Q: Reinstall vs clean install

Thank you, Greg, for your response.

Is one method better than the other in resolving OS issues, do you know?

I am experiencing issues with start up, etc which from other forum discussions may be related to installing Yosemite via an upgrade. All the other measures suggested (ensuring start up disk assignment is correct; clearing PRAM; etc) have had no effect for me so the reinstall/clean install seems to be my next step.

Thanks again.

I haven't tried using Safe Mode but will look into it, thank you.

A clean install makes me a bit nervous but will have to do it if all else fails.

Thanks again for the info and advice. Very helpful!

Cheers.

My mbp is slow on start up. Screen with Apple logo and status bar underneath appears first. The bar moves for a while, pauses, and then starts moving again. Once logged in the turning circle does it's thing for a while before it's all good to go. Prior to installing Yosemite I was using a Surfeasy (VPN) USB key which no longer works. It works on my work computer PC but not my mac. Occasionally my wi-fi stalls out. And, I can't airdrop from my iPhone 6 to my mbp (not sure if this is an issue with the mbp or the phone). So, overall, just some glitches that I want to try and get rid of.  All the 'usual' fixes people have posted haven't worked for me.

I worked with their support team to diagnose the issue. We went through everything and the only variable that had changed since the last time I used the USB key was the upgrade to Yosemite. The team was great and very thorough but ,short of reinstalling Yosemite, for me there was nothing left to do.

Thank you for the links.

I've done my first ever successful airdrop from my iPhone to mbp - I didn't change anything it just worked. I haven't tried for a while so it might be that one of the recent OS updates helped? Anyways, nice to have that working

I did a safemode start up and it started very slow, had some weird black screen with white lines screen scrolling happen, and overall the system just ran real slow and sluggish. Have shut down and started things back up again and it's back to the way is was. I cleared the start up items and log in items (nothing was in the log in items folder, only one in start up) but that too didn't affect anything.

I really appreciate the added suggestions, thank you.

I'm going to have to steady the nerves, back up the files, and dive in for a clean install...ugh...