Resetting to Factory Settings?

I have always wondered about resetting laptops and computers to factory settings when they get old. We have all experienced that moment when all of the things we have on our computers cause them to slow down. Would it help at all to reset and start with a clean slate or is it a lost cause by the time slow down starts to happen?

 

If you think of your machine like a filing cabinet,some redundant files may still
be in it, taking up space,others may be misfiled slowing things down, then this is very similar situation
to what's been happening over time with your machine.

A fresh install will tidy things up make the whole thing run better, age is not a factor

 

I once reset my computer to factory reset. I did not do this because my computer was old or was getting slow. I had to do this because virus corrupted my C drive. My antivirus had expired and I was dillydallying to renew, in the mean time virus infected my C driver. After factory reset, my computer was as good as new one. Factory reset indeed helps.

 

I did this on my old HP laptop once and it did making a different! I don't remember what happened to it, but I just plunged right in and re-install Window.

 

I agree with the poster above who said that age is not always a factor. Wiping the hard drive entirely and reinstalling Windows can often leave a machine running like it's brand new, that is unless there does happen to be hardware problems but usually even when there are hardware problems it's usually quite straightforward to sort them out. I think the problem with most computers is that most people don't know how to look after them properly; scan for malware, clean out temporary files/cookies, perform cleanup, disc check, defragmentation, etc. I think if most people did that properly, their computers would last a lot longer.

 

I was in the same situation as @vinaya and I was really forced to set it back, and for what I remember it did solve the issues for about ten minutes and I thought that I was okay and everything was back to normal, only to get the same screen and realize that it was something far worse than that. That was the point when I just gave up, so I would say that just prepare for the worst if you try and know what you are getting yourself into.

 

Usually if you can boot the PC in Safe Mode you will be able to access factory reset from the Windows Control Panel. Make sure that you have administrative privileges and that you back up any important data like pictures and documents, etc. prior to resetting!

 

From what I understand, you can't just "reset" a laptop to factory setting. There is no such button... unlike some router, modem, etc. kind of simpler devices.

What you can do is to use "restore" it back to a certain date if you have restore point from back then. I usually create some restore points when I first installed a fresh OS and after installed some important programs. So if there is a problem later, I get to go back to when everything was still fine.

Correct me if I am wrong. Maybe I am unaware of Windows 10 having such feature.

 

Yes you have to start the PC in safe mode. I can list the steps here for doing it if you would like.

 

I've always wanted to reset my laptop to it's default factory settings whenever it lags for no reason, but i always chicken out the last minute because really, what if i just mess up the whole thing and it won't start up again, then I'd be left without a laptop and that's just not acceptable. But i think i can do it if i really put time to research how it's done properly.