So my laptop has been running not up to par with what I'd like it to be running at, so I'm debating on reinstalling windows. Only issue being I don't know if I'd be able to keep all my saves in the games I've downloaded off the browser version of itch. The main question/issue here is I'm wondering if I reinstall windows, will I be able to download all the same games and I currently have installed and still have my save files, or will I have to restart all of them?
Games that show up in your Library (meaning they are linked to your account) will still be there as long as you log back into your account. Games that are not linked (because they were a free download) can simply be redownloaded if the uploader has not removed them or anything like that.
For the save files, they are stored either within the game folder (like a folder named 'saves') or somewhere in your windows profile folder. It can be... difficult to find all save files for every game, as the store location and naming can vary greatly. So I would make sure to at least look up the ones you definitely want to keep and either upload them to your personal cloud (if you use one) or copy them to an external storage (like a sd card).
I do not think that your pc would have problems specifically of something in your personal files (at least not if it has not become infected with a virus or just is a total mess of files from over a decade). But in regards to windows I learned that, at least if it cannot be solved differently (by removing some programs for example), it is always best to make a fresh install to get rid of all problems the system has gotten over time. Any of the other methods may solve the problem, but there is a good chance that it does not or that some things will still be broken.
Hope that helps.
Uhm. Does the itch app store saves in the cloud like steam does? while that would of course be nice, I doubt it can do that.
Do you want to reinstall windows or do you want to wipe your hard disk? As far as I remember you can just shove windows over windows - it is over 10 years since I installed a windows...
There is no such thing as mysterious programs stealing your ressources (unless you have a root kit malware).
Open your taskmanager and have a look for bottlenecks. You can see what ressources are used by wich programs. If you run out of memory, you will find the culprit. If it is cpu time, it is a bit harder, but you will see things doing things when they should not. And if it is boot time ... you have a laptop, why are you booting, that is what energy saving modes are for.
Number one ressource hoggers are 3rd party malware scanners. Maybe you have an now unneeded database installed, but that would not take active ressources.
Anyways, you should make a backup before.
And save games are sometimes in game folders, sometimes in user folder, sometimes even in the regestry. And if you have drm from certain games, that might get wiped accidentally too. But the type of game you get from itch are not installed in the classicals way most of the time. So they should reside in whatever game folder you unzipped them to. Unless you wipe your disk, they should be still there.
