How to Restore a Windows 8 Laptop to Factory Settings

It can come to that time when your system has lost its sparkle, or is just so over-encumbered with dodgy apps and malware that it's time to wipe it and start again. It is a drastic measure, but actually easy to do. Just follow these simple steps to restore your Windows 8 laptop to factory settings.

Note: You may need your Windows disk depending on installation version.

1. First you should make a back-up of everything that you may want to keep. If it is just some Docs, etc, then open up a cloud account like DropBox and just dump all these bits in here. Alternatively you could always put it on a USB or CD if you have any handy.

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2. To begin, go to the search bar (hover mouse in top right corner of desktop so the menu comes out) and type “Remove”.

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3. One of the options will be ”Remove everything and reinstall Windows”. Click on this.

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4. You will be given a number of options. Underneath where it says “Remove everything and reinstall Windows”, there is an option that says “Get Started.”

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5. The Wizard will open. Depending on which Windows 8 system you are running, you may be asked to insert disk or follow the steps. There will be warnings that you will lose all apps and personal files. But follow the steps in the Wizard and then leave it to do its work.

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6. The process can take up to any hour, but at the end you will have a clean, restored system.