reset a laptop

[zlodnick]

My one and a half year old acer laptop is running really slow.

I did a google search and it says its possible to do a reset that will return it to the condition it was new.

It says it will wipe out all pictures, files, etc., but I dont have any of that stuff, so not an issue.

I also hope it will get rid of avg anti virus. I think that may be part of my problems.

I dont think I will be able to do this myself, so Ill have to take it to a shop.

Is google right? Is this possible?

Sincerely, Z

[Rob13]

What's your OS?

[lostinisaan]

What's your operating system? If you're ruining W 10, you can do a reset and choose if you want to keep your files.

If you'd like to remove AVG completely, there's a remover: http://www.avg.com/us-en/utilities?ECID=af:cj

Where are you located?

Edited April 1, 2016 by lostinisaan

[zlodnick]

I have windows 8.1

I think removing avg is beyond my ability.

Just outside Khon Kaen

Z

[Rob13]

You should be able to upgrade to win 10, which would fix yur problem

[NeverSure]

You need to know the make and model of your laptop and then google how to reset it. It's usually easy once you know how. It has a restore partition which is an image of the way it shipped and it will dump that image onto the HDD restoring it to "as shipped."

Be aware that you will lose all updates you've done since you got it and will have to run them all again. That's a fairly long process. Some updates are driver updates of course and you'll want it all.

If you're unsure of the outcome you can use something like Macrium Reflect Free to make an image of what you have now and put it on an external HDD. That way if you don't like the restored version and it doesn't solve your problem you can re-image your drive back to where it is now.

Cheers.

[lostinisaan]

I have windows 8.1

I think removing avg is beyond my ability.

Just outside Khon Kaen

Z

It's really easy to do this. Please see how to make a reset on your system:

If you want to remove AVG, please clcik on the first file AVG remover and just follow the instructions.

If you've got a genuine version of W 8.1 you can update it to Windows 10, which is also a new installation.

[zlodnick]

Thanks for the replys,

If I upgrade to W10, will it automatically get rid of avg?

Also, I remember when W10 first came out, there were alot of reports of problems.

Z

[lostinisaan]

Thanks for the replys,

If I upgrade to W10, will it automatically get rid of avg?

Also, I remember when W10 first came out, there were alot of reports of problems.

Z

If you do your upgrade to W 10, you can choose to keep files and applications.

Just click that you don't want to keep anything and you'll be fine. Best of luck, it's really a piece of cake. P.S. It will get rid off all applications and files.

Please see: ( only one of a few options)

Edited April 1, 2016 by lostinisaan

[Speedo1968]

Go to Komtar ( a short walk from Central ) in Khon Kaen - 4th floor - ( computers ) turn left at top of escalator - a few metres along on the right is the Acer main sales and repair. There is a guy at the repair desk that speaks very good English. He may fix for free or make a very small charge.

I bought an Acer ( i had Windows 7 installed ) when my Toshiba died after only 4 years ( my daughters old Toshiba is still going strong after 12 years ). Before that I owned a Packard Bell for 10 years. Acer is, I find, VERY VERY slow and apt to freeze especially when more than one program is open; the USB ports are already dodgy after only 8 months use: lots of bad things about it when I compare price for price.

For an antivirus perhaps try Kaspersky Internet Security, its not free but for me works really well. Do not buy or renew online, at the end of its one year cover buy from a store.

[lostinisaan]

Go to Komtar ( a short walk from Central ) in Khon Kaen - 4th floor - ( computers ) turn left at top of escalator - a few metres along on the right is the Acer main sales and repair. There is a guy at the repair desk that speaks very good English. He may fix for free or make a very small charge.

I bought an Acer ( i had Windows 7 installed ) when my Toshiba died after only 4 years ( my daughters old Toshiba is still going strong after 12 years ). Before that I owned a Packard Bell for 10 years. Acer is, I find, VERY VERY slow and apt to freeze especially when more than one program is open; the USB ports are already dodgy after only 8 months use: lots of bad things about it when I compare price for price.

For an antivirus perhaps try Kaspersky Internet Security, its not free but for me works really well. Do not buy or renew online, at the end of its one year cover buy from a store.

Sorry. but I do not know anybody who works in a computer shop who's familiar with Windows 10. A dodgy copy with viruses on the installation CD is not really helpful.

Why nor upgrading, or resetting it by your own?

Kaspersky is also the first choice for me. All the free versions aren't what they promise.

