How do you "Turn back time" on a computer, reset to factory settings & start a fresh?

Answer 1

You could try this option if you can't use the system restore program.

FIRST RUN YOUR ANTI VIRUS SOFTWARE TO TRY AND DELETE ANY UNWANTED INFECTION'S.

TO RESET YOUR PC TO FACTORY SETTINGS
Before you try using the system recovery program I would suggest using system restore:
if software on you hard drive accidentally gets erased or damaged, first use Microsoft system restore to return the computer's settings to a selected restore point without affecting user programs or document files. "how ever"
when other methods of repairing your system software fail then you may want to use the system recovery program as a last resort to reinstall software.

WARNING SYSTEM RECOVERY WILL DELETE ANY DATA OR PROGRAM THAT YOU INSTALLED AFTER PURCHASE,
BE SURE TO BACK UP ANY DATA THAT YOU WANT TO KEEP ON A REMOVABLE DISC

1.Disconnect any devices, like printer,scanner, webcam,
Except the monitor, keyboard, mouse
1. click start on the task bar
2. choose all programs
3. choose PC tools
and then click system recovery
4. wait until the system recovery box appears asking do you really want to start PC system recovery,, click yes
follow on screen instructions.
5.complete the computer start-up and finish the registration process, then reconnect all devices.
good luck.

Answer 2

For a complete refresh which i would recommend every 5 or so years for windows xp.

Firstly backup everything onto writable DVD, additional harddisk or memory stick, first location to backup would be the c:\documents and settings folder as this contains all your "my docs" cookies, favourites etc.

To double check you have backed everything up search for *.doc (word docs) *.jpg (photos) *.mpg and *.mp4 (videos) *.xls (excell) and so on.

Once you are sure all is backed up reboot your pc with the windows xp cd in the drive and boot from CD, to a full format of the hard disk and re-install windows following the prompts.

Doing it this way will completely refresh your pc, formatting the harddisk the long way will re-write the sectors on the hard drive, this will provide reliability in the long run. if you do a system restore and you have bad sectors/corruption then they will still be present after system restore.

Good luck.

Answer 3

To completely reset back up all your data off your computer and reinstall it, wiping everything.

Windows computers offer System Restore which will restore important settings from a known good state.

For Mac, Leopard isn't out yet but Time Machine will do a similar thing for your files.

Answer 4

there are lots of ways here are two. easy way is grab your factory install or restart disk that came with your P.C. or Mac. then just put it in the CD drive and close it. it will almost do it all by it self just read what it says and do it. you can if you know how to use a computer, just do a reload from a few days before you had your problems.

Answer 5

That depends on who mfged the PC and how they installed the operating system. Some mfgs simply put the original op sys on the drive and you can reset it to factory with a few simple keystrokes, others use restore disks.

Answer 6

You can combine your hard drives for example c:, d: or e : into a single hard drive that will be default c: with the use of Partition Magic make sure that your hard disk is converted to NTFS. After that format your PC and install a fresh O.S with a latest antivirus and all your viruses will be removed permanently from your hard disk.

Answer 7

the way your question is asked you are ref urning to time, time is read in the lower right corner of your toolbar, place your mouse courser over the time and right click it, select adjust Date/time so adjust the time by clicking the digital Hour or minute setting then move the up down arrows after you have the new time set click OK and you are done...

Answer 8

go back to basic wipe the hard drive , and reload programmes, check you have all the boot discs first, save any info to disc that you may need , my advice go to a comp. repair shop and ask there advice costs about £40 and they will do it for you

Answer 9

no you should have a system restore, and you can click on any day on any month to restore your pc back to this point, but you have to save anything you don't want to lose, you should find system restore on your accseroies section, click start all programmes click accsesories then click sytem restore,

Answer 10

click on start goto all programs click accesories scroll to system restore click follow instructions.
good luck.