<<I think a lot of people would dearly love to avoid the hassle-factor of reloading the OS - I certainly would, even though some people might even consider me somewhat technical. I get no pleasure out of tinkering with my PC, and that's what OS-reloading is. I would just as soon wait until the OS is preloaded, done deal - no upgrading after the fact, no "coupon" for XP when it comes out, etc.>>
I've never had an experience with my PCs or Macs where I didn't have to eventually do a "clean install." Sometimes it was to try to eliminate gremlins in my system, sometimes it was when a hard disk showed a problem, sometimes it was because I put in a bigger disk, and so on. The most common reason is to "just start over": format the disk, reload the latest version of the OS from CD-ROM, re-install applications, restore documents and data files from backups.
The "comes preloaded with the OS" never seemed very compelling to me: I figured I might as well know how to install it to my satisfaction anyway, then I'd know what to do when I had to install it _again_.
Maybe I'm unusual.
<<PS/OT: do you still post on "security/crypto" issues? where? >>
Yep, on the Cypherpunks list, now 9 years old. Contact me at "tcmay@got.net" if you want subscription details. Also, the list is archived and is retrievable with Google searches.
--Tim May |
