Restoring laptop to factory settings

[lubo4444]

I have Windows Vista Home Premium on my Dell laptop and i would like to restore it to it's factory settings. I have a partition on my laptop that is called "Recovery" and also i have few CD's that came with the laptop. Is restoring to the factory settings the same thing as reinstalling your OS? Also can someone give me a guide to follow because this will be my first time doing that. Thanks.

 

[linkin]

Restoring factory settings would also mean reinstalling all the dell software and free trial junk they put on there... see if you can borrow a plain os disk and reinstall or something.

 

[terii]

Bear in mind that the restore function is destructive. Make a backup of any important data you have on the PC because if you do a Restore it will be gone.

 

[voyagerfan99]

Should you want to use the recovery, press F8 after post and select "Repair Your Computer". Then select the language. Next screen click "Repair my computer" again. On the bottom is the Dell recovery image option.

 

[lubo4444]

Restoring factory settings would also mean reinstalling all the dell software and free trial junk they put on there... see if you can borrow a plain os disk and reinstall or something.

I do have all the CD's with the stuff it came so it's not a problem.

Bear in mind that the restore function is destructive. Make a backup of any important data you have on the PC because if you do a Restore it will be gone.

I dont really have anything to lose on it. So it's not a problem.

Should you want to use the recovery, press F8 after post and select "Repair Your Computer". Then select the language. Next screen click "Repair my computer" again. On the bottom is the Dell recovery image option.

Thanks i'll do that.


Also if i restore it, does it mean it will be fresh as i got it from the store? Also if i have a virus in it will it be gone or registry problems will they be gone as well (examples like that)? Thanks.