On Mon, 10 Apr 2017 09:56:48 -0000 (UTC), Diesel
wrote:

Vic Smith
Sun, 09 Apr 2017
16:52:57 GMT in alt.home.repair, wrote:

On Sun, 9 Apr 2017 08:56:27 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:


One advantage to re-imaging is that while I don't do it regularly,
when I have done it, the PC performance improvement was
substantial. In fact, I think when people buy a new PC and see a
huge increase in performance, I'd bet that a good part of that,
maybe half, is that they are starting with a clean machine again.
If they just did a system restore, they'd also see a good boost in
performance.

Yes, though apps are much better now at cleaning up when
uninstalled. I like a "clean" system, and don't give a second
thought about installing apps to try out. I also sometimes "hack"
my OS. By imaging every month or two, I don't have to excessively
worry about system changes. Also malware becomes a non-issue,
even if it's a "sleeper" type virus.

Depends on the virus. [g] If you don't know the virus is present,
you're unknowingly doing it a favor with the imaging. A couple of super
snarky viruses payloads was that of sector level data diddling. If done
slow enough, it could be months before you noticed a problem. How far
back do your images go?

I never image a system that has seen the net, aside from updating
Windows and some core apps. I start by restoring my last image, doing
those updates, the making a new base image.
I keep about 5-10 images, the oldest being the initial install.
I only do full images.