Restore computer to purchase date?
My computer has slowed to a crawl. I have only a Windows system disc. Is it possible to start over with the computer at the level I had the day I bought it? And how do I do it? Thanks This happens of...
Forum Discussion
If you feel you really want to start from the beginning and sometimes that is not a bad thing to do, it is not hard to do. First get off your hard drive any data, documents, photos, anything that you need to have because once you start this process it will all be erased. You also need all of the disks for the software that you have installed on the computer - every program that you want will require a disk and all installation code numbers for it. Then once you have checked at least three times that there is nothing on your computer any longer that you cannot live without you are ready to start.
Make sure your BIOS is set to start from CD/DVD Drive.
Format the C drive. This will wipe out the entire operating system and anything that is on the main hard drive.
Once formatted, shut down your computer and start it with the Windows OS disk in the drive (you are going to be asked for the install serial number so don't do any of this if you do not have that).
Your computer will start from the CD/DVD drive. It may ask you to partition the disk - it will step you through this if it does.
Then it will start the Windows installer. It may ask if you want to do a Full Install. The answer is yes. You are not upgrading from a former version of Windows this is a full clean install. (MAKE SURE that your Windows disk is a full version and not an update version.)
The rest Windows will walk you through. This whole process may take some time so make sure you have a number of hours free to do this all at once. Once Windows is installed your computer will start normally - and a lot faster. The first thing that will happen is that you will need to install new drivers for any peripherals and this may or may not be automatic - with plug and play devices it is usually automatic and the system will start looking for those and installing them - and may ask for your OK - so stick around by the screen. You may also be asked to do some Windows updates and these also take some time plus will require some input from you as it goes along.
Then you are ready to install all of your software. When you are finished it will run just like it did when you got it.
At this point it is a good idea to make a full backup of the computer's hard drive. This way if you ever have to do this again, you will have it all right there. In addition to this backup which you will keep an never change, make an other backup that you will have to update as you add or make changes to the software on your computer (monthly backup updates to this second backup). It is good to have a large USB hard drive to keep solely as a backup drive. Get yourself Acronis True Image backup software - it is simple and you do not have to reinstall Windows to restore your computer from the backup. It will save a lot of time and headache the next time you would like to do this.
Make sure your BIOS is set to start from CD/DVD Drive.
Format the C drive. This will wipe out the entire operating system and anything that is on the main hard drive.
Once formatted, shut down your computer and start it with the Windows OS disk in the drive (you are going to be asked for the install serial number so don't do any of this if you do not have that).
Your computer will start from the CD/DVD drive. It may ask you to partition the disk - it will step you through this if it does.
Then it will start the Windows installer. It may ask if you want to do a Full Install. The answer is yes. You are not upgrading from a former version of Windows this is a full clean install. (MAKE SURE that your Windows disk is a full version and not an update version.)
The rest Windows will walk you through. This whole process may take some time so make sure you have a number of hours free to do this all at once. Once Windows is installed your computer will start normally - and a lot faster. The first thing that will happen is that you will need to install new drivers for any peripherals and this may or may not be automatic - with plug and play devices it is usually automatic and the system will start looking for those and installing them - and may ask for your OK - so stick around by the screen. You may also be asked to do some Windows updates and these also take some time plus will require some input from you as it goes along.
Then you are ready to install all of your software. When you are finished it will run just like it did when you got it.
At this point it is a good idea to make a full backup of the computer's hard drive. This way if you ever have to do this again, you will have it all right there. In addition to this backup which you will keep an never change, make an other backup that you will have to update as you add or make changes to the software on your computer (monthly backup updates to this second backup). It is good to have a large USB hard drive to keep solely as a backup drive. Get yourself Acronis True Image backup software - it is simple and you do not have to reinstall Windows to restore your computer from the backup. It will save a lot of time and headache the next time you would like to do this.