Edited April 1, 2016 by lostinisaan

[zlodnick]

Thanks lostinissan,

It does look very easy. Ill try to reset my W8.1, and if no luck, Ill try to upgrade to W10.

PS Have they worked out all the bugs from W10 yet?

Z

[lostinisaan]

Thanks lostinissan,

It does look very easy. Ill try to reset my W8.1, and if no luck, Ill try to upgrade to W10.

PS Have they worked out all the bugs from W10 yet?

Z

They've fixed most problems, no idea if they got rid of all. You'll receive a lot of updates. But it's great to do it alone as the PC shops aren't doing a great job.

Most "technicians" only know the usual set up, if something unusual pops up in English they don't know what to do and mostly press the wrong one. Good luck.

P.S. Why would you reset W 8.1 if you can get a free upgrade to W 10? It's much better, I had W 8.1 only for one day and went back to 7.

Update to 10 and you'll see the difference.

Edited April 1, 2016 by lostinisaan

[zlodnick]

lostinissan,

It looks very simple to reset W8.1, but the video to upgrade to W10 looks way beyond my ability.

My computer use is very basic and Im not sure the upgrade would benefit me.

Z

[lostinisaan]

lostinissan,

It looks very simple to reset W8.1, but the video to upgrade to W10 looks way beyond my ability.

My computer use is very basic and Im not sure the upgrade would benefit me.

Z

Then reset your 8 and keep the updates on. You can upgrade to anytime you want. Believe me, Windows 10 is a lot better and faster, also easier to handle with a lot more functions.

Please have a look here: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msaus/en_AU/pdp/productID.320411600?icid=StCPWinProHero81

Edited April 1, 2016 by lostinisaan

[petermik]

Upgrade its easy and Win10 is much better................just google "upgrade to Windows 10" plenty of help there

[zlodnick]

I tried both refresh and reset, but no luck. I got as far as, "some files are missing. your windows instalation or recovery media will provide these files".

All the info on how to upgrade to W10 is way over my head. Ill have to find someone who has done it before.

Thanks for the help

Z

[gandalf12]

If you have 2 anti-virus programs running that is your problem I am sure. Had a friend of mine, new machine but was running as it was a snail. I found 2 anti-virus packages on it. Remover one and it was fine

[lostinisaan]

If you have 2 anti-virus programs running that is your problem I am sure. Had a friend of mine, new machine but was running as it was a snail. I found 2 anti-virus packages on it. Remover one and it was fine

If that's the problem, I've already posted the AVG Antivirus remover tool. Deletes all AVG files and your machine might work well afterwards.

But even then, I'd do the upgrade, W 8.1 pretty much sucks. Please see:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki/windows_10-windows_install/how-to-download-official-windows-10-iso-files/35cde7ec-5b6f-481c-a02d-dadf465df326

Edited April 1, 2016 by lostinisaan

[gandalf12]

I tried both refresh and reset, but no luck. I got as far as, "some files are missing. your windows instalation or recovery media will provide these files".

All the info on how to upgrade to W10 is way over my head. Ill have to find someone who has done it before.

Thanks for the help

Z

Try going into CMD as Administrator then type sfc /scannow then press Enter and let it run

That will probably fix it

[lostinisaan]

I tried both refresh and reset, but no luck. I got as far as, "some files are missing. your windows instalation or recovery media will provide these files".

All the info on how to upgrade to W10 is way over my head. Ill have to find someone who has done it before.

Thanks for the help

Z

Try going into CMD as Administrator then type sfc /scannow then press Enter and let it run

That will probably fix it

CMD is commonly used to mean "command": CMD.EXE (Command Prompt), the command-line interpreter on Windows operating systems. Command (computing), an abbreviation commonly used in computing.

OP, we "walk you thru."/////

Edited April 1, 2016 by lostinisaan

[johnatong]

Asus reset instructions

1. https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1006133

2. Win 10 is an automatic upgrade/process which requires little or no input from you.

If one or both of these simple processes is beyond your ability take the machine to a technician.

[Pib]

OP,

Press the Ctrl-Alt-Del key all at once, a menu will pop open, select Task Manager. Now click the Processes tab and then click the CPU column heading to sort to where the highest CPU usage appears at the top. This will show you what processes/apps (such as AVG) are using your CPU horsepower. You can also view Memory, Disk and Network activity/percentages.

