How do I return a computer to its original settings?

[sandyRoe]

Loads of stuff on this one that I never use and it's running very slow.

[ChuckFickens]

There is no "one fits all" way of doing it, it depends on what factory restore system was supplied with the computer, it could be a set of recovery disks, it might be a hidden partition on the hard drive which is accessed by pressing a certain key at switch on.

To enable anyone to give you a decent answer you'll need to tell us what the make and model number of the computer is.

[sandyRoe]

It's an Advent quad core. Q6600

[ChuckFickens]

q6600 is the model number of the processor, not the computer.

So taking a bit of a guess here!

You should be able to start the restore process by tapping the F10 key as soon as you switch the computer on and following the onscreen instructions.

However, before doing this I'd suggest you create a set of recovery disks, then if there is ever a problem with your hard drive you can replace it and you've got the media to set the computer up from scratch, if you don't create the disks and the drive fails (out of warranty) then you'd have to buy recovery media.

you should be able to find the recovery media creation utility in Start > All Programs > System Recovery > Recovery Media Creator.... run this and just put DVDs in the drive as it requests them, you'll probably need 3 or 4..... once you've created the DVDs then recover the system back to factory settings by the method above.

[sandyRoe]

Thank you, a job for tomorrow morning.

[rov1100]

I have an Advent m/c and to do a System recovery do the following steps:

start
all programs
system recovery
and system recovery again
the click Yes in the box that pops up

nb make sure you have done a backup of all files and photos, etc beforehand
Also you may need to reinstall anything you have previously installed.

[Davethedog]

Sandy it may be worth you investing in an external hard drive and backing up to that. They are quite cheap these days and using multiple disks can be tedious.

[joko]

absolutely agree with dave...you can get some cheap ones on ebay ... these days the amount people have on their machines would take loads of disks

i bought a brand new 320gb one for £42 about 4 years ago

[beso]

Have you tried determining what is slowing it down? If you are using AVG antivirus it is guaranteed to make it run as slow as molasses.