Restoring to Factory settings

[iMpactX]

Hi, I am the owner of an Alienware m11x R1 laptop, and it is beginning to slow down on me. I would like to completely restore it to factory settings. The laptop comes with its own program, allowing you to restore it to factory settings. Before I hit restore, I want to know the risks... I've tried to do my research, but in the forums I'm reading there are talks of "partitions" and I honestly have no idea what they are talking about. I don't have a problem with losing everything on my computer. It's mostly just a bunch of games, that I can re-install if I ever want to play them.

I just want to know the risks, what I should backup (just a few word documents) and if this is a good idea. Thank you all in advance,

-iMpActX

 

[fetterEsel]

back up anything of importance to you. Lol. only stuff you want to be able to keep when you restore. But due to slow down is either viruses or registry errors or malware or lack of drivers installed etc. Not really due to the OS unless the OS had a faulty install.

 

[Snipeye]

Imagine a closet, all that space you can use to store stuff. But to better organize it, you put in several large boxes to store certain things you have. That's a partition; it divides your hard drive into separate areas. Typically, you'll have two partitions; one dedicated for the OS. The second dedicated to the rest of your storage needs.

Only thing you need to be sure you do is backup everything you need. Second, be prepared to do a lot of updates since you'll be needing to update drivers, programs, etc. once you do the reset. And obviously, long install times since you'll be reinstalling all the games you want back on the computer. Good luck.

 

[iMpactX]

Update: Thanks you two. Successful. I did a full factory restart, very glad I did. Just like new. I plan on saving around 1200-1500 for a very nice desktop I want to build myself. Until then, this will have to push through some framerates. Thanks again,

-iMpActX