If Windows 10 is working - or even if it’s mostly working - it’s simple to do a reset. There is also a different method of reinstalling Windows called “Fresh start” (formerly “Refresh”). You can do it from the Windows interface or, if you’re in trouble, from the more basic Safe Mode. There are several ways to initiate a reset in Windows 10, depending on what you need to do. But before you get the no-longer-needed computer out of your house, you’re going to want to wipe all your data off the hard drive first. Resets are also useful if you’ve just bought a spanking new system, have loaded all your data onto it, and now want to sell / trade in / give away / discard your old Windows 10 system.

(By the way, you have backed up your computer, right?) In both cases, I was able to save an otherwise unusable PC by doing a reset, which removes all (or most) of the files and apps on the hard drive and reinstalls Windows 10. I was reminded of this just the other day, when another Windows 10 system decided that it didn’t like the latest update and began misbehaving very badly - so badly, that it would stop reacting to the cursor one minute after it booted. The battery ran out in the middle of the update and voila! I was stuck with what I was sure was now a very expensive brick. A couple of years ago, I made the mistake of not checking to make sure my laptop was securely plugged in while Windows was undergoing a major update. Windows 10 is, on the whole, more trouble-free than its previous iterations - but sometimes, things just go wrong.

Personal files not removed after reset