First, Windows 8.1 will no longer receive security patches or technical updates after the cut-off date has passed. This will leave your computer vulnerable to harmful viruses, spyware and other malicious software. Microsoft announced earlier this week that it was introducing a Game Pass widget to the Dev Channel.

If you’re using any computer, you need a secure password to protect your important data. There’s no point using generic, easy-to-guess admin passwords unless you’re happy to put your files and personal data at risk. It’s important to keep a record of passwords like these, as without them, you’ll be left locked out of your PC. Once the PC is restarted, you can then reinstall your apps, and configure settings.

How to Reset Windows to Factory Settings

We’re quite certain that at least one of the methods documented above should work for you. Password managers can safely store all your passwords, and many will also generate secure passwords for you. Choose a password manager with multi-device sync capabilities, get it set up on your computer and your smartphone, then use it to store your driversol.com/articles Windows password.

  • Sometimes, the key will show up as “PrtScn”, but it can also well appear as “PrtScr”, “Prt Sc”, “Print Screen”, etc.
  • Once your PC is reset and ready to use, you’ll need to think about the new software you’ll need to immediately install, from a new web browser to an antivirus to keep your PC safe from malware.
  • The new store looks sleek and more streamlined than its predecessor.

I only tried a few but LDPlayer has worked for the apps I want on both my phone and computer. You do need a fairly fast network for this to work well but again there are a limited number of Android apps I want on my PC. And if you don’t like the look of Windows 11, you can safely ignore it and keep using Windows 10 for years — though Microsoft will eventually expect you to upgrade. It’s hard to make a definitive judgment about Windows 11 because so much of it is still being built out in front of us. Native Android app support took too long to arrive, Widgets lack some advertised features, and during testing, I ran into annoying bugs in apps like Snipping Tool and Cortana. I expect Microsoft will address all of these issues in due time, which means it should be a whole different OS by the time many of us get the offer to upgrade from Windows 10.

There’s also the new Notepad, which has also been updated with a brand new modern design that matches the rest of Windows 11. It’s clean and modern, and like Microsoft Paint, is functionally exactly the same as the old version. The introduction of dark mode in Notepad is going to please many developers and dark theme users out there too.

Windows 11 performance

Turn on or off Clean data, Delete files from all drives, and Download Windows for what you want, and click/tap on Confirm. This will take a while to finish, and your PC will restart a few times during the process. If you select all drives, this will erase all partitions/volumes on the Windows system disk. Reinstalls any apps your PC manufacturer installed on your PC. If you are encountering issues during the setup process, you can add additional switches to the setup command line.

Default apps settings get complicated

When the new version is ready for your computer, you will receive a notification in the Windows Update settings. If you do not get the message, you should not try to force the Windows 11 upgradebecause the chances of running into issues will be higher. We tested multiple visually demanding games on the same CPU and GPU—first in Windows 10, then after upgrading to Windows 11 . We are using a rig with an AMD Ryzen processor and an NVidia GeForce RTX graphics card along with 16 GB DDR4 memory for testing.

Not an option often used, but if you’ve got a problem with an app, it could be the way to go. As a tenured data recovery specialist, John shares exceptional insights and blog posts about data loss and data recovery across any storage device. With 8+ years’ experience in writing for Data Recovery for both Mac OS and Windows OS computers, he is an avid learner who always wants to polish and simplify the data recovery process. John passes his free time playing Chess and reading Science Fiction novels. Utilize Remo Recover to recover files lost after factory resetting Windows 10/11 effortlessly.