Rebooting PC from scratch.

[emma_llew]

I have an Acer pc which needs rebooting from scratch. I know how to back up my files and everything, but the problem is that it didn't come with a reboot disc with the operating system on it or anything (It was new and from a shop and everything)
This means there must be a way of rebooting it without using a disc.... can you help me?
It has Windows XP... (but no disc of course)
Thanks for any help.

[LeMarchand]

Most Acers come with a recovery partition (if you go to "My Computer" it will show up as a separate disc).

There's usually some sort of program installed that will activate the partition and set EVERYTHING (software-wise!) back to it's "factory" condition.

[chas2008]

also on certain systems one of the F keys will restore factory settings..
My son-in-law bought an HP pc that threw a wobbly and went tilt, i gave him a right rollicking for buying a system with no restore discs. It sat on the floor for months until i had a fiddle with it, hit an F key cant remember which one, and up it booted in recovery mode , doh!!
Then read the intstruction book...and there it was ,to restore to factory settings use F ? key..lesson of the day 'read instruction books'... ok, so i still dont well it is a blokey thing

[wildwood]

Why do think you need to re-install (I presume) Windows?
(rebooting is simply restarting your operating system - computer)

If there is something which you think is amiss there is a system restore facility in Windows XP which enables you to set your computer configuration back to a previous date.
Start>All Programs>Accesories>System Tools>System Restore and follow instructions. You can restore to any of the dates that are highlighted (bold). Any programs installed since that date will be uninstalled but saved.

[gordyagusta]

Dead easy. its ALT + F10 to reset to factory default.. resets your laptop to as new, on completion it will restart like its just switched on for the first time.

Hope this helps