One box that has run Win2k since a month or so after it came out, and this one is on about 9 months of it's original XP install...

I do not miss win9x one little bit, I reinstalled it every 3 months or less.

Just over a year running XP Home.
In the process of backing up everything before the arrival of my new machine in 2 weeks time.
Bring on the power!

Just upgraded from my old K6-2 500! So I'm only about a month into this one (XP Pro)

Can you say faster renders?

nearly two & a half year on 2k...

if my sys starts 2 give me trouble i just delete my profile & create a new account... that brings it back up2 speed..!!

about 6 months here - but uptime is 67d 10h 5m 30s .. 31s .. 32s .. 33s ..

It'll be two years this Fall.

I've never reformatted a computer unless it was to install it "fresh" to be used by a different employee.  It's just way too much work.  Never ran into anything that couldn't be fixed without reformatting.  Too much of a hassle to back up everything and reinstall it all. 

I had a dual boot 98/2000 box that ran for 3 years.  It was reformatted when it became a "test" box when I got a new PC.

About a Year for XP, but i got tired of all those junks that slowed down the computer, Changed to 2k and its been about 3 weeks. Never had a problem with 2k before

I never have a PC longer than 6 months before I upgrade it to new one....so 6 months. I use XP pro and its rock solid never had any problems.

Reformatting your machine in order to "clean things up" is akin to wrecking your house and building a new one. Now if you would invest some time in organising your files and such...

This p75 has had Windows 98 running for more than four years now. And it's just as fast as day one. Only thing is that hardware has sped up quite a bit since then.

3 words...Disk Imaging Software.

Makes the reformatting process so painless.

Well, it just seems that the only way to clean a Windows house is to demolish it and rebuild it from scratch. The slow down is not always obvious because it's so gradual. It's when you boot up after a fresh install that you go WOW! I forgot my machine was actually this fast.

I almost suspect Microsoft does it on purpose to get some people to buy a new computer every so often.

I dont know... i like to reformat and reinstall it gives me something to do so I would say 2 weeks?

I had to after a year or too on my old 98, then the same again. pretty good



I'm havin a good computer 'cuz I"m a kid party now!

I installed Win95 on my grandparents' computer in 1996, it's been used daily since then, and has never needed either a reformat or a reinstall

On a second computer, I had Win98 (1st edition) and I generally did the reformat and reinstall routine twice a year (not because it really needed it, but for the speed boost of a clean system)

I later sold the old Win98 computer and got a new one with WinMe loaded within two weeks of WinMe being released. I had to reformat and reinstall every 2-4 months with this monster. I finally gave up and got ahold of a pirated XP beta. (I bought the gold version when it was released 4 months later, so don't jump on me for that Jafo)

I've used XP ever since and never needed to reformat or reinstall Absolutely terrific OS!!!

I had to do it in May, but that was because of getting a new computer + a new hard drive (double the size of my old one! wheee )
[Message Edited]

NT server, 5 years - does that count?

my wife and daughter used to download executable software packages with total abandon on "my" pc despite my constant protestations - all i had to do was leave the computer unguarded for 30 minutes. i wasted hours conscientiously uninstalling stuff, and hearing the complaining. i scrubbed the system squeaky one day and made restore_bkb.reg. when it's copied into the registry, their s/w is still present but generally works only enough to totally frustrate and infuriate them. this has dramatically slowed their downloading of junk. and you can sneak in and do it while they're on a restroom run. having a perfect registry file is one good step toward not having to reformat. ( getting rid of the family would be a bit extreme, yes?)

After reading 42 messages , It would appear , that most reformat and reinstall windows not because it is necessary , but because they like it !!!!! Kind of like taking a beating getting up and asking to do it again....

About 6 months.

I just lost my backup drive (for unknown reasons and among many other current problems) and am in the process of backing up again and then formatting.

Though I hope my pc can last that long; expecting a failure anytime soon .

Win98SE installed April 2001, probably needs a format & reinstall now, has a few hickups now & then, but I head into DOS, scanreg\restore when it plays up & then select a successful startup from a day or 2 earlier to get running again...pain in the bum, but I just can't stand the thought of rummaging through all the files to locate the ones I want to re-instal. It gives me nightmares just thinking about it!!

hows this for a fairy tale!
Windows NT server up for 600 days. Not one single reboot not one single log off... yes I said windows!

on the other hand we also had a Novel server up for over 1000 days. both were shut down only because we moved locations.
Our goal fix it while its running
Thank goodness for raid 5.

XP Home 2 years this fall, also

I haven't done a clean install since Photoshop 5.0
Must be at least 4 years. My Win98SE installation had degraded to the point it wouldn't even boot, and couldn't be fixed, so I UPGRADED to WinXP Pro a year and a half ago. The uprade is still working fine with no apparent problems. Needless to say, I think WinXP Pro is SUPER!

I have been running XP since pre-release and installed that over a 98SE install that was over a year old. Been over three years without reformat. /me crosses digits!