Housekeeping Android?

[paulb104]

I've had my Samsung Epic (with Sprint) for almost six months. Since then I have installed over two hundred apps from the Amazon Appstore, the Android Market, plus a a few apk's I've picked up from bittorrent. I would guess I've uninstalled about two thirds of those apps.

I don't know how many apps are on a factory clean Epic. AutoAppOrganizer says I have 181 apps (including all the Sprint stuff originally added).

Every so often while digging through the Epic I find folders that were created by old apps that have been uninstalled.

That said, if my phone were a Windows pc, what I would do is backup all my installed software (as well as all settings, contacts, etc), wipe the thing clean and reinstall the operating system to return it to factory settings and restore my stuff.

Does that need to be done with Android? Should it be done? If it should be done, can it be done without rooting?
(I have NOT rooted my phone, and at the moment I don't have the desire to do so. I use my phone WAY too much. I use maybe thirty phone minutes a month. For me, the Epic is a computer. I chat, email, use docs and spreadsheets, mapping, research, and of course games. Should the rooting go awry and I cannot use the Epic, or it gets bricked, I'd be lost.)

Thanks for any advice!!!!

Paul

 

[dan330]

as I understand it...

android is linux and is nothing like DOS/Windows.. it does not use a registry file.. etc..

so there is no lingering statements or files in the OS to worry about with android.

some apps do create folders in the SD card to save some user data (ex: games) to...these are left behind, but have no impact on the OS. you can delete them if you wish.

 

[Joe Dirt]

their may be some data left on your SDcard. If it concerns you, pull the data off the card that you need. then format it and reinstall after putting the data back on the card.

If your phone is running fine and smooth, don't worry about it. I do a full factory wipe about every 6 months, but thats only because I change ROMs often.

 

[!on]

You can ofcourse go in settings > manage apps & if some app or apps are giving you bother you can clear it's cache, or even clear it's app data so that the app is new again.

But yeah like the above poster said, I look in SD card if I uninstall something it might leave a folder, like a browser that created it's own folder for downloads.