

 

[Ou grote]

True! There's a couple of guys at work that say the same. They believe that OSX runs the same whether it's day 1 after installation or 2 years later. Amazingly, I showed them an article in MacFormat that shows how to cleanup OSX to speed it up. Needless to say, they made more bullish$& excuses.

Yeah, and they tell you "It just works" and the security is unbeatable, no viruses etc.

Then you ask them why Apple are always relasing bugfixes and security patches, and they also go quiet.

Like this: http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/operating-systems/3236852/apple-delivers-major-mac-os-x-bug-fix/

Apple delivers major Mac OS X bug fix
Update tackles 13 security bugs in Apple's operating system
By Robert McMillan | IDG News Service | Published 09:16, 25 August 10

Apple has released a security update to its Mac OS X operating system, fixing a number of critical security issues in the software.

The update, released early Tuesday afternoon, Pacific time, fixes 13 bugs in various OS X components, including core components such as Apple Type Services and CFNetwork. It's Apple's fifth OS X security update this year.

Many open-source OS X components are also patched, including Samba, PHP and ClamAV software.

At least six of the bugs theoretically could be exploited by attackers to run unauthorised software on the Mac, Apple said.

"It just sucks"

 

[vinodh]

I actually like the OSX series of OS's from Apple. For simplicity, connectivity and general ease of use, it's excellent. For games, on the other hand, it's similar to Linux: getting there, very, very slowly. Also, Apple fanboys tend to make Apple products seem far, far better than they really are. iPhone4 reception issues was quickly swept under the carpet. If it was a Microsoft problem, there would have been a Vista style global outcry.

 

[Captain Beer]

I'm running Vista HP, installed June 08. Still running fine, current uptime is almost a month, would be longer if the maid/domestic hadn't burnt out the vacuum cleaner.
Next format will be when another version of Win**** come out

 

[Arthur]

How often? Only when you install a new operating system.

Keep crapware off your Windows machine and it'll run fine year in and year out.

The question sounds like "how often do you have to rebuild your car's engine"? It depends on how you treat it, I s'pose.