Cleaning your Hard Drive..

My father and I both agree that swiping the hard drive every year or so is a good thing to do. I mean, a "clean install" where you wipe all partitions, and install the OS.

My question is, what is the opinion on this? Does the Activation of Windows XP interfere?? Do any of you recommend/disagree with this? How often do you do a clean install?

 

Assuming yu don't chg anything..like hardware:

Just backup the c:\windows\system32\wpa.dbl file, install Windows XP as you normally would BUT restart in "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" and replace the wpa.dbl file with your backed up activated version, you should be back in business.

 

out of curiosity, what is this file?

 

Windows Product Activation (WPA) details. Take a look Here for more information or do a google search on wpa.dbl.

What is the benefit of slicking your system once a year and reloading?

 

that link is inactive....

over a year's time (I actually like to wait 2 years) you put a lot of programs and junk on your computer. Sometimes poor un-installations can leave junk in you registry...leave files here and there....ect ect

It is also a good opportunity to go through a lot of personal files, and see what you do and do not need. I think I deleted over 300mb of junk that I just had collected in my documents.

and finally you never know what viruses, or other junk may be hidden in your computer. Even my norton antivirus has missed a few viruses...

i personally enjoy a "fresh start" also....I dont know about anyone else...i suppose I am just a nerd