Cannot disagree more on the "dating content" idea. I tried that. I've written articles and guides online for topics that will not change. Some of them go back to 2002, and the information is as current in 2008 as it was then -- the topic is NOT going to change, period. Yet not one week goes by that some moron doesn't e-mail me -- without even reading the @#$%^&* article -- asking if it's still accurate? I've started to remove the dates on everything but timely content. People are too stupid to handle dates.

To even say "winrot" is to live in the Mac/Linux land of lollipops and ice cream. Well, no OS is perfect. The more you add/install/customize/alter, the more chances of system breakdown occur. I don't care if it's RedHat, OS X or Windows XP. The more you use a system, the more that can go wrong. It's 100% user related. You can use tools like CCleaner (formerly called "Crap Claner") to remove ... well... the crap, as left over by uninstalls and messy installs and temp files. You can manually clean your startup and registry. Then use protection software like WinPatrol, or a good internal firewall like Kerio, that will catch software trying to act without your direct command. Software does not magically break itself, and that includes the OS. Only hardware does that one.

Reformatting is giving up. Sometimes that's fine too, I've done it myself. Not all errors are worth fighting, just virgin the system and try again. But it's certainly not the only solution.