Windows 8 to Have 3 Rs: Recovery, Reset, Restore

We all know about "Windows rot," where the operating system slowly degenerates to a slow, sluggish state after numerous installs, uninstalls, and other things that a system accumulates over time.

Those of us who perform good housekeeping practices on our computers keep our Windows installs running better, longer, but that's not the case for everyone. The action of a fresh format and/or reinstall can make things feel new again, even on old hardware. And now it seems that Microsoft could be building a reinstall feature into Windows 8.

As seen in some of the leaked presentation slides, Microsoft could have a recovery option to "reset Windows" while retaining all personal files and user accounts. One of the presentation images shows the option of reinstalling all of the app purchases from the Microsoft App Store. Interesting stuff.

 

(source: MSFTKitchen)

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • samely
    Interesting, liking the Windows 8 news, Marcus. Seeing "keep my stuff" makes me laugh. I'm sure that'll be a bit more professional once it comes out.
    Reply
  • Bolbi
    I would LOVE this feature for Windows 8, but I wonder if it will reinstall software not from the MS App Store. If it doesn't, it's pretty useless to me... I don't have anything from the App Store yet! :)
    Reply
  • eddieroolz
    This might be a really compelling feature. I'm looking forward to it.
    Reply
  • nforce4max
    Great more problems and three times the disk space consumption. God forbid one has no choice but to buy a 1 or 2TB drive just for endless restore points x.x

    Every week when I do a clean up I free up 60gb or more every time.
    Reply
  • mrmez
    Ahhh M$. Still chasing that elusive cure for crappy-ness

    Why don't they figure out how to make their OS not crash and burn in the first place, then they won't need bandaids like that.
    Reply
  • el33t
    mrmezAhhh M$. Still chasing that elusive cure for crappy-nessWhy don't they figure out how to make their OS not crash and burn in the first place, then they won't need bandaids like that.
    Ya know you are being quit unreal there.
    Reply
  • gti88
    Acronis True Image is better choice. You can backup your fresh system disk before and after all programs are installed.
    Then, you can reinstall an image within 30 minutes.
    Reply
  • marlowwe
    mrmezAhhh M$. Still chasing that elusive cure for crappy-nessWhy don't they figure out how to make their OS not crash and burn in the first place, then they won't need bandaids like that.
    Hating on Microsoft is so 2001.
    Reply
  • arlandi
    i just hope this feature really got into the final release version of Windows 8.
    Reply
  • urlsen
    marlowweHating on Microsoft is so 2001.So True compadre :)
    Reply