AntiVirus apps just like any app use some CPU horsepower and that percentage will vary depending on what the AntiVirus program is doing. In fact the CPU percentage used might increase when you are not doing nothing because the antivirus is programmed to do some tasks, like scans, in the background and when other programs are not running. And of course the real-time antivirus shield is always working although the periodic disk scan just work on a periodic basis. Anyway by looking at the CPU percentages used by the various programs it might show you which one is eating a big share of your computer horsepower....then you can deal with that program.

I don't see why you think removing AVG is beyond your skills....makes me think you have never uninstalled any program from Windows? Many program include an Uninstall selection in their menus or just go into your Windows Control Panel, Programs, Programs and Features, find AVG in the list of programs installed on your computer, highlight it, then click uninstall. But I doubt AVG is your program.

[lostinisaan]

OP,

Press the Ctrl-Alt-Del key all at once, a menu will pop open, select Task Manager. Now click the Processes tab and then click the CPU column heading to sort to where the highest CPU usage appears at the top. This will show you what processes/apps (such as AVG) are using your CPU horsepower. You can also view Memory, Disk and Network activity/percentages.

AntiVirus apps just like any app use some CPU horsepower and that percentage will vary depending on what the AntiVirus program is doing. In fact the CPU percentage used might increase when you are not doing nothing because the antivirus is programmed to do some tasks, like scans, in the background and when other programs are not running. And of course the real-time antivirus shield is always working although the periodic disk scan just work on a periodic basis. Anyway by looking at the CPU percentages used by the various programs it might show you which one is eating a big share of your computer horsepower....then you can deal with that program.

I don't see why you think removing AVG is beyond your skills....makes me think you have never uninstalled any program from Windows? Many program include an Uninstall selection in their menus or just go into your Windows Control Panel, Programs, Programs and Features, find AVG in the list of programs installed on your computer, highlight it, then click uninstall. But I doubt AVG is your program.

Some AVG products can't be uninstalled through the ordinary way. I had that a few times before and used their removal tool.

I just don't understand why OP can't upgrade to 10 through updates which would solve all problems.

Edited April 1, 2016 by lostinisaan

[Pib]

Uninstall AVG Software from AVG Support Page...identifies various ways to uninstall

https://support.avg.com/SupportArticleView?l=en_US&urlName=How-to-uninstall-AVG

Snapshot from above regarding uninstall with Win 8

But I doubt AVG is the problem...could be...but doubtful.

[chrisinth]

OP, all good advice so far.

However, be aware that if you go the reset method, you will lose all your files that you have accumulated over the last year and a half as well as any programs that are not included in the OEM image which you will be resetting to.

Before starting, make sure that you backup anything that you want to keep. Most important.....................

If you are using an email client with a POP3 account and haven't checked the 'keep copy on the server', you will lose your emails as well.

If you have changed your HDD for an SSD as an upgrade, make sure the recovery partitions were copied over correctly (you will soon know if they weren't).

Over time, MS operating systems collect a vast amount of data on your drive that is generally not needed for the normal running of the system. The majority of this retained data are labelled .tmp and can be cleaned easily with tools already provided in the OS or by using a 3rd party software (Advanced System Care as an example). Try this path first before messing about with resets or upgrading if you don't need/want to, or if you don't understand the process.

If the problem is AVG (and you feel this is causing the slowdown), uninstall through programs & features in the Control panel. When this is complete, type into the searchbox regedit, right-click and select run as administrator. In the folders HKEY_CURRENT_USER and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software folders, remove all reference to AVG (delete the folders named AVG). Close regedit and restart your machine. If you are unsure about doing this, this is the registry you are changing, ask a professional to do it for you.

Resets work, but sometimes it is a good idea to do the maintenance first to see how the system runs afterwards, saves time replacing your backed up data and reinstalling/chasing serial numbers for installed software not included in the recovery partition.

Enjoy..................

[zlodnick]

Thanks for all the help everyone.

Most of the posts sound like Greek to me, but Ive found in the past, if I take my time and use trial and error, I can figure stuff out eventually.

Ill spend the next few days working on this and let you know how I make out.

Thanks again, Z

[Speedo1968]

The guy at Komtar is still VERY MUCH worth a visit. He is the main tech. for Toshiba and Acer but can help with any make / model / age of machine.

His English is very good technically and he asks simple questions and can reply in a non-technical way.

I have found him very reliable and honest.

[lostinisaan]

OP, just to take you the fear to do an upgrade. Please see my three in one night upgrade.

[Pib]

You can't fool me....that's a Thai military radar tracking command center used to track North Korean missile launches....nope, can't fool me.