how to i restore a computer to the state it was in when purchased

[mkjuk]

i.e to have everything except windows and explorer deleted ?

[Ethel]

How old is your pc? It is a drastic thing to do.

XP or Vista?

[mkjuk]

xp - 2 years old maybe

[tw@t]

put in restore cd and press y when prompted

[Ethel]

My Acer allows restore without the cd - the manual tells me exactly how to do it.

This only applies to my pc - not all pcs have that functionality.

[vehelpfulguy]

You sound as though you want to tidy up your PC, but leave Windows and Internet Explorer on it.

This is almost impossible to do without a complete re-intall (or restore) of Windows.

While Windows is being used, under the covers it creates hundreds of files that it calls "system files".

These files could contain personal information and it is impossible for anbody, even an experienced computer user, to delete all these system files and be sure the PC is "clean".

So you need to do a re-install or restore of Windows.

Almost all computers come with the ability to re-install or restore Windows, but how this is done does vary from computer to computer.

Have a look at the documentation that came with your computer and it should show you how to retore your PC to the condition it was in when you bought it.

But if you do this you will almost certainly delete all the personal files on your computer, so make sure you have saved them all first on to CD or another computer.