[Rickster1]

So it had been a while, over a year since I had done anything with my PB versus just use it. Watched many movies, had several gigs of e-books on it, documents just general usage. I use it a lot, every day as I love the size for playing music (alot!!) reading, playing games and watching movies. Pretty easy to type on. I got the Z10 and have been using it more even though the size is less than optional for my older eyes. My kids can watch TV shows and stuff on their phones but not me. I had sideloaded a few apps and stuff as well. The PB was getting glitchy, typing was a little stuttery and I had only about 6 gigs of space left. I decided as much as I didn't want to do it, a security wipe was probably a good idea. I went ahead and did this and am really astonished how it freshened up the performance of the PB!! I have loaded most of the apps I had on before as well as about half the amount of music. No movies yet and nothing sideloaded. Man, this thing is way faster now!! Browsing is fast, apps snap open, typing is way better (little to no stuttering). Not sure what a security wipe actually does as it doesn't take very long but it was well worth it and has made my PB way more useful!! Highly recommend taking this step if you are a heavy user and your PB has been running for many months without having done anything. Would be great if there was some indication of the PB being scanned or something. I have cleaned my browser cache out in the past but am never sure what happens cause it never tells me things are clear and such. Still, it has been great to do the wipe! Definitely worth the time and effort, just make sure you have a good backup first before doing the wipe. In my case, I didn't bother going to my back up, I am just adding stuff back that I really want and need versus getting everything back that I had before. It makes it like new!!!

[billbsb]

I have two Playbooks since 2011 and both are full of stuff and they feel kind of slow nowadays. I'll try to do the same as you did. I really don't want to let it go ...

[anon(1852343)]

I wipe my playbooks every six months or so. My Q10 is almost due but since a leak comes out every week, I can't find the time

[anon(4227966)]

Wow. I also had the feeling the my PB was slowing down. Good exercise. And I just need to note which android Apps I sideloaded.

[BuuKarim88]

I wish I had bought the PB before.

Posted via Non-iOS Non-Android Non-WP device

[raph_ryo]

Hi just want to ask. What happen if we did the wipe? Will it delete all the media files or games?

My PB also showing it slowness.

Thanks in advance

[ypvs]

The wipe will put back to factory fresh and delete any user-added content. You will need to connect to a computer and do a backup before the wipe. Once you've setup your BB Id and wifi connection it will ask to download and install the latest OS update. When you go to BB World any apps you previously downloaded will be listed ready for you to d/l and reinstall. As mentioned above you will need to make a note of any sideloaded Android stuff before the wipe and manually reload

[pcguy514]

I wish I had bought the PB before.

Posted via Non-iOS Non-Android Non-WP device

Its not to late if you know where to go shopping.
nice sig btw...

[raph_ryo]

The wipe will put back to factory fresh and delete any user-added content. You will need to connect to a computer and do a backup before the wipe. Once you've setup your BB Id and wifi connection it will ask to download and install the latest OS update. When you go to BB World any apps you previously downloaded will be listed ready for you to d/l and reinstall. As mentioned above you will need to make a note of any sideloaded Android stuff before the wipe and manually reload

Seem a lot of work. Will try when i have a time. Thanks btw

[markmall]

This sounds like an outstanding idea. I "upgraded" to a Nexus 2013. While it is better in some aspects, it is lacking in others. The BB Playbook OS was a winner over even the latest Android OS.

I'm going to to a clean install on my 16GB PB and see what happens.

[Banco]

Seem a lot of work. Will try when i have a time. Thanks btw

It's not as much as you might think. My Playbook became virtually unusable, due (I am fairly sure) to a rogue sideloaded app. I'd done everything I could do avoid going down the security wipe route, thinking just the same as you, but I eventually bit the bullet and did it. Firstly, the difference is staggering - you just don't really notice how much it's slowed down over time, and for it to then be flying the way it is afterwards is a bit of a shock. Reinstalling all the apps is a little time consuming, sure, but you can queue several up, so it'll just happily do it in the background while you're doing something else. Sideloaded ones are equally a piece of cake provided you've saved the bar files somewhere on your computer and can upload them all in one hit.

The only one I regarded as a bit of a pain was putting the media back on it, because the volume of files is so big. But if you've unlimited wifi then just let that happily run in the background - though it'll be quicker via USB.

So all in all, it's not really a lot of work, it's very little. It just takes some time, so you have to let it do its stuff. It's worthwhile though, it really is. Put it this way, I'll do it again voluntarily in a few months, just to refresh it. It makes that much of a difference.

[mmd12]

What happens if you restore from the backup. Does it slow it back down?

I'm thinking of trying this suggestion. Just wondering if it's better to download the apps I have from BBWorld or restore from the back up.

[Banco]

What happens if you restore from the backup. Does it slow it back down?

I'm thinking of trying this suggestion. Just wondering if it's better to download the apps I have from BBWorld or restore from the back up.

I couldn't get it to back up in the first place, so even the option didn't apply to me. But restoring from BBW was pretty easy, and the ones I'd bought downloaded with no problems.

[mmd12]

Well, I went ahead and backed up my PlayBook, did the security wipe and then restored. The back up and restore took a long time for anyone thinking of doing this.

I didn't realize I had to set up my email accounts again. Not a big deal, just a bit of a surprise.

So far, I'm not noticing any performance differences. I'll give it a day or so, and if I still don't see any improvement, I'll wipe again, but not restore. Just download the apps from BBWorld.

[Banco]

I've seen some say that restoring just imports the same slowness (relatively) back into it, but since I didn't do that I can't comment on the veracity of that.

[atlac]

I've seen some say that restoring just imports the same slowness (relatively) back into it, but since I didn't do that I can't comment on the veracity of that.

Yes good guess. my playbook is slow even with wipe because of restoring the back up. I think wipe without restoring may help. will try that option and check

[Banco]

Yes good guess. my playbook is slow even with wipe because of restoring the back up. I think wipe without restoring may help. will try that option and check

For me, the difference was so startling that there's no way it was wishful thinking, it was like lightning afterwards.