You can choose whether to keep preinstalled Windows apps. If you click on “Change settings,” you can toggle “Preinstalled apps” off so that the reset does not restore the apps and settings that came with the PC. If you choose “Keep my files,” the standard setting will be to restore the apps and settings which came with the PC.

Depending on what you select, the next window will offer additional settings.

You can keep your files when you reset Windows 10, or start from scratch. If you’re going to get rid of the computer, select “Remove everything.” If you’re recovering from an update issue or are trying to remove a bad app, you could try “Keep my files” first. “Keep my files” will remove apps and settings, but let you keep any saved files, while “Remove everything” will reset the computer to its “as new” state.

You’ll be able to choose from one of two options.

The Recovery screen lets you easily reset your PC. Click on the gear (setup) icon, and go to “Update & Security” > “Recovery.”

Alternatively, click on the Start key (the Windows icon in the lower left corner).

Go to the search field in your task bar and type “reset,” which will bring up “Reset this PC” as the best match.

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.

Windows 10 location wrong