Is it possible to completely restore a computer?

[Shinny123]

To start off, i couldnt really find a proper place to put it, so sorry about that. Anyways...

I was wondering how can i completely restore my computer back to original settings, with no programs installed. The way it came when i bought it? (customer computer)

I have seem to have lost the restore disk, is there any other way to restore my computer if i've lost this disk? I have an extra hard drive, will replacing it with my extra one that's basically blank (besides an OS and word) make my computer like new again?

Thanks for all the help, much appriciated.

 

[boonality]

What?

So you don't want to restore your computer, you want to reformat it? Restoring stuff means changing the state of your computer to something that you have previously backed up.

If i understood you correctly, you'll need an operating system disk.

 

[mcnuggetofdeath]

So im guessing you jacked up your install, prolly as a result of a virus, or malware, or whatever. u gotta maintain your computer or you'll have to do it again. Get a realtime monitoring program for viruses, ie Avast Home Edition. then get Ad Aware or Spybot S & D for malware, spyware, etc. CCleaner to clean out junk, and your good. use them regularly.

As for the install disk, figure out what kind of OS youve got ( Windows XP, Vista, etc ) download an image ( .iso ) burn it to a dvd, then reformat or if it gives you the option repair your install. then set up the aforementioned software.

Or if your feeling adventurous, go for Ubuntu Linux. I started as a novice, and now know what im doing to a reasonable extent. Going to try building my own linux distro with LSF ( linux from scratch ) soon enough. with either linux or OSX you wont run into 99% of the issues you do with windows cuz its not targeted as often and runs programs at seperate levels of root accessibility.

 

[jitpublisher]

To start off, i couldnt really find a proper place to put it, so sorry about that. Anyways...

I was wondering how can i completely restore my computer back to original settings, with no programs installed. The way it came when i bought it? (customer computer)

I have seem to have lost the restore disk, is there any other way to restore my computer if i've lost this disk? I have an extra hard drive, will replacing it with my extra one that's basically blank (besides an OS and word) make my computer like new again?

Thanks for all the help, much appriciated.

Call your PC manufacture and tell them this exactly. They may (for a small price) send you a new restore disk.
If you run the disk when you get it, bingo, your PC will be exactly as it was when you turned on for the very first time.

For those replying, you don't seem to know that many prebuilds do not come with a Windows install disk like the retail Windows version.
What they come with is DVD or CD with an image of the OS, structured, updated and preconfigured.
If you run this disk, it simply mirrors this pre-built OS image back the drive, overwriting everything on it.