How to refresh, reset, or restore your PC

Note: For information about this topic in Windows 10, see Recovery options in Windows 10.

If you’re having problems with your PC, you can:

Refresh your PC to reinstall Windows and keep your personal files and settings. Refresh also keeps the apps that came with your PC and the apps you installed from the Microsoft Store.

Reset your PC to reinstall Windows but delete your files, settings, and apps—except for the apps that came with your PC.

Restore your PC to undo recent system changes you’ve made.

If you’re having trouble starting (booting) your PC, see Windows Startup Settings (including safe mode), and go to the “Get to Windows Startup Settings in the Windows Recovery Environment” section. You can refresh, reset, or restore your PC from the Windows Recovery Environment.

If you want to back up and restore your personal files using File History, see Set up a drive for File History.

Before you start to refresh or reset your PC

In most cases, once you start to refresh or reset your PC, it’ll finish on its own. However, if Windows needs missing files, you’ll be asked to insert recovery media, which is typically on a DVD disc or thumb drive. If that happens, what you’ll need depends on your PC.

If your PC came with Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1, you’ll need the discs or thumb drive that came with your PC. Check the info that came with your PC to see if your PC manufacturer provided these discs or media. In some cases, you might have created them when you first set up your PC.

If you don’t have either of those, you can make them if you have a USB thumb drive of 16 GB or larger. Having a recovery drive can help you troubleshoot and fix problems with your PC, even if it won’t start. For more info, see Create a USB recovery drive.

If you upgraded your PC to Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1 with a DVD, use that disc. If you don’t have Windows 8.1 or Windows RT 8.1 media, contact Microsoft Support.

Refresh, reset, or restore

Select any of the following for more detailed info.

If your PC isn’t performing as well as it once did, and you don’t know why, you can refresh your PC without deleting any of your personal files or changing your settings.

Note: If you upgraded your PC from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 and your PC has a Windows 8 recovery partition, refreshing your PC will restore Windows 8. You’ll need to upgrade to Windows 8.1 after the refresh has finished.

Warning: Apps you installed from websites and DVDs will be removed. Apps that came with your PC and apps you installed from Microsoft Store will be reinstalled. Windows puts a list of removed apps on your desktop after refreshing your PC.

To refresh your PC

Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings, and then tap Change PC settings.
(If you’re using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, click Settings, and then click Change PC settings.)

Tap or click Update and recovery, and then tap or click Recovery.

Under Refresh your PC without affecting your files, tap or click Get started.

Follow the instructions on the screen.

If you want to recycle your PC, give it away, or start over with it, you can reset it completely. This removes everything and reinstalls Windows.

Note: If you upgraded your PC from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 and your PC has a Windows 8 recovery partition, resetting your PC will restore Windows 8. You’ll need to upgrade to Windows 8.1 after the reset has finished.

Warning: All of your personal files will be deleted and your settings will be reset. All apps that you installed will be removed. Only apps that came with your PC will be reinstalled.

To reset your PC

Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, tap Settings, and then tap Change PC settings.
(If you’re using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, click Settings, and then click Change PC settings.)

Tap or click Update and recovery, and then tap or click Recovery.

Under Remove everything and reinstall Windows, tap or click Get started.

Follow the instructions on the screen.

Note: You’ll be asked to choose whether you want to erase data quickly or thoroughly. If you choose to erase data quickly, some data might be recoverable using special software. If you choose to erase data thoroughly, this will take longer but it makes recovering data less likely.

If you think an app or driver that you recently installed caused problems with your PC, you can restore Windows back to an earlier point in time, called a restore point. System Restore doesn’t change your personal files, but it might remove recently installed apps and drivers.

System Restore isn’t available for Windows RT 8.1.

Windows automatically creates a restore point when you install desktop apps and new Windows updates, if the last restore point is older than 7 days. You can also create a restore point manually at any time.

To restore your PC to an earlier point in time

Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and then tap Search.
(If you’re using a mouse, point to the upper-right corner of the screen, move the mouse pointer down, and then click Search.)

Enter Control Panel in the search box, and tap or click Control Panel.

Enter Recovery in the Control Panel search box, and then tap or click Recovery.

Tap or click Open System Restore, and then follow the instructions.

If you need additional help refreshing, resetting, or restoring your PC, check out the Repair and Recovery community pages in the Windows forum for solutions that other people have found for problems they’ve experienced.

What Does The Refresh Option In Windows Actually Do?

Until a few days ago, I, being a loyal Windows user from the time when I got hands-on my first desktop machine, believed that the Refresh option in Windows clears the system memory, making it clutter-free. But all my beliefs turned out to be false when I finally dug through the internet for the actual task performed by the Refresh option in Windows.

Windows Refresh Option – What’s the purpose?

What actually happens is that Windows has an auto-refresh feature inbuilt by Microsoft, which enables the screen to display the changes made to a folder–even desktop is just a folder for your operating system–either by you or a third-party application or if you want to re-align the folders on your desktop.

Sometimes, the auto-refresh option fails to display the change on your screen. So, you have to manually do it yourself by clicking the Refresh button in the context menu. I would like to tell you that no miracle happens when you click the refresh button. It won’t make any changes in the performance. Your Windows machine won’t transform into a supercomputer.

Most people, including me, have developed a habit of constantly refreshing Windows for no reason. I have shifted to Ubuntu recently, and I find myself searching for the Refresh option in the context menu, but it is nowhere to be seen because most Linux-based operating systems don’t have it. However, one can install tools like xautomation to get the same effect.

One thing to note is that you shouldn’t confuse it with the Refresh feature that appeared in earlier versions of Windows 10. The feature allowed users to reset their PC without deleting data.

Anyway, it seems like a daily ritual for most of us; our hands involuntarily keep pressing the F5. And some of us even overcome our laziness and refresh windows using a mouse, which is a tiresome job, though. So, try to get rid of this bad habit.

Talking technically, all the stuff you see on your desktop is a static frame. Let’s take an example of a movie — In earlier times we went to cinema theatres which used camera reels to project the movie on a white screen. Each reel had many images arranged in an order, and they were projected on the screen at a specific rate, i.e., 24 images/frames per second. You might’ve heard about the term FPS (frames per second); it’s the same thing. The human eye can’t distinguish if the FPS is 24 or above.

In current times, the same process is followed, but the photos are now saved in a digitally compressed file which is given an extension like MP4 or MKV. It makes the video portable, and we can open it on our computer.

So, consider a frame generated by your OS as an image. Frames are displayed on your screen one after the other giving you a feeling that everything is continuous. Each frame comprises of different UI (User Interface) components like