Installing Mac OS X on a newly formatted hard drive vs Windows XP and Vista

[iansilv]

Hi-
With my xp machine, I have to basically copy my documents to back up and reformat/reinstall windows every 6 months to a year or so. It slows down, gets clunky, crashes more often, so i just reinstall the entire thing. Also- installing an upgrade generally results in more problems, so I will reformat and reinstall when I am looking to upgrade my windows OS as well.

Is there any benefit to installing MAC OS x the same way? I have been told that because of the unix nature of its system, it does not get "clogged" over time like windows does with registry entries and poorly managed files left over from uninstalls.

Is this true? Anyone have any thoughts on this issue? Thank you.

 

[DeaconGraves]

OS X does a better job of maintaining itself than Windows, so regular fresh installs are not as necessary.

However, the general consensus seems to be that a clean install is preferred when a new version of OS X comes out, simply to avoid upgrade complications (and perhaps the feeling of experiencing a shiny new OS with everything at default).