Clean Install or Refresh ?

ken1943 · 09 Jun 2016

Because of some problems I want to reinstall Windows 10. I have done a repair reinstall twice and not
entirely happy. I get the error on shutdown that Explorer can't write to a memory location and my memory has been tested (memtest86). There is also a display problem with blank screen on boot. Not even the bios shows. I have switched from my
Nvidia GTX-650 to the Intel i7 video to test.
I have done a clean install on two of my machines, which had the desired effect of curing problems.

I am leaning towards a clean install because both ways, I have to reinstall all my programs about 80 >>YUK.

Any opinions ?

NavyLCDR · 09 Jun 2016

After you get a good stable clean install with your usual programs installed, make a system backup image with a program like Macrium Reflect Free and future restores will only take 10-20 minutes.

ken1943 · 09 Jun 2016

Thanks, I do images every month before updates.

NavyLCDR · 09 Jun 2016

I would do a completely clean install by deleting all the partitions on the hard drive or SSD and installing Windows 10 to the unallocated space.

Murdabenne · 10 Jun 2016

Just make sure to reinstall in UEFI mode if you want that. The MCT makes MBR by default. I found this out the hard way.

NavyLCDR · 10 Jun 2016

The Media Creation Tool creates a USB flash drive that is bootable by both UEFI and legacy bios systems. The booting mode is set by the bios/UEFI setting, not by the format of the USB flash drive. If the files on the flash drive don't match the mode that is set in the bios/UEFI then the computer won't boot.