Windows 8 Refresh

[Neville Bailey]

I've been using Windows 8 since it was first launched, and it hasn't been a bad experience, although I have succumbed and got myself a Start button utility.

My opinion of Windows 8 went up a few notches yesterday, when I was forced to use its Refresh option.

Over the past few days my computer has been behaving rather strangely, getting very slow and certain programs performing oddly. Then my anti-virus program stopped working, and I knew I had a problem on my hands. The final crunch was when the computer would not allow me to type in my log in password, so I couldn't even get into the system.

I thought I would then try and reboot in safe mode, but the old repeated pressing if the F8 key while starting up did not work.

After some googling on my phone, I discovered that Windows 8 had a Refresh option and a Reset option. The latter is essentially like a reformat and reinstallation of Windows 8 and all your data is lost. However, the Refresh option reinstalls Windows 8 to its default settings, without removing any data. All installed programs are removed, but a list of the removed programs is left on the desktop.

So I went for the Refresh option, after pressing Shift-F8 repeatedly when restarting the computer and, after about half an hour, my computer was virgin again, but my data was still there, and it appeared that all the bugs were gone!

I spent a good part of the day yesterday reinstalling my programs, and my computer is now humming beautifully again!

[Mike C]

Have you any idea what caused the problem in the first place?

[Neville Bailey]

I am not sure, but it had all the symptoms of malware or a virus.

I have always used Kaspersky Internet Security, and it has never failed me, and recently I decided to try out an alternative cloud-based option, which I think let in a lot of the bugs. When I uninstalled that program and tried, without success, to reinstall Kaspersky, I knew that it must be a virus or malware, as they often prevent one from installing anti-virus programs.

[AndyD]

Wndoze has always needed reinstalling every year or so but right back to Win 95 assuming you had the cab files copied you could do a reinstall from the hard drive and leave all your data in place and programs still installed.

[Mike C]

Don't you have to go through all the updates again?

[Neville Bailey]

Don't you have to go through all the updates again?

Yes, but that's no big deal - it just runs in the background while I get on with my work.

Today I see that Windows 8.1 has been released! Busy downloading that now, but at least I won't have to reinstall my programs all over again...

[AndyD]

I hold M1cr0soft updates (and operating systems for that matter) in the same esteem as viruses. I wouldn't go anywhere near them for at least a month or two (much longer in the case of an OS) after they've been released because I don't want to be a guniea-pig.