Restoring or Recovering Your Computer: What to Know Prior

System restore, or recovery, is an option that all computer manufactures give the users of their computer. This allows you to "recover" the computer back to the factory state, which is the state in which the computer was in at the time you purchased the machine, assuming you bought it un-used.

There are many reasons to do a factory restore to your computer. Often times people do this just because it's the simplest way to get a computer back to performing its best. While there are less destructive ways to do this, this is by far the easiest and the best way to make your computer "fresh" again. Viruses, database, and registry problems are a major cause of factory restores. Viruses and the damage they do is sometimes irreversible, depending on when you discovered the virus was in your machine, and what type of virus it was. Trojans "eat holes" in thousands of files per minute, and is almost impossible to fix if you don't catch it extremely early on.

On to the actual process. Before going through with a factory reset, you'll have to do a few things. One, make a back up of your drivers. While this is almost never necessary, not all factory restores will cover the driver issues. There are many ways to back up your drivers, and many big computer brands will have software built into your computer for doing this.

Do you have important programs, databases, personal information, pictures, documents, etc. that you need to save? Chances are, you do, regardless of whether or not you realize it now. Take the time to browse through your documents (assuming your computer is functional), including your pictures, videos, and other files. Look through your programs/program files, taking note that some of the programs may take cd keys, or other important information that would make them impossible to get back after the restore. Save all of these files to some device other than the hard drive/partition you are about to clear. If you have a second hard drive in your computer (external or internal) that the operating system does not run from, it is easiest to just drop the files on there, and get them back after the recovery. Otherwise, flash drives, external hard drives, and online storage may suit.

Some people rely very heavily on storing their passwords and login information for various websites on their computer. Be this a smart decision or not, you'll need to get this information before you factory reset your machine, because you will not have access to this information anymore.

To save some time on the above steps, or as an additional safety measure, download Acronis and make an image of your computer onto an external device or separate partition. This will save your computer in the exact state it is in right prior to the reset. I strongly recommend doing this extra step, it will probably take about an hour if it is your first time using the program. If you have done many successful factory resets on the machine you are working with before, this step is not necessary. All of the information you'll need for Acronis can be found on the product website. Acronis.com.

You are ready to restore your computer back to factory settings now. This is one step I cannot lead you through, because it will work differently on different machines. For the most part, though, the process is the same. Turn off your computer, and turn it back on. As it is powering up, you (should) see your manufacturer's logo. At this screen there should be an option for restore, recovery, reset, or some other option. To access this option press the button it recommends. It is often F11, Control F11, or F4. It all depends based on the computer though. If you cannot figure out what key to press, do a search for "restore button at startup for X" where X is the manufacturer of your machine. You will now be guided through your restore process. This is generally very easy to figure out, as you do not have many options. Make sure to delete all partitions (if you are given this option) or do a "destructive" restore (it simply means you're getting rid of everything and starting over, rather than keeping potentially harmful files).

Once you are done with the restore process, you will be guided through re-setting up your operating system. After this is done, make sure to do a few things. Install the latest drivers, get new antivirus (I recommend Microsoft's free "security essentials" program), and do all of your windows updates. You can now begin getting information that you backed up off your alternate devices.

If you discovered you're missing files that are extremely important, you can restore your computer back to where you started with Acronis.

I hope this information has lead you to the safest possible method of a factory restore for your system!