Restore to factory settings

Hi , my dad is in need of some help so I thought Major geeks is the place to go ..

His xp computer is running extremely slow , he has taken it to pcworld for a health check and despite them saying it is now running fine ....its not . I have suggested resetting his computer to factory settings .

But this is where the problem is ,he has no disks with the computer either lost or not supplied ....so is there a way of resetting to factory settings without disks .

Will really appreciate any help as I cant handle him moaning/swearing at his computer much longer .

His computer is a ES Ei 204 - uk E machine


thanks

 

I'm not certain about E-machines , but there may be a restore partition on your computer that will put it back to the day you bought it. Watch the screen when you restart the computer. It should give you some options before Windows loads. It may be the F10 or F12 key. I was able to restore my dell laptop using the ctrl/F11 keys.

 

Right, on a DELL hold down the ctrl key and hit f11 as soon as the computer starts to boot. Ya gotta be fast. On the down side, you'll have to download all the Microsoft updates. Don't forget to back up your e-mail contacts on another media and your app .exe files etc. As you say, I don't know about E-Machines either. My question would be, how old is this set up, what's it got under the hood, and would it be less painful to go for a new computer, where you could be reborn.

 

You're right, a new computer might be a good way to go. It took a long time to reinstall all of the updates and programs on my laptop. Yes, the ctrl/f11 does come up fast. It took a few tries before I hit it.

 

What in the world does f keys on a DELL have to do with an E-machine? They are 2 different animals. 1 is made by DELL, the e-machines is a Gateway el cheapo.

 

On my US E-machines, I press Alt+F10 to get to the hidden restore partition. Then follow the onscreen directions.

You can also restore from within windows. Start, then All programs, then eMachines, and lastly eMachines Recovery Management.

What you might also want to do is to burn a recovery DVD just in case the hd dies and you can not get to windows nor the recovery partition. The recovery DVD can be used on a replacement hard drive put into the same computer.

 

Thanks plodr
I knew there had to be a key combination for e-machines, too. I think all newer computers have that option now. I just didn't know which keys it would be. I'll keep that info for future reference.

 

Who f'n knows. it's just a reference to consider as you ponder what to do next.

 

You got it! :highfive