[SOLVED] windows reset

[DudeIT]

hi i feel like entirely reformating windows on my computer but i read about this 'reset' thing which might be good enough

if i "keep personal files" does it keep my games and all their settings like mouse sensitivity, video quality etc? does it keep my folders? does it keep my chrome bookmarks and passwords? does it keep my apps like CCleaner, logitech hub, etc?

I kinda need something to reset my games and stuff probably better off if I have to reinstall them and my browser and stuff I just want to know what they clarify as personal files

 

[Darkbreeze]

You don't want to do a "reset" or "refresh". If there is a current problem, you will likely STILL have it when you are done, especially if it is something not DIRECTLY linked to the Windows operating system. Anything that is borked in the registry will likely STILL be borked in the registry afterwards.

Your best bet is to simply back up anything important, and if you don't have a secondary drive to back things up to you need to get one. I don't feel sorry for anybody who loses important files or data because they couldn't make getting a drive to back those important files up with a priority. And generally, we like to install our games on a secondary drive anyway so that when there is a problem with Windows or it has to be reinstalled it does not affect our game files and downloads.

So back up anything important to another location. Whether that is another drive, or a flash drive, or DVD/BD disks, or to the cloud, is up to you, but do it, somehow, and then you can follow my guide on how to create installation media and reinstall Windows. Don't skim, READ it from start to finish, before you even try to make the attempt to do a clean install, and then read it again while doing it. At least.

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[DudeIT]

ok so your sure a "reset" is basically worthless? dang lol I have all my stuff backed up right now and ready. I have the media installation tool I created from 4 months ago should it still work? I had made it exactly 4 months ago and it worked with no issues.

I was hoping the reset could be a quick fix. basically idk I might have a virus but when I play games with twitch/yt/chrome open at all it's just stuttery when before it was buttery smooth gameplay. I feel it has something to do with my monitors interacting bad together since one is 60hz other is 75hz, but it was working perfectly fine before.

 

[DSzymborski]

ok so your sure a "reset" is basically worthless? dang lol I have all my stuff backed up right now and ready. I have the media installation tool I created from 4 months ago should it still work? I had made it exactly 4 months ago and it worked with no issues.

I was hoping the reset could be a quick fix. basically idk I might have a virus but when I play games with twitch/yt/chrome open at all it's just stuttery when before it was buttery smooth gameplay. I feel it has something to do with my monitors interacting bad together since one is 60hz other is 75hz, but it was working perfectly fine before.

Then the obvious diagnostic would be to disconnect one of the monitors and see if the problem goes away. You can't fix problems unless you can isolate them. A fresh install of Windows is frequently a good thing to do, but it's not something you do before exhausting the other easy ways to disagnose a specific issue.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I might have a virus

WHY, do you say this?

I'd create a NEW Windows installation media, because it's likely that your installer was not the latest, build 2004, and that there may be other updated files or patches included in current versions of the installer than what was in there back in May when the latest update was released. If you don't know for sure that your installer has version 2004, and preferably even if it was but was an initial release, it's probably a good idea to create a new installer.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

 

[DudeIT]

WHY, do you say this?

I'd create a NEW Windows installation media, because it's likely that your installer was not the latest, build 2004, and that there may be other updated files or patches included in current versions of the installer than what was in there back in May when the latest update was released. If you don't know for sure that your installer has version 2004, and preferably even if it was but was an initial release, it's probably a good idea to create a new installer.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

idk but i ran ccleaner and it said it was fine.

I remember my screen before was blinking black sometimes on my main monitor and I was trying to fix that but other than that my computer was pretty solid. and ever since I fixed the flashing of black I dont remember what I did to fix it but maybe it was updating my gforce drivers a few days ago and it's just been <mod edit> since.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Watch the language please. We don't allow any use of expletives here.

I'd look at all these things, before doing anything else.

If there are any steps listed here that you have not already done, it would be advisable to do so if for no other reason than to be able to say you've already done it and eliminate that possibility.

First,​

Make sure your motherboard has the MOST recent BIOS version installed. If it does not, then update. This solves a high number of issues even in cases where the release that is newer than yours makes no mention of improving graphics card or other hardware compatibility. They do not list every change they have made when they post a new BIOS release.

Second,​

Go to the product page for your motherboard on the manufacturer website. Download and install the latest driver versions for the chipset, storage controllers, audio and network adapters. Do not skip installing a newer driver just because you think it is not relevant to the problem you are having. The drivers for one device can often affect ALL other devices and a questionable driver release can cause instability in the OS itself. They don't release new drivers just for fun. If there is a new driver release for a component, there is a good reason for it. The same goes for BIOS updates. When it comes to the chipset drivers, if your motherboard manufacturer lists a chipset driver that is newer than what the chipset developer (Intel or AMD, for our purposes) lists, then use that one. If Intel (Or AMD) shows a chipset driver version that is newer than what is available from the motherboard product page, then use that one. Always use the newest chipset driver that you can get and always use ONLY the chipset drivers available from either the motherboard manufacturer, AMD or Intel.


