Reinstalling OSX - 2 issues ?

[XPcentric]

I've never reinstalled my 3 year old Leopard since I bought but now its the time
Questions:

1. Should I upgrade to Snow Leopard ? The only reason for that is for some compatibility issues, as Leopard may be quite old for some new programs (or upgraded programs) to be compatible with , and Lion is too young and possible more restrictive (requires app store to download etc) . I would still install Leopard but need an idea if I'm doing wrong ?

2. As I started living in away from home I was wondering if using FileVault would be any useful, in case of lost or stolen, the data being more important than the value of the macbook. The drawback of using FileVault is that it may slow down some apps (i need to research on that) but on the other hand I am able to keep the sensitive files encrypted without using FV and thats what I'm thinking doing.

 

[r0k]

I've never reinstalled my 3 year old Leopard since I bought but now its the time
Questions:

1. Should I upgrade to Snow Leopard ? The only reason for that is for some compatibility issues, as Leopard may be quite old for some new programs (or upgraded programs) to be compatible with , and Lion is too young and possible more restrictive (requires app store to download etc) . I would still install Leopard but need an idea if I'm doing wrong ?

2. As I started living in away from home I was wondering if using FileVault would be any useful, in case of lost or stolen, the data being more important than the value of the macbook. The drawback of using FileVault is that it may slow down some apps (i need to research on that) but on the other hand I am able to keep the sensitive files encrypted without using FV and thats what I'm thinking doing.

No compelling reason to upgrade to Snow Leopard. It offers no new features to speak of but it does get frequent software updates and it does use less disk space than Leopard. If you want to save disk space, by all means get Snow Leopard (if you can find it).

I don't bother with filevault, but my Macbook never leaves the house. Make sure you have some way to record the "recovery key" it gives you or you could find yourself out of luck should you ever forget your password.

 

[XPcentric]

thaks all for replies.

I've reinstalled Leopard and its the greatest job I've done in three years. It works much better, more free disk space, no more un needed apps. I recommend a reinstall sometimes. You have to have a backup drive, i think its best.


P.S also the temperature is much lower 53 celcius now, compared with over 60 before.