WINDOWS MADE FRESH

SO, YOU USE WINDOWS. You’re in a slowly shrinking but still three-quarters majority, so it’s not a surprise: Windows users are ubiquitous. Almost as ubiquitous as people complaining about Windows, because that group extends to macOS and Linux users, too. Whatever your gripes, the thought of reinstalling Windows has likely crossed your mind at some point. Perhaps you’ve even gone ahead without thinking of the consequences. You might even have been left with a half-functioning machine that’s missing many of your critical files and programs. Let’s be clear at the start of this feature (one that’s ostensibly about reinstalling Windows): Reinstalling Windows is generally a really dumb thing to do.

Hear us out. Windows 10 is a much cleaner and more stable OS than its predecessors. There’s no good reason to reinstall it unless you’ve managed to screw with its system files to the point of oblivion, or you’ve fallen victim to some serious malware that can’t be expunged in any other way. If you’re in the latter bracket, it’s probably too late for your files—unless you’ve taken the correct precautions. With a proper process built into your everyday computer use, reinstalling is trivial and safe. Mostly pointless, but clean enough.

So, you could reinstall Windows, and we’ll talk about it in detail, but we’ll