In this video, I'm going to show you how to reset your Windows 10 computer, and get it
working like new again. You might want to do this because you want to sell your computer
or give it to someone else, or you might be having problems with your computer and you
want to get it working properly again.
So keep watching to find out how.
This is Dave’s Tech Rescue, where I solve your problems with computers, Internet and
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Windows 10 has a built-in Reset facility, that will get your computer back to a clean,
pristine state. After you reset your computer, it will have none of the apps or programs
that you currently have installed, but it will just have the basic apps that come with
Windows 10. It will reset all your settings - so everything
like your desktop wallpaper, your list of printers, the amount of time it takes for
your computer to go to sleep to save the battery. All those things go back to the default settings.
As for your data, you get to decide whether you want to keep your files, like your Documents,
Photos and Videos, or if you want to delete everything and completely clean the computer.
Just make sure you decide carefully, and I always recommend you back up anything important
before you start a big operation like this.
And if you're going to be passing your computer on to someone else or selling it, there's
a really useful option that lets you securely erase your data so that no-one can recover
your data later on.
Make sure you watch this video to the end and that you completely understand what you'll
be doing before you start. If you're not sure, you might want to take your computer to an
expert instead. And if you do want to keep any of your data, make sure you've backed
it up to a separate place before you start. Also bear in mind that what you see on your
screen might be different to what's on mine. Windows 10 is always being updated, and features
might move from one version to the next. So if something looks different on your screen,
read it carefully, and you should work out what to do.
So, let's get started. You'll need to close any programs you have open, so you're just
looking at the Desktop like this.
Click on the Start Menu, and go to Settings.
Now scroll down to the very bottom, and click on Update and Security.
On the left hand side, click on Recovery.
Now this is what we want, Reset this PC. So click Get started.
Now you need to choose whether you want to keep your files, or remove them. I'm going
to show you what happens if you Keep Your Files, and I'll go through the other option
later in this video.
So, click Keep my files.
After a short wait, you'll get a summary of what's about to happen. We're going to change
settings back to the defaults, keep your personal files, and remove all apps and programs. If
you're happy to go ahead, click the Reset button.
Now you just need to wait while your computer gets reset. You don't need to do anything,
the computer will restart when it needs to. This computer took around 30 mins to finish.
I'm just going to close this welcome page.
So you can see I have my files on the desktop, and any other files I had before in Documents
and Downloads, and Pictures and so on are still there.
If I go to the Start Menu, all the programs I had installed are now gone, and we're down
to just the stock Windows apps. And if I expand the Start menu, my username is still Dave.
So Windows has been reset, and it's left me with my old user account and my files.
Now let's take a look at the option where we reset Windows and delete everything.
Click Start, and go to Settings. Then scroll down and click on Update & Security.
On the left, click on Recovery. And under Reset this PC, click Get started.
This time, we're going to choose Remove Everything.
And this is the part we need to read carefully. If we were to click Next, it would wipe the
computer and make it work like new again. But if someone really knew what they were
doing, they might be able to recover your files from the hard drive. So we want to click
Change Settings, and turn on Data Erasure. As it says here, it will take a few hours
but it's a much more secure way to reset your computer. Now, click Confirm.
And I'm going to click Next.
Now read this Summary really carefully, because there's no going back from this. When you
click Reset, it's going to remove all your files and remove all the user accounts on
this computer, remove all your settings, and remove all the apps and programs.
If you're ready, click Reset, and wait. This one can take a really long time, but if your
computer has something called an SSD, it will be quicker.
So that's how you reset your Windows 10 computer.
Please let me know in the comments below how you got on, and if this video helped you please
give it the thumbs up. If you’d like to see more tutorials from
me, click on my face below, and hit the red subscribe button.
And while you're here, why not check out one of my other videos.
Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.