Last night a question was put to us, "I wonder how many people use vendor-loads (on new machines) versus reformat/reload?"  Therefore, in the interest of science (and general curiosity) I thought I would throw the question out for discussion today.  Feel free to let us know via the "Contact" link at the top of this page how you, or your organization, choose to deploy.

/-- UPDATE --/

We have received a number of responses to this question, and the majority has been of the 'reformat/reload' variety.  One of our readers, Ian, submitted some excellent thoughts I would like to share:

 "Experience has shown that vendor loaded machines are regularly unstable, sluggish and overflowing with bloat-ware and needless applications not to mention Windows features which most users will NEVER use!  EVERY instance of clean installation has resulted in a stable, fast (in comparison) machine plus space saving on the hard-drive.  Feedback is always positive... On older machines, people who had considered forking out thousands on the latest and greatest have reconsidered and saved their hard earned coins a little longer.

Dare I question Pros and Cons?  I do...  Pros: Nothing beats the familiarity and intimacy of a custom install... every file is accounted for and required, a blessing if trouble shooting is required in the future.  Cons: Time, it can be time consuming performing a reformat/clean install depending on configuration but long term those hours appreciate to savings in the event of a catastrophe - A worthwhile trade off."  (Thank you Ian, have a safe trip)

Another point submitted by a reader, who wished to remain anonymous, is that when calling a vendor for support, they often require their tools be loaded, or worse, left intact via an install from their recovery CD's.

/-- FINAL WORD --/

The final tally is an overwhelming 'reformat/reload' with some interesting thoughts on how to go about it.  I will consolidate some of those thoughts, and add them to this write-up later in the week. 

Many thanx go out to everybody who wrote in today.  Thank you.