IF you have other hardware installed or attached to the system that are not a part of the systems covered by the motherboard drivers, then go to the support page for THAT component and check to see if there are newer drivers available for that as well. If there are, install them.

Third,​

Make sure your memory is running at the correct advertised speed in the BIOS. This may require that you set the memory to run at the XMP profile settings. Also, make sure you have the memory installed in the correct slots and that they are running in dual channel which you can check by installing CPU-Z and checking the Memory and SPD tabs. For all modern motherboards that are dual channel memory architectures, from the last ten years at least, if you have two sticks installed they should be in the A2 (Called DDR4_1 on some boards) or B2 (Called DDR4_2 on some boards) which are ALWAYS the SECOND and FOURTH slots over from the CPU socket, counting TOWARDS the edge of the motherboard EXCEPT on boards that only have two memory slots total. In that case, if you have two modules it's not rocket science, but if you have only one, then install it in the A1 or DDR4_1 slot.

Fourth,​

A clean install of the graphics card drivers. Regardless of whether you "already installed the newest drivers" for your graphics card or not, it is OFTEN a good idea to do a CLEAN install of the graphics card drivers. Just installing over the old drivers OR trying to use what Nvidia and AMD consider a clean install is not good enough and does not usually give the same result as using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility. This has a very high success rate and is always worth a shot.


If you have had both Nvidia and AMD cards installed at any point on that operating system then you will want to run the DDU twice. Once for the old card drivers (ie, Nvidia or AMD) and again for the currently installed graphics card drivers (ie, AMD or Nvidia). So if you had an Nvidia card at some point in the past, run it first for Nvidia and then after that is complete, run it again for AMD if you currently have an AMD card installed.

Graphics card driver CLEAN install guide using the Wagnard tools DDU
​

And last, but not least, if you have never done a CLEAN install of Windows, or have upgraded from an older version to Windows 10, or have been through several spring or fall major Windows updates, it might be a very good idea to consider doing a clean install of Windows if none of these other solutions has helped. IF you are using a Windows installation from a previous system and you didn't do a clean install of Windows after building the new system, then it's 99.99% likely that you NEED to do a CLEAN install before trying any other solutions.


How to do a CLEAN installation of Windows 10, the RIGHT way​

 

[DudeIT]

I feel like I'm just getting memory hog'd by antimalware service executable and it's just rescently popped out of nowhere.

I was able to play games really well before and now I notice my game is a bit better if i put streams on at 480p but still not the best that it was.

I am probably just going to skip those steps maybe just re-install my video card drivers and if that doesnt work imma clean install.


my specs are i5 3570
8 gb ddr3 1333
1tb ssd crucial
gtx 1060 3gb evga

and without any game open just a few browsers at %44 memory. also I just closed them now just re opened and it was at 33% with nothing open...

so that antimalware thing must be a virus

 

[MJS WARLORD]

To add to what others have said , some of the items you want to leave behind may be the very items you want to keep. Make back ups of vids , docs , music , pics. Also search docs or individual games files for saved games positions folders , put these on a separate disc and when you reinstall your games do 1 save to create a saves folder , next drag your backed up saves into the individual folders so you dont have to start from the beggining of a game . If you use the steam client , reinstall it and to get back all you games make sure you log in with your origional user name and pass word.

Re installing windows ... you obviously know where the ri install options are .... i recently reinstalled windows on one of my pc's , i chose NOT to save personal data etc .... when told to restart for this to happen it ran just like the pc did when i switched it on for the first time , at no point did it ask me for my media creation back up.

Anti mal program ..... When you do a fresh download or get a big update for it , you start of with 10 days premium , in its settings you will find something to stop the program running from start up. If malwarebytes finds any infections re run the program till it finds nothing. This is because sometimes not all segments are removed on first.

With regards to you thinking malwarebytes is a virus ..... where did you get it from , their is a fake program around called antimalaware bytes .... note the extra a between letters l and w.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Where did you get your games from?

 

[Turtle Rig]

hi i feel like entirely reformating windows on my computer but i read about this 'reset' thing which might be good enough

if i "keep personal files" does it keep my games and all their settings like mouse sensitivity, video quality etc? does it keep my folders? does it keep my chrome bookmarks and passwords? does it keep my apps like CCleaner, logitech hub, etc?

I kinda need something to reset my games and stuff probably better off if I have to reinstall them and my browser and stuff I just want to know what they clarify as personal files

As said above; Doing a reset PC will keep your date files however will not keep your games and installations and apps and app settings or OS configs. It will simply give you a clean Windows 10 OS but keep your data files in tact being videos or pics or music or documents etc. 🤷‍♀️😷🙈👨🏽‍🦲

 

[DudeIT]

ok well I decided to just reset and I chose to "keep my files". all is well once again thanks a lot for the help glad I didnt have to redo everything.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Cool man. That's good. But, if the problem returns, and it MIGHT, THEN you will want to do a clean install. Sometimes doing a reset pushes an infection or other problem back a bit, but it's only a temporary respite. Hopefully, that's not the case here and it's a done deal.