Which method to reinstall a clean version of Mavericks?

Question

I'm getting thoroughly confused as to the method(s) afforded to me to reinstall Mavericks cleanly. My machine came pre-loaded with 10.9.0. Since buying a new customised iMac four weeks ago I've been struggling not only with a blurry display but also with myriad bugs. I've been so busy with all of that that I've not had time yet to acquire and install my own additional apps. I've tried one Mavericks update, from the Apps Store, bringing it to 10.9.2 but it made zilch difference to any of my problems.
Using the Web to bone up on how to download a fresh copy of Mavericks and then to put it on to a bootable USB drive has revealed that there are several methods for doing this. However, each involves multiple procedures and if you don't do them just right you risk ending up with a dead machine. But amongst the many articles I looked at was this:
http://www.macworld.com/article/2056561/how-to-make-a-bootable-mavericks-install -drive.html
in which Dan Frakes states in a section called 'A note on installer compatibility' that owners of Macs that came with Mavericks pre-installed aren't allowed to download a new copy of Mavericks with which to do as they wish. Instead, only an 'Internet Recovery' install is permitted.
Then, on these forums I've seen reference to this, which seems to suggest that a copy of Mavericks, other than the one being used, is stored on the Mac and simply needs to be envoked:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ph14243?viewlocale=en_US
Errh, or does it?
Going back to the macworld article, is Frakes's contention true? Could I only envoke an Internet Recovery (and that only), where presumably all control will taken away from me and a download-and-install done all in one operation? (There might be issues in my case, as my internal HD's partitioned).
I've of course been doing Time Machine backups along the way but TM backups will only deal with the system disk's contents as delivered initially, including any bugs or damaged files that might have been there at that time. Only a clean install of some kind, from a newly-acquired copy of the Mavericks file, will be the sensible thing to do, therefore, if I want to try the fix the current problems with my Mac.
But then there's the Apple Support note about using Recovery for reinstalling the OS. What makes this different to an Internet Recovery? In this case, is Recovery done from a good copy of Mavericks stored on the Mac (seems very unlikely), or is this in fact the same as Dan Frakes's Internet Recovery, except that the Apple Support note doesn't go on to say that the Internet will be automatically accessed?
Has anyone using these forums been in this situation yet and discovered the ins and outs of trying to download and install a clean version of Mavericks, when the current OS on their Mac is already Mavericks?
Going to the Apps Store (at which I've registered) and looking up the description of the Mavericks Installer file there, a small button on the webpage indicates that it's free and, certainly in my case, there's no wording there to indicate that I'll not be permitted to download it. But perhaps that won't happen until I actually try to do it?!

