Windows "fresh start" question

[AWT]

I have a question regarding the windows "fresh start" option. Is that equivalent to a clean reinstall, or will I have lots of data trash left (like when upgrading from one Windows version to another)?
I will upgrade my CPU soon and haven't reinstalled for 4+ years (I intend to do so once the upgrade is complete), so I wonder whether I should do a fresh installation of Windows 10 (incl formating SSD etc), or is it sufficient to do a "fresh start"? (Also worried Windows may not reactivate due to "too many changes" to the system).

[Bad 💀 Motha]

What all hardware have you already changed out while this Win10 was already activated?

As far as Fresh Start vs Reset vs Clean Install; here are all the details on all 3 of those...

To summarize:

Reset this PC (Remove everything option) will delete all apps, personal files, and Windows settings. But, Fresh start can keep your personal files and some settings.

www.minitool.com/backup-tips/windows-10-reset-vs-clean-install.html

[emoticorpse]

Just do a clean install

[N3tRunn3r]

Holy cow, i fresh and clean install my machines on every quarter a year . . . here is a short guide I made:

Reformat/reinstall a fresh and clean W10/W11:
Win11: https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11

Win10: https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows10

W10/11 Clean Install

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsinsider/cleaninstall

1. Plugin your USB with Windows 10/11 install media
   
2. Keep your correct IRST drivers ready inside an extra folder, to be save ..
   
3. Open Windows Start menu
   
4. Restart your PC while holding the Shift key to boot into the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE). Once in the Windows Recovery Environment, choose to boot from the USB drive.

Once your drives and partitions are ALL deleted & formatted in setup, continue..

During later stage of fresh install, @ Language Selection

1. cut LAN/WLAN
   
2. "Shift + F10" to open console
   
3. type:

   oobe\bypassnro

4. auto-reboots
   
5. select:

   "I don't have internet"
   "Continue with limited setup"

6. Install your "LOCAL ACCOUNT" and disable all telemetry stuff during setup
   >> Profit

Later you can even setup a PIN in Windows Options without being online/Microsoft account, and if you like - and I suggest it - uninstall Windows OneDrive straight after you enter your freshly installed Windows and disable UAC (User Account Control)!! Afterwards let your machine connect to the internet and use Windows Update and Microsoft Store Apps update.

If updates are done, install AntiVir as "ESET Premium" and "Mozilla Firefox + uBlock Origin" (by Raymond Hill). Then search for more and specific drivers manually, as latest NVIDIA drivers, more special Chipset drivers, latest BIOS firmware, etc ..

https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/new/

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/

https://www.eset.com/int/home/free-trial/

Less is always more .. especially in IT

https://www.av-comparatives.org/comparison/

https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/summary-report-2023/


Good Luck !!

[AWT]

Regarding changes made so far: I added and removed hard drives and SSDs, changed GPU multiple times (first GTX 1050, then RX590, then GTX 1070, now RTX 3080), then my Viper RAM died (now waiting for new Viper ones, have a pair of Corsair Vengeance in use temporarily right now), and soon the CPU will be replaced (Ryzen 1700 for 5900X). That's why I worry about too many changes. Should reinstall though - Windows 10 is quite stable/matured and works well even after not reinstalling for a long time, but now I have a bug where Armoury Crate doesn't work and causes my computer to run unstable when installed (the mainboard wants an update which always fails. tried both installing major app updates before or after. It also doesn't detect my new monitor, Unfortunately, I need Armoury for stuff like having the screen on the waterpump show the CPU temp and freq etc.

[Zefar]

Originally posted by AWT:

I have a question regarding the windows "fresh start" option. Is that equivalent to a clean reinstall, or will I have lots of data trash left (like when upgrading from one Windows version to another)?
I will upgrade my CPU soon and haven't reinstalled for 4+ years (I intend to do so once the upgrade is complete), so I wonder whether I should do a fresh installation of Windows 10 (incl formating SSD etc), or is it sufficient to do a "fresh start"? (Also worried Windows may not reactivate due to "too many changes" to the system).

I ran Windows from 8.1 to 11 for the life span of my SSD which was about 8 ish years. Windows was just fine this entire time. It was fast to the very end. I've switched out hardware completely about 3 times during this time too.

A clean install will just mean having to re install everything. Re typing in all passwords that you've forgotten. Download all of the extra programs again.

So a fresh start won't do much other than a lot of extra work.

Oh and I used the Upgrade option in Windows to do this too.