Computer Restore to Factory Settings Guide

There are many reasons for wanting to restore computer to factory settings - these can include.

Speed issues – It’s a known fact that over time computers do run slow, this can be down to, file and registry fragments left over after software installs and uninstalls, plus user profiles getting larger and larger with temporary files.

Crashing – If your computer is crashing constantly and you have tried everything else then resetting it back to its defaults settings is an easy fix.

Want to revert back to a previous operating system – I remember not so long ago when we had lots of calls from people who had upgraded to Windows Vista from XP and were not happy with Vista, so wanted to revert back to XP, I’m guessing we will get the same thing now Windows 7 has been released.



A computer restore to factory settings is perhaps the very last resort when it comes to fixing any computer software problem, as this will wipe your hard drive, deleting everything and then install the original operating system to the original state you received the computer in.

So beforehand make sure you backup any files you wish to keep such as – My Documents – Internet Favorites – Outlook personal Folders - Music.

Another point worth noting is – if you purchased your computer over a year ago and you have Windows XP or Vista you will need to run a lot of Windows updates after resetting your computer to its previous settings, this should be considered a priority as many are security fixes.

Once you’ve read above and are ready to begin your computer restore to factory settings let’s begin.

There are two types of Windows factory restores, the first is the CD/DVD option, did your computer come with a DVD or CD restore disks?

computer restore to factory settings CD/DVD option
If so you really just need to boot from the CD/DVD – to do this power on the computer and pop in the CD/DVD now hit the F12 key – you should now be prompted to select a Boot device – Select the CD\DVD drive and then if prompted to press any key if prompted to boot from the CD/DVD, now just follow the onscreen prompts and your pc will be reset to its factory settings.

The next type, and most common factory restore is the one which is stored on a secondary partition on your computers hard drive, to see if you have a recovery partition go to Windows Disk Management – this can be accessed by right clicking on my computer – Selecting manage – The under Storage select Disk Management

Now look at Disk 0 and see if it has 2 partitions, which is a good indication that there could be a recovery partition.

To instigate the actual recovery you need to reboot your computer and then hit the F11 key on start-up this should now start the recovery.

If your computer came with no recovery disks or you don’t seem to have a recovery partition check with your manufacturer as many give the option for you to create the disks yourself, but to do this you will need to have there software installed.

computer restore to factory settings is a last resort, have you checked windows system restore?

computer adviser computer restore to factory settings article