How to completely restart your computer so it's like it was when you first got it?

I have a mini HP laptop and I'm young, so try to explain it simply, !!!!How to completely restart your computer so it's like it was when you first got it?
this is called recover, dispite all those on y/a using the wrong terms (reformat, restore, etc).


depending on the age of it, it should have a hidden recovery partion you access at pos/boot which will give you a few options of how to do this.


usually accessed using a function key like f10 or f11, but sometimes a keystroke combo like fct+f11, etc





reformat is when you format a drive to a specific file system and when you reformat, you do this again. recover is a windows feature which merely turns back the system to a previous date. the problem here is that this procedure constantly updates the recovery files so if you've installed much since yuou bought it, it will never go all the way back to the way it was out of the box.





recover has many options including formatting the drive, a complete wipe. it also has a non-format option which will leave your date in tact, as well as a repair option.How to completely restart your computer so it's like it was when you first got it?
Most computers come with a ';re-installation'; disk, you can start with that. It will basically do what your asking, re-installing everything.
ok click the start button and in the search que type in system restore. it should tell you all the details from there.
when you turn it on, you may have to hit ';F10'; or ';F12'; alot untill it beeps. It should bring up a screen to let you wipe out the computer. If it does not do that then you will have to have someone order system recovery CD's and you will need a cd drive in order to do this.
You have to reformat (wipe) your hard drive and then reinstall your Windows (assuming you use Windows) and all your software





Its not something that you should do if you're not comfortable doing it, and of course you'll lose ALL the data on your computer unless you back it up first. You can take it to a computer tech that can do it for you.





Why do you want to, though? Its a rather drastic step that you usually only do when you have a serious, unfixable problem, or when you sell your computer to someone else.





edit: ';system restore'; and similar processes will simply reset the software back to its original settings. All the data should remain on your computer - including any viruses or spyware programs, if thats your problem. ';Reformat'; is the correct term for a true wipe, since it removes all the data on your drive and then formats, or prepares, it to receive new data as a blank drive.
I had to do this a few times to my computer.





First, did your computer come with a Disk called ';Recovery'; Or ';restore'; Or something along those lines. If not, do you have a disk with a Windows Operating System on it? You need a disk that will install Windows back on it. If you have a Recovery disk, just pop it in the computer drive and restart the computer. Read this article for more info: http://www.ehow.com/how_6368862_restore-computer-first-bought.html
There should be CDs or DVDs that came with your computer. You can load the CD that says ';Recovery'; or ';Windows Restore'; into your CD drive, then reboot your computer and it should boot from the CD drive to reload it to factory default.





There are other options such as using ';System Restore'; to bring it back to the very first day, but you won't get performance like you would if you reload the system as stated above.





For further info, feel free to e-mail me.
your laptop came with DVD's or CD's with windows on it.





Place them in your computer. If it's possible select you want to install windows.


If it's not possible, restart your computer. Quickly watch for the text when it starts, it should say something like pressing f12 or f8 to start another disk. Or go to your bios (it will say, very shortly, how to do this). Look for something like booting drive and set it to your optical media drive.





Now you will start with the windows disk. Select you want to install windows. Choose the installation type which will delete everything (which will ';format'; your hard drive).





Now you will loose all your data, and it will be the same as you once got it. (All your data will be gone, so make sure you want to do this, there are ways to keep your data/files).
Go to www.piriform.com and download ccleaner.