Fresh Install vs Upgrade

[agentsmith23]

From my experience and from what most other people recomend a fresh install yeilds the best results. However is there a way to just upgrade and have everything just work the same as doing a fresh install? Why is it always necessary to to a fresh install every 6 months. I LOVE Ubuntu but this seems like a huge pain to deal with every time there is a new release.

Please advise!

[kspncr]

Some systems just might break if you upgrade rather than do a fresh install. I remember I first tried upgrading from gutsy to hardy, and some programs I had installed were randomly gone. That's just me. Upgrades are flawless for some people, for some people they're not.

[caro]

I've upgraded three times and had no problems. One time I went in a removed old linux kernels using Synaptic to free up space and remove old unneeded files.