How to factory reset your laptop in Windows 10 (tutorial)

Selling your laptop isn’t as simple as finding someone who is willing to buy it. Sure, you have to take nice pictures and write an in-depth description of your laptop to find a prospective buyer. If you’re selling on Craiglist, you get the added fun of dealing with crazy people. I put my iPad up for sale one time and I had people texting me if they could trade me their PSP instead of cash. When you finally find someone who is down to buy the laptop, you’re going to realize that you can’t just give them your laptop. You have to factory reset so you don’t give some total stranger all the weird pictures and downloads you’ve accumulated in the lifespan of that laptop. PC laptops aren’t very straightforward when it comes to factory resetting your laptop. Here at deTeched, we want to make your life a little bit easier. Here’s how to delete all the files on your computer so that your laptop will boot up like it’s brand new.

How to factory reset your laptop in Windows 10

  1. Click Settings
  2. Click Update & security
  3. Click Recovery
  4. Under Reset this PC, click Get Started
  5. Choose the option “Remove everything”

Your laptop will log out and start deleting every file on the hard drive. In my experience, it’s taken about 20-30 minutes to delete everything. If you have important files, I would highly recommend backing it up to an external drive otherwise you will lose everything. You can also use this method to reset your laptop if it isn’t running well. There is an option to “Keep my files” which will remove your apps and settings but keep your personal files. If you find your computer is always slow and laggy, you should consider doing a soft reset using this method. Make sure to do this before you sell your laptop, otherwise, some random person will have all your personal information.

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