Is it wise to reformat a PC for a speed boost.

[Razgovory]

I've had this cheap rig for a while and it's becoming intolerably slow on loading.  I've never done a factory reinstall though I did do a data migration to an SSD hard drive several years back.  I'm thinking I got the PC back in 2015 and the data migration to a new hard drive back in 2018.  Would a factory reinstall be a good idea?  If I do so any files I should focus on and save to a thumb drive that wouldn't be immediately obvious?

[Darth Wagtaros]

Depends on how much junk you have running at any given time.  If you do wipe it back up your bookmarks for your browser(s), any documents, pictures, etc. 

[clandestino]

Not sure if this applies, but maybe you should consider a transition to a Linux OS, since they tend to give an extra life to older rigs.

I guess it depends on the type of use and the software you *really* need to use.

[Josquius]

Total reformats aren't the miracle pill they once were but certainly wouldn't hurt if you are willing to back to square one.
I'd recommend having a run through with something like ccleaner  first to see if you can eek out anything from what you've got- trimming startup programs and other junk can help a bit.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Gott be careful with CCleaner. They got bought out a few years back and introduced some bloatware and some potentially bad features. 

[Josquius]

Gott be careful with CCleaner. They got bought out a few years back and introduced some bloatware and some potentially bad features. 

The driver updater is easily avoided by not clicking into it.