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How to Reset Your Windows 10 PC | Laptop Mag

 

Reformatting your PC or restoring to an earlier state can clean out any pesky background programs and wipe your computer's hard drive of any unneeded files. The operating system provides a number of options that let you reset your Windows 10 computer to an earlier state. Here's how to reset your PC in Windows 10 using the settings menu.

If you can't access Settings, scroll down to our instructions on formatting Windows 10 from the sign-in screen. Navigate to Settings. Factory resetting Windows was once an inconvenient process, but Microsoft introduced a much easier way to do so in Windows 8. This is also included in Windows 10 and is the best way to factory reset a Windows computer in most cases.

You'll see a Reset this PC header; click the Get started button underneath this to begin. You'll have two initial options to choose from when you reset Windows 10 this way: Keep my files or Remove everything. Picking Keep my files sets your OS options back to default and removes all your installed apps such as browsers, Microsoft Office, and games , but keeps your files like documents and music.

True to its name, Remove everything is a full factory reset: it puts all options back to factory defaults and removes your files and apps. Afterward, Windows will be like it is on a brand-new computer. Though the Keep my files option will retain your personal data, you should still back up before using it in case something goes wrong.

On modern versions of Windows 10, you'll next have to choose how you want to reinstall Windows. There are two ways: Cloud download or Local reinstall. Local reinstall uses files on your current system to construct a fresh copy of Windows. While it saves you from having to download any files from the internet, it also won't work if your Windows installation is corrupted.

With Cloud download , the process will instead download a fresh copy of Windows 10 from Microsoft over the internet. This reinstalls the version of Windows 10 you're currently running plus any minor updates , so it won't upgrade you to a newer feature update. Download Windows takes several gigabytes of data, so take care if you're on a limited connection. If you have a fast internet connection, though, this option can be faster than the local reinstall. Tutorials Software operating systems Microsoft Windows.

Click on the Start button on the lower left-hand corner of the screen. Double-click the Setup. Click on "Change what to keep" in the subsequent popup window. Your PC will now reboot with the saved settings.

Featured Resources Successful enterprise application modernisation requires hybrid cloud infrastructure Optimise business outcomes with a secure and reliable modern infrastructure Free Download. The business value of the transformative mainframe Modernising on the mainframe Free Download. If your PC came with Windows 8. Check the info that came with your PC to see if your PC manufacturer provided these discs or media. In some cases, you might have created them when you first set up your PC.

For more info, see Create a USB recovery drive. If you upgraded your PC to Windows 8. If your PC isn't performing as well as it once did, and you don't know why, you can refresh your PC without deleting any of your personal files or changing your settings. Warning: Apps you installed from websites and DVDs will be removed.

Apps that came with your PC and apps you installed from Microsoft Store will be reinstalled. Windows puts a list of removed apps on your desktop after refreshing your PC. Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings , and then tap Change PC settings.

If you're using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, click Settings , and then click Change PC settings. The good news is that Microsoft has ensured that Windows 10 has the ability to reset your machine to its factory settings without removing any files or applications that you want to keep. By choosing to reset your equipment, it will not only help your computer to run smoother, but will also potentially fix any other issues with your hardware or software.

Instead of having to buy a new PC or laptop, you might find that restoring your machine to its factory settings will make it much more lively and easy to use once again. It is a fairly straightforward process to reset your Windows 10 installation.

First, open up the Start Menu and access the Settings menu, represented by the cog icon. You're then presented with three options - Reset this PC, Go back to an earlier build and Advanced startup. If you choose Reset this PC, everything will be wiped and you can start from a fresh install, while Go back to an earlier build allows Windows Insiders testers to roll back to a previous version of Windows. After you've chosen "Reset this PC" - the option for reinstalling Windows 10 on your computer, you can either choose to keep your files on the machine or remove everything - the latter of which will do as the name suggests - remove absolutely everything.

It's important to note that whichever of these two options you choose, all applications will be removed from the computer and everything else will return to their defaults.