Originally posted by cubby31682
You are supposed to format at least once every six months.
No you're not. I've NEVER formatted a hard drive while it was in use; just once when I was giving my old PC away. Regular maintenance is required, but reformatting a hard drive is the last-ditch solution to problems.

I use Norton Internet Security, Spybot Search & Destroy, AdAware and make sure all are regularly updated. Set Windows Update and Norton to update automatically. Run Windows Disk Clean-up and Defrag regularly and I haven't had any major problems.