I am having a few issues on my computer and I'm considering using the Windows Defender "Fresh Start" option to install a clean, up-to-date installation of Windows.  

Is doing a "Fresh Start" going to screw up my FSX, P3Dv4, or any add-on installations? 

Just checking before I push the button!

Thanks,

Rich Boll

pretty much everything that is not a part of windows will 'go' so yes it will screw it up.

10 minutes ago, richjb2 said:

Is doing a "Fresh Start" going to screw up my FSX, P3Dv4, or any add-on installations? 

Yes! Take a look here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4026602/windows-10-give-your-pc-a-fresh-start.

I quote: "Note: Fresh Start will remove most of your apps, including Microsoft Office, third-party anti-virus software, and desktop apps that came pre-installed on your device. You will not be able to recover removed apps, and will need to manually reinstall these apps later. You may also lose your digital licenses and digital content associated with apps, which may impact your ability to use these apps or app-related content you paid for". This dialogue box appears when you start the Fresh Start:

Edited March 1, 20197 yr by vortex681

Answers that question!

I'm not opposed to doing it, it just means more planning before I do it. 

I probably should uninstall my P3D before I do so. 

Peachy... another weekend shot! 😞 

Thanks everyone!

Rich 

I thought I would follow up on my experience with "Fresh Start".  In a nutshell, DO NOT USE FRESH START!!!!!   This feature is for mom and dad who need to your help start their computer!  It is not for anyone with some reasonable experience with computers.

It deletes all programs and apps, but leave the mess behind.  Orphaned icons, programs that the registry tries to start but aren't there any more, like my wireless card program.  Oh...and what it does MS Edge!!! 😡.  I thought it would be a quick, easy way to address ntdll.dll failing module issues affecting my MS Office 365 apps that were crashing.  it might have done that, but the collateral damage just wasn't worth it. 

Anyone running FSX, P3D, or xPlane should be tech savvy enough to remove and re-install their operating system.  DO THAT.  Google "Windows 10 ISO", create a current install program on a USB Flash Drive, use it to re-boot and re-install Windows 10.  I had to do that last weekend.  I'm kind of back on track now..  Kind of...

DON'T USE FRESH START.  

On 3/12/2019 at 5:04 PM, richjb2 said:

I thought I would follow up on my experience with "Fresh Start".  In a nutshell, DO NOT USE FRESH START!!!!!   This feature is for mom and dad who need to your help start their computer!  It is not for anyone with some reasonable experience with computers.

It deletes all programs and apps, but leave the mess behind.  Orphaned icons, programs that the registry tries to start but aren't there any more, like my wireless card program.  Oh...and what it does MS Edge!!! 😡.  I thought it would be a quick, easy way to address ntdll.dll failing module issues affecting my MS Office 365 apps that were crashing.  it might have done that, but the collateral damage just wasn't worth it. 

Anyone running FSX, P3D, or xPlane should be tech savvy enough to remove and re-install their operating system.  DO THAT.  Google "Windows 10 ISO", create a current install program on a USB Flash Drive, use it to re-boot and re-install Windows 10.  I had to do that last weekend.  I'm kind of back on track now..  Kind of...

DON'T USE FRESH START.  

Thanks for the info.  I was thinking of trying it since I need to reinstall to get rid of some weird resource drain that happens after the system is up for a while (random frame time spikes, fps drops that go away for a while after a reboot).  Looks like I'm doing it the old fashioned way then.

It looks like the "reset this PC" option is still available, and not the same thing as "fresh start". 

 I had OS problems for quite awhile. I did resets and wipes and reinstalls of  Windows a number of times and still sluggish problems. That is until I installed a SSD. Turns out my HDD was bad. I only mention it because you just never know what the problem might be and how to fix it.

47 minutes ago, bobbyjack said:

It looks like the "reset this PC" option is still available, and not the same thing as "fresh start". 

 I had OS problems for quite awhile. I did resets and wipes and reinstalls of  Windows a number of times and still sluggish problems. That is until I installed a SSD. Turns out my HDD was bad. I only mention it because you just never know what the problem might be and how to fix it.

Yeah in my particular case I do have an SSD and every hardware test I've run is clean, points to a Windows or bad app issue.  Now I'm thinking I've confused the options though because yeah I was going to use whatever option is basically a reinstall of windows from within windows.  OP having leftover stuff sounds like the other option that I wasn't correctly remembering names that just does some sort of "cleanup".  I remember using whatever the option was that is basically a full reinstall on my parents old all-in-one a few months ago and it wiped everything out that was installed/etc.  I'm still leary of stuff like that and am always tempted to do the "format/reinstall" because then you know it's really clean.

30 minutes ago, flyinion said:

I'm still leary of stuff like that and am always tempted to do the "format/reinstall" because then you know it's really clean.

That's the only sure way to get a completely clean version of the OS installed. It's worth making an image of the drive immediately after installation and before you start installing apps so that you've got an easy and quick way to reinstall it if anything subsequently goes wrong.