Windows XP - The Beauty of the Clean Install

Posted by Daniel Stout on Sun 7 Mar 2004 at 1:21 AM

I’ve been using Windows XP for a couple of years now. Overall, it’s been a stable and usable OS. And when an app does crash, I can send a data report to Microsoft automatically, which developers have access to. This is good. One thing I’ve noticed over the years though is that the default installs of Windows XP (and previous versions of Windows) that you find on consumer level PC’s basically stinks.

For the most part, these installs come preloaded (I should say overloaded) with software and to be blunt spyware that I don’t want and will never use. My sense is that most people do not use these half-baked “free” applications on their hard drive. Those apps are just there taking up space. But even worse than that, these preloaded installs tend to be more unstable. More unstable, that is, than the clean OS install.

My current SOP is to replace the inherently flawed install of Windows XP Home—one that doesn’t tend to accept my installed apps and devices willingly—with a clean install of Windows XP Professional.

To put it simply, I’ve had great experiences with XP Pro—my clean installs, that is. These preinstalls not only have loads of unnecessary apps, but they also contain manufacturer customizations. In my experience, these destabilize Windows.

I’ve been using HP and Dell laptops and desktops, and invariably I resort to a clean install of the operating system. When I get my hands on a new computer, I don’t even wait—that’s the first thing I do. So I do my clean install, and everything’s okay. I may lose the customized “Help and Support” that HP or Dell offers, but I’d rather have a system that runs as expected. I don’t need to consult Help and Support, and that’s all for the better.

So like I said, Windows XP is a great operating system. But the computer manufacturers have it all wrong. Windows XP works best with a clean install. That’s been my experience with it, and overall it’s a doable thing. So the thing to check when you’re buying a new computer: Does it come with a OS system disc? Get rid of all the junk that they add, and go with the pure bliss of a clean install.

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