Answer 1

Kappy,
Sorry I've not responded for a few days. I've been busy with important issues outside of computing.
I've read your response many times over and although I still find it confusing, it appears that at long last you're beginning to agree with me - that machines that already have a copy of Mavericks pre-loaded are a special case, in that with them you can't just go to the OSX Mavericks Installer at the Apple Store and download the file there, with a view to performing a reinstall of it and/or to make a bootable copy of it, and then expect it to work. Instead, the only options available are to use what's called 'OSX Recovery', or 'Internet Recovery', two mechanisms that are especially built into the Mavericks Mac itself. Now, I might still have got this wrong but I think that the former will restore a copy version of Mavericks on the machine as loaded by the factory (not from Time Machine), whereas the latter will specifically download a new copy of Mavericks from a dedicated Apple server (not the same file as found at the Apps Store). Either mechanism will require the Internet to be accessed.
From all of the research on this that I've done by looking through other postings in these and other forums, there's widespread misunderstanding of this, in my opinion. From what I've read, I think the majority who've written about it have got it wrong and only one or two have realised that, for current post-Mavericks machines, what you're actually permitted to download is quite limited and specific. Indeed it's very easy to get this so wrong that if you attempt it without truly understanding it you can easily end up with a dead machine and no copy at all of Mavericks! Both OSX Recovery and Internet Recovery require the system disk to be erased before the replacement copy of Mavericks is added to it, but if something goes wrong with the download, for example, or you find you're not permitted to download the file anyway (because you've requested the wrong Mavericks file), you've basically had it!
Why on earth Apple has devised such a complex mechanism in the first place is quite beyond me. I can only presume that, because hard install media (CDs, DVDs) has now been consigned to the past, Apple's become paranoid about the possibility of people downloading copies of the OS to put on their own media and it then possibly getting illegally distributed. But Mavericks is hardly likely to work on a non-genuine Apple machine anyway, and Mac-ers are allowed to now update from earlier versions of the OS for free, so where's the problem? I just cannot fathom why Apple doesn't simply provide a ready-made USB memory stick with a copy of the OS on it when someone buys a Mac. There are surely ways of locking the stick both to keep it safe from erasure or corruption and to associate it, by way of serial.no., with only a specific machine?
Anyway, back to the problem in hand. My understanding - and I'll be the first to hold up my hands and admit that I'm a complete idiot if I'm wrong - is that post-Mavericks machines (such as mine) incorporate a normally-hidden zone on the system drive (or system partition) that holds: a presumed good copy of Mavericks, a Disk Utility, a minimal form of the Safari browser, and the Restore mechanism for Time Machine. If, therefore, you wish to reinstall the OS from this copy, then you would envoke specifically OSX Recovery. You'd type Cmd + R during a restart. You'd need to assume that the copy of the OS (not the copy you've been using) is therefore good and totally uncorrupted (which it might not be!), but at least this recovery method should be relatively fast. My guess is that the Internet access requirement for this is purely for authorisation purposes (reading the machine's serial no. and doing a quick check on the hardware) and nothing else.
Incidentally, for both recovery methods, Apple strongly advises that you ensure that your router is configured to DHCP. Look very carefully in:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4718
I assume this is because of the simplified nature of the Internet access by the minimal browser contained in the Recovery zone and also the presumed minimal status of the Network software on the machine. This unfortunately will mean a separate and very awkward additional task for those of us who are not using DHCP. And then a repeat of that later on, to put the router back to its normally-required state. Jeez, all this palaver just to try to end up with a decent copy of the OS on the machine!
My understanding is that OSX Recovery renders you effectively an on-machine backup copy of Mavericks but with all your files and settings remaining intact. (At one stage I had a suspicion that the backup copy was a download from an Apple server, but now I'm not so sure and instead I think it's from a copy of the OS kept in the Recovery zone on the HD from Day One). Bear in mind that if the Recovery zone, or specifically OSX Recovery, has become corrupted or there are bad files amongst the copy OS, all you'll end up doing is putting another corrupted version of Mavericks back. There's really no substitute, in my view, for a proper clean install, and so for this you need to envoke Internet Recovery instead, the alternative mechanism.
Internet Recovery follows a similar procedure, except that you use Cmd + Option + R during the first restart. You follow the instructions through, and before Recovery attempts to connect the machine with the Apple server you're required to wipe the entire system drive. Unfortunately if you've partitioned your system disk, then this will cause a problem, possibly causing the procedure to freeze (see the above kb article). So you've no real option but to save any precious files in them and to delete those partitions beforehand, reconstructing them later on, when hopefully the full Internet Recovery will have succeeded. After the server performs a couple of checks on your machine the 'guaranteed clean' version of Mavericks is then downloaded, straight into the system drive, along with a copy of the Recovery zone. My assumption is therefore that the Internet Recovery download will be at least 13GB, if not more. OSX Recovery, by comparison, should be in the region of 6GB. Anyone on a slow Internet connection will therefore experience some very frustrating hours, if not days, waiting for the Internet Recovery download to complete. Even after that there'll be many minutes before the whole process ends and the machine finally boots back up into the Welcome screen.
Incidentally, Apple seem to say that the version you're given in the download is the version found already on the machine. So, if you've originally had 10.9.0 and you've in the interim updated to 10.9.2, does the server give you 10.9.0 again, or 10.9.2? I guess it doesn't matter too much, as you're probably going to want to download the updates and any missing iLife apps again anyway - but it'd be nice to know early on. Another ambiguity, in my view.
Looking back at your last statement in your posting of 25th March, Kappy, what you've written there is of course true  - you're not permitted to download the Mavericks Installer file from the Apps Store, and that any other non-legitimate copy elsewhere on the hard drive will ultimately fail - but with an important caveat: Yes, you're not permitted to download Mavericks from the Apps Store in that instance, but you are still permitted to get a different and bigger file (the 'full' file which includes all of Recovery) from a different Apple server elsewhere. And that's Internet Recovery.    
Now, do tell me, have I understood this properly? If you reckon you're truly up to speed on this and you think I'm still wrong over one or two things, do point them out.
Actually, when I performed my recent update to 10.9.2 the screen went blank halfway through the download and remained so for some time. (The download took over 30 mins). It did nonetheless appear to complete. However, my working copy of Mavericks now seems even more buggy than the version supplied on the machine originally. So, this is why I'm seriously contemplating a full clean install now (Internet Recovery). At the time of the update, my router was configured to be using fixed addressing, not DHCP, so possibly that caused a big hiccup in the download. Somehow, I can't believe that that would be a requirement for everyday updating of the OS and apps, though. That'd be ridiculous.