When should you reinstall the client ?

I admit to being a perfectionist, but hey, even I can improve I reinstall every time I crash. When do you know that you need to reinstall the client ? TIA for your input, as always. Cheers !

Steve

Gosh. With that policy, using WindLight on Linux, I'd be re-installing all the time! I almost never re-install--the uninstall process (on other OSs) just doesn't do enough to make it worthwhile, unless one really thinks the executable has been corrupted somehow--an extraordinarily rare event. Just clearing cache has almost the same effect (which I generally do manually, by simply nuking the cache directory); for anything more serious, I also nuke the character's settings and the user_settings directories, sibling to the cache directory.

But usually everything works just fine for me, simply restarting the client.

I usually re-install about once a week. When you do, it's usually a good idea to delete the Secondlife folder in your "hidden documents" too...I don't know what OS you use, but on Windows XP (what I have), it's:

C:/Documents and Settings/Administrator/Application Data/SecondLife.


...that folder doesn't delete when you uninstall SL, which is why it can still save your Username & Password for the next time you install. It's good to get rid of it when you install the new client *shrugs*

I have reinstalled only once in almost a year of running SL and that was when I couldn't get the executable to even start without an error.

I only reinstall after an uninstall

I reinstall whenever I upgrade the viewer and there is a Nicholaz patch for it. I don't take all the updates when they come out. I did just yesterday put in 18.5.3 with Nick's BE-V.

I only nuke SL and reinstall when files get corrupted and the viewer wont run... has only happened once in over a year. I don't see the point in reinstalling the application after every crash. Only in a rare case would the written program files on the harddrive get messed up, and even then you'd know it as soon as you ran the application again. Only possible plus I can see to all that reinstalling would be if yer trying to kill your harddrive before the warranty is up

I do the uninstall/reinstall thingy whenever the viewer has a mandatory update I can't skip (which is kind of a pain now since it deletes the settings as well since a few updates back).

General advice: uninstall/reinstall the viewer if you checked an option (or hit a keboard shortcut) and you don't remember what you turned on/off (and it persists between logons) since the uninstall will clear your settings now.