Restoring Your Computer to Its Original State
by Dave Clingman
 

Published in Guadalajara Reporter,
November 7, 2009

Perhaps your computer is still running slow even after cleaning the hard drive and reducing the startup programs.  Next article I'll talk about memory upgrades, and the following article will discuss buying a new computer.  Meanwhile, one more free option is returning your computer to its original state, a process often referred to as "Recovery".  Running a Recovery will take a few hours, but it can save you hundreds or even thousands of pesos.

Running the Recovery Program on your computer will put your computer back to its original state, with only the programs that originally came with your computer, thus restoring its original speed.  BE AWARE that when you run a recovery on your computer, everything you added to the computer will be lost.  All programs and data such as documents, photographs, family tree data, internet bookmarks or favorites, and probably your emails, will be gone.  So be sure you have disks for all the hardware and programs you want installed on your computer.  If you are missing any, you can usually download the necessary program or hardware drivers from the internet and then copy them to CD.  You should also back up your documents, photos, email, and other files, as well as passwords and email information.

One reason to "recover" your computer is that it simply will not run, no matter what you do.  Since running a Recovery will restore your computer to its original state, all viruses and program problems will be removed.  (This is probably the only reason a Recovery Process needs to be run on a Macintosh.)  Another reason to return your computer to its original state is if you are very frustrated with the slowness of your computer, and nothing else seems to make much difference.

When you bought your computer, you probably received several disks, usually called "Recovery Disks" or "Installation Disks", which you use to put your computer back to its original state.  Some computers didn't come with any disks at all, in which case your Recovery Program is usually located on your computer hard drive.

To run the Recovery program, insert the first disk into your CD drive, and then restart your computer.  If you don't have any disks, start your computer and watch for a message about pressing some key to run the Recovery Process.  Because there are many different versions of Recovery, you'll have to follow the instructions that appear on your screen as you progress.  With the best Recovery Programs, all you do is insert subsequent disks.  Others are a bit more difficult.  If you don't feel you know computers well, perhaps you could invite a friend who knows more about them to have coffee with you while you are doing your Recovery process.
When the Recovery process is complete, your computer will run the way it did when it was brand new.

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