Clinton -

It's true that some "techies" are doing routine reinstalls for almost every glitch, but the only places where that's really practical are in "business nets" (or business-like setups) where a specific set of programs can be mirrored to individual machines and is identical for all users.

An additional condition normally applicable for those knowledgeably recommending this is that authorized user data is generally on servers remote from the individual machine - and the "techies" are permitted to ignore the loss of "unnecessary personal data" that may be lost. They may also be happy to see "unauthorized programs" disappear in many cases.

Relatively few individual users even know what programs they're using, to be able to do a satisfactory reinstallation, and even fewer have the space on separate drives to adequately mirror (and keep updated) their entire system. If you're blessed in that way, I congratulate you; but most people simply don't have the resources.

The WinXP SR1 CD was available on request, but most people got the update by download from a service center. When received in that way, the entire download probably was never "on the machine" all at the same time in the raw form you need for installation, so there was never an opportunity to "save it to CD." In addition, when received via download, only the parts necessary for the users' current configurations were sent, so the entire disk, needed if system changes have been made, was never on their machine.

Changes made en bloc by both WinXP SR1 and SR2 are incorporated into later updates, so for a current reinstallation, the necessary patches can be obtained via the update system. Being broken down and incorporated into smaller individual patches it probably is more efficient to get them this way, if one has adequate firewall, AV, AS, and other "defenses" to protect the system until the updates can be completed, but it's not a trivial operation for most individual users.

There are a few specific forms of malware extant for which a complete reformat and reinstallation is the preferred remedy. (For 'Nix sytems, I've heard that it's currently the preferred recourse for virtually all malware infections.) For WinXP, and to large extent for Win2K, these are currently rather rare, and occur mostly when people download "anything that's free" and/or attempt to use incompatible "utilities" that some   idiot    marginally qualified "expert" recommended - usually to solve problems they didn't have.

An individual user who isn't prone to gadgets and gimmicks should almost never need to reinstall a recent Windows OS. If you don't f**k with them, they don't get f***ked.

The last time I did an OS reinstall was in 1981, when a hard drive was "scabbed" during a 2,000 mile shipment. Disk Repair wasn't able to recover the damaged sectors, so I did an overlay install (Win95 or Win98, I don't recall) on a 4 year old original to get access to data files to move them to a new HD. I will admit to three or four OS reinstalls with Win 3.11WG and possibly two with Win95 - since 1981. All machines I have currently running (6) are at least 6 years old (one is 11 y.o. next month) and NONE has ever needed a reinstallation of the OS.

If, as an expert user, you have reason and ability to try out bizarre programs and methods, you probably have your system mirrored; and this is an appropriate method of restoring. If you're an admin with lots of identical users who have remote data storage it's also fine, and a lot easier than treating problems individually. If you're an independent rational user, I've seen no reason for routine reformat and reinstall as a maintenance/recovery method.

Any individual user who's running into this need should adjust the loose nut(s) at the front of the keyboard. (The "mouse nut" may also need attention.)

John