Reset Factory Settings

The title of this topic has been edited by Buwish

So, did he already restore it back to factory settings or is he wanting to?

Once the computer is set back to factory settings, there is go way to go back. However that applies to the partition that is the C Drive. If he put all his data on the D drive, that should be intact.

However, to help you in the future, do the following things:
Make recovery CDs/DVDs from your laptop. Do it now! If something fails on the hard drive, you will at least be able to restore the factory setting from these CDs/DVDs. If not you may have to buy a set from ACER.

It would be best to simply configure the system, remove and install software, so as to bring the computer back to what he likes to work with. Also, let Microsoft Update run all the updates there are for his OS; this happens in stages and may take days. I would allow for several days or weeks before the configuration is back to what it was. Then take a back up (not an image of your data drive (D drive) and other such disks. From then on in, put data only on the D drive, and all new software on the C drive. If you don't do this you will likely lose that data if this problem re-occurs.

When this is done I would advise you to take images of the small (say 10 GB , hidden) service partition, and another of the C drive partition. This can be done with Clonezilla (free) or Acronis True Image (commercial). This requires technical knowledge, so read up and get some help. The images will wind up on sets of 2-3 DVDs; keep these in a safe place. The C drive image will allow that drive to be restored to the customized configuration on the C drive at the time of the image. The hidden partition image will allow you to recovery the recovery partition itself. (This is just a hypothesis, but it should work.)