Everything You Need to Know About Refreshing and Resetting Your Windows 8 PC

Everything You Need to Know About Refreshing and Resetting Your Windows 8 PC

Windows users regularly re-install Windows (or restore from a recovery partition) to fix system problems. Windows 8 includes easier-to-use “Refresh” and “Reset” options that quickly restore Windows to a fresh, factory default configuration.

Just as mobile devices have an integrated “reset to factory defaults” option, so does Windows 8. You can even create your own refresh image or access these options if your computer can’t boot.

The Difference Between Refresh and Reset

Windows 8 has two factory reset options, named Refresh and Reset. Both reset your computer to a fresh, factory default sate. Refresh preserves your files and installed Modern programs, while Reset removes everything on your system.

When you Refresh your PC:

• Windows will save your personal files, personalization settings, and Modern apps installed from the Windows Store.
• Windows will reset your PC settings.
• Windows will remove all installed desktop programs. A list of the removed programs will be saved to your desktop.

By resetting your computer settings and removing all desktop programs, Windows 8 can “refresh” your PC so it’s more like a fresh install without deleting your personal files.

When you Reset your PC, Windows will remove everything. Think of this like doing a complete Windows re-install and formatting your hard drive.

Should You Refresh or Reset?

If you’re experiencing problems with your computer and want to fix them, you should try refreshing your PC first. Windows will restore system files and desktop programs to their default state, saving all your important personal files (and Modern apps, if you use them.)

If you want to reset your computer to its factory default state – particularly useful if you’re getting rid of the computer and want to remove your personal data, or if you just want a clean start — you should reset your PC instead.

Under the Hood

Microsoft has explained what’s actually going on under the hood here. When you reset your PC:

1. The PC boots into Windows RE, the Windows Recovery Environment
2. Windows RE erases and formats the Windows partitions before installing a fresh copy of Windows 8.
3. The PC restarts into the new copy of Windows.

When you refresh your PC, the same steps occur. However, before erasing your Windows partition, Windows RE scans the hard drive for your files, settings, and Modern apps. It places them aside, installs a fresh copy of Windows, and puts them back where they were found.

Both refresh and reset involve a fresh installation of Windows, which is why your desktop programs aren't saved.

Note that it’s always a good idea to have backup copies of your files. If something goes wrong, you wouldn't want to lose the only copy.

How to Refresh or Reset

If your computer is still working properly, you can refresh or reset it from the PC Settings application within Windows.

If your computer is not booting properly, you can refresh or reset it from the boot options menu. We've covered several ways to access this menu. Once you've accessed it, use the Refresh your PC or Reset your PC option.

Creating Your Own Refresh Image

Refreshing your PC removes all your desktop programs. If you always install some critical desktop programs, you’ll have to re-install them every time you refresh your computer. To save time, you can create a custom refresh image after installing the programs you use. They’ll be saved and will come back every time you refresh your computer.

Read More: How to Create a Custom Refresh Image in Windows 8

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The refresh and reset features help quickly re-install Windows. Even for experienced users, the refresh and reset processes are faster than re installing Windows the old-fashioned way.

10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8

10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8

It’s easy to focus on how Windows 8’s new interface doesn't feel at home on a traditional desktop PC or laptop. But that’s only one part of Windows 8 – the Windows 8 desktop includes a variety of useful improvements.

If you’re a desktop user, you owe it to yourself to look over the improvements and consider upgrading. If Microsoft hadn't removed the traditional Start menu and added a new interface, we’d all be considering Windows 8’s desktop an upgrade.

Boot Speed

Windows 8 uses some tricks to dramatically improve its boot speed. Some people have seen boot times drop from 30 to 15-20 seconds on existing hardware. Instead of shutting down normally, Windows 8 employs a clever trick – it saves the state of low-level software such as the kernel and hardware drivers to the disk and restores them when you boot it up. Essentially, Windows 8 “hibernates” low-level system software instead of shutting it down, resulting in greatly increased boot speeds.

New Windows 8 PCs using UEFI will also boot faster than systems using the old-style BIOS.

File Copying

File copying in Windows 8 is dramatically improved. The new file copy dialog allows you to pause file-copying operations, view multiple file-copying operations in the same window, and more easily manage file conflicts. The interface is simple by default, but you can also expand the dialog to view more information, including a graph of the file transfer’s speed over time.

Improved Multiple Monitor Support

For power uses with multiple monitors, windows 8 allows you to place separate taskbars and wallpapers on each monitor. Previously, this required third-party software.

Task Manager

The new Task Manager is a huge improvement over the old one. It features a Start up software manager that allows users to easily control the software that loads at start up  It’s also easier to understand at a glance, with color-coded resource usage columns and more human-readable program names. You can also quickly research a mysterious process online by right-clicking it and using the Search online option.

File Explorer Improvements

Windows Explorer has seen quite a few changes. For one, it’s now named File Explorer. While some users may dislike the new ribbon interface, it makes it easier to access powerful options like viewing hidden files without digging through menus and dialog boxes. You can also easily collapse the ribbon if you never want to see it.

There are also quite a few straight-up improvements, including the ability to mount ISO and VHD files by double-clicking them – no need to install any additional software. The Up button on the toolbar that was removed in Windows 7 is now back.

Storage Spaces

Storage Spaces is a power-user feature that allows you to combine multiple physical volumes into one logical volume. In other words, you can create a pool of storage from several physical hard disks. The storage pool will behave as if it were one hard disk.

Hyper V

Windows 8’s included Hyper-V feature allows you to create virtual machines out-of-the-box. Hyper-V was previously used on Windows Server and replaces the Windows Virtual PC virtualization solution used for Windows XP Mode on Windows 7. For example, you can use Hyper-V to install Ubuntu on a virtual machine without installing any third-party software.

Refresh and Reset

The ability to refresh your device to its factory state may seem like a tablet feature, but it isn't  You can actually create your own system image and refresh Windows to it, quickly resetting Windows 8 to a fresh-installed state whenever you like. This can save you time when re-installing Windows.

Battery Life

Low-level system changes, including optimizations to squeeze more battery life out of tablets and other portable computers, should result in a more power-efficient operating system and longer battery life. The removal of Aero should also result in longer battery life for laptops.

Security

Security has seen a lot of attention in Windows 8. Microsoft has finally included an integrated antivirus in Windows 8. It’s named Windows Defender, but it’s actually a renamed Microsoft Security Essentials. This will ensure that even less-experienced Windows users have an antivirus, but you can easily disable it and install any other antivirus product you prefer.

Secure Boot provides protection from root-kits that hijack the start-up process, assuming you’re using a new PC with UEFI instead of the traditional BIOS. (On Intel x86 PCs, you can disable Secure Boot or add your own keys to Secure Boot in the UEFI firmware, so Secure Boot won’t prevent you from installing Linux. However, Secure Boot is used to lock-down ARM-based Windows RT computers.)

The integration of Microsoft’s Smart-screen filter at a lower level helps prevent less experienced uses from downloading and installing malware by warning them when they install software that is known-bad, or software that hasn't been seen before.

There are also low-level changes to memory allocation and ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) that make security vulnerabilities harder to exploit, even if security holes are found.

How to Customize the Time on the Windows 8 Lock Screen

How to Customize the Time on the Windows 8 Lock Screen

If you are running Windows 8, hit the Windows key and L at the same time. What do you see? It should be the lock screen complete with the date, time and weather. What format do the date and time take? It’s almost certainly the same as the clock in your taskbar – if you have opted to use 24 hour clock format, it will be used in both places. But this doesn’t have to be the case; customization is possible.

You might think that a quick visit to the Control Panel is all that’s needed to change the appearance of the Lock Screen time and date. To some extent this is true. The Region applet can be used to configure formatting, but this is a system-wide setting. By editing the registry it is possible to use different formatting on the lock screen.

Fire up the Registry editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ SystemProtectedUserData\S-1-5-21-[unique ID]\ AnyoneRead\LocaleInfo.

You will need to make this key editable, so right click LocaleInfo, select Permissions and make sure both of the Allow boxes are ticked before clicking OK.

There are several settings to the right that can be adjusted, but it is the TimeFormat key that is of particular interest. As with the time format in the Region Control Panel, you can use basic syntax to adjust the appearance of the time.

HH:mm uses 24-hour format with a leading zero, H:mm without it, hh:mm is used for 12-hour time with the zero, and h:mm to drop it. Add tt to include AM and PM indicators. Editing this setting via the registry enables you to choose to display time in different format to the taskbar clock.

You can also get creative and add ASCII art to your clock if you want to get a somewhat different look for your lock screen.

The changes take effect immediately – there’s no need to restart Windows.