6. Two new methods of restoration and recovery
Windows 8 includes two additional methods for recovering a computer that have not been in previous versions of Windows:
-
Refresh
Changes PC
settings back to the default state without affecting Windows Store
apps, personal files, or personalization settings. Applications from
other websites or disc installations will be removed. When you select
this option, Windows tells you what will happen, as shown in Figure 6.
-
Reset
All personal files
and personalization settings will be removed. Windows settings will be
restored to their default values, as shown in Figure 7.
Making your computer like new again by using Refresh
In some instances, cleaning up a computer and removing applications
or files that are no longer needed can help improve performance.
Microsoft has created Refresh
to ease this process. Using a new computer is often a very different
experience from using a computer that is holding many temporary files
and downloaded items because the older or more used system might seem slower than the new computer. To refresh your computer, complete the following steps:
-
Open the Start screen and search for Refresh. Select the Settings charm and choose Refresh Your PC or PC Settings.
-
On the Refresh Your PC welcome screen (Figure 6), read the proposed changes and tap or click Next.
-
Wait while the refresh process is prepared.
-
Tap or click Refresh to begin the process.
Windows begins the refresh and configures updates and settings
changes. When this portion of the process completes, the computer
restarts. Windows displays a progress counter for the refresh process,
shown in Figure 8. Following this restart, devices are configured for use. Windows restarts again.
The refresh process returns the computer to the default settings but
keeps your personalization settings, files, and Windows Store
applications.
When the refresh process doesn’t go far enough
Refreshing a computer to restore it to the original configuration
without losing customizations is useful, but sometimes it is necessary
to go all the way back to the out-of-the-box configuration. Suppose you
have been testing Windows 8 on a computer for a few months and running
a few development applications on the system to get an idea of how they
will perform. When the test period for these applications is over, you
must make a decision about whether they will work well for your
organization. This is a good time to restore your computer to the
manufacturer’s original configuration.
Another situation in which resetting your computer might be best is
if the computer has suffered a malware infection. Although fixes and
cleanups are available for troubleshooting, a simple reinstallation
might make the process easier. To perform a reset of Windows 8, complete the following steps:
-
From the Start screen, search for “remove everything.” Select
Settings and then tap or click Remove Everything And Reinstall Windows.
-
Tap or click Next on the Reset Your PC welcome screen.
-
Wait for the reset to prepare.
-
If your computer has more than one available drive, select the drives to reset:
-
Specify whether the reset process should clean the drive fully by choosing one of the following:
-
To begin the reset process, tap or click Reset.
Windows restarts to begin the process; it displays a progress screen, as shown in Figure 9, to show the progress of the operation.
Both these procedures, Refresh and Reset, take from one hour to four
or more hours, depending on the size of the volumes in the computer and
other hardware. The process itself, however, is mostly automated after
you have answered some questions about how you want to handle your
files and settings. These two features decrease the time needed to
clean up a Windows PC and free considerable time for other tasks.
Using File History and other backup and recovery techniques on
computers within your environment can not only reduce administrative
workload by reducing the number of file recoveries needed from other
media but also serve as a way to educate others in your organization
about the importance of data recovery. Helping your coworkers locate
missing files by themselves rather than waiting for someone at the help
desk to retrieve something from the last tape backup can be very
empowering for employees. In some cases, the capability to help
themselves is all people want.
