The advice to reinstall Windows to fix a problem with your computer is, in our opinion, completely wrong 95% of the time and questionable in some of the remaining 5%. Even worse is the advice to “reformat your hard disk and reinstall Windows.”  That should be criminally prosecutable. It is never necessary unless there is a serious hard disk problem.

 

Users are usually advised to reinstall Windows for one of the following reasons:

 

1. It’s a quick way to get you off the phone. Many computer and software help desks measure support staff performance by the number of calls they answer, and not how well they solve your problem.

2. A support technician does not know how to fix a problem. Some Windows problems can be highly complex to diagnose and resolve, but even many simple problems are answered with this brush off. Many support people learn to handle common tasks by rote, not by substantive technical knowledge. GTS has a background in system programming that facilitates deep analysis and complex problem solving.

 

In rare cases, a system may be so damaged by years of poor maintenance, virus attacks, or other problems that repair might be prohibitively time consuming and costly. This is, however, the exception not the rule. Even then, a non-destructive repair installation may be possible, without the need to lose all of your customizations and the need to reinstall all other software.

 

 

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Reinstalling Windows

It’s usually Bad Advice