This was written for Windows 10<\/em><\/p>\n We recently helped someone who had to reinstall all her programs because she ran a Windows 10 System Reset instead of a System Restore. And right then, we realized how confusing it can be at times, especially if you\u2019re upset, frustrated or in a hurry. So, we\u2019re going to clarify each and give you some suggestions as to when you should run each, plus we\u2019ll include links to our online articles showing you exactly how to access and run each of these Windows features.<\/p>\n First, Fresh start is available only on Windows 10 Creators Update (and newer versions of Windows 10). So, if you\u2019re any version of Windows older than version 1703, you won\u2019t have the Fresh start option.<\/p>\n Think of System Restore as a time machine. Let\u2019s say this morning you installed Uncle Bill\u2019s Desktop Whirly Gig and it really messed up your computer. System Restore is your best option. System Restore lets you go back in time, to a time before you installed Uncle Bill\u2019s crummy software, and puts your computer back to the state it was in before your computer got all messed up. System Restore keeps all of your programs and settings up to the date\/time of the Restore Point you choose. Additionally, it keeps all of your personal files and folders. System Restore is good first option when something goes wrong because it makes the least changes to your computer. To learn how to use System Restore see this Cloudeight article<\/span>.<\/a><\/p>\n System Reset is a powerful tool that comes with every version of Windows 10. System Reset gives you two options:<\/p>\n 1. Reset your computer and keep all your personal files.<\/p>\n 2. Reset your computer and remove everything.<\/p>\n When you do a System Reset and choose the option to keep your personal files, Windows saves all of your personal files (documents, pictures, videos, music, etc.) and then removes all your programs and settings. Windows generates a list of programs that it removes. After Windows has saved all of your personal files and removed all of your programs, it reinstalls Windows. Any programs you installed are removed, but any apps that came with Windows and manufacturer\u2019s bloatware will be reinstalled. So, after the Reset is done, all your personal files will be right where they were before you did the reset. But you\u2019ll need to reinstall any programs that you installed because all you\u2019ll have after a Reset are Windows apps like Edge, Mail app, etc. and any manufacturer\u2019s software that came with your computer. Our advice: The first program you should re-install after a system Reset is your security software.<\/p>\n When you do a System Reset and choose not to save your personal files and folders, Windows will remove everything, reinstall Windows with Windows apps and any manufacturer\u2019s software.<\/p>\n A System Reset is the best option when your computer has so many serious unrelated problems that using your computer becomes very difficult or very annoying. To learn how to use System Reset, see our article on using System Reset here<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n Fresh start is a new feature of Windows 10 that was first introduced with Windows 10 Creators Update. Fresh start is very similar to System Reset with one big difference. When you run a Windows 10 Fresh start, it saves your personal files and folders, and some of your Windows settings. It uninstalls all of your programs. Then Fresh start clean installs Windows, which mean none of the manufacturers bloatware is installed. You get a fresh, clean copy of Windows, and all your personal files are restored. Fresh start is a good choice if you are having many substantial and serious problems with your PC. You can get more information about Fresh start by visiting this page<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n Feel free to use the “Print Friendly” button at the top to print this page, save it as a PDF file, or send the URL to this article by email to yourself or a friend. Or, if you prefer, you can bookmark it for future reference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Quick Guide to Using System Restore, System Reset and Fresh Start This was written for Windows 10 We recently helped someone who had to reinstall all her programs because she ran a Windows 10 System Reset instead of a System Restore. And right then, we realized how confusing it can be at times, especially if you\u2019re upset,\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1846,1845,746,1684],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15190"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15191,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15190\/revisions\/15191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}System Restore<\/strong><\/h2>\n
System Reset<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Fresh start<\/strong><\/h2>\n