I used to reinstall Windows on every slow PC that came in, now I check the drive health first

Paige Harris · 2026-09-30T23:55:03.427613+00:00

I ran my own shop in Sacramento for 6 years and my default fix for any machine that felt sluggish was a clean Windows install. A client brought in a Dell from 2019 last month complaining it took 4 minutes to boot, and I almost wiped it out of habit. Instead I pulled the SMART data and saw the drive had 12,400 reallocated sectors, so the old install was fine, the disk was dying. Swapping in a $45 SSD took 20 minutes and the machine boots in 11 seconds now. I know a lot of techs still reach for the OS reinstall because it feels like a real fix, but the free tools tell you in 30 seconds if you are wasting your time. What is your first move on a slow machine, do you check the hardware or go straight for the software?

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I used to reinstall Windows on every slow PC that came in, now I check the drive health first | Computer Technicians - Guest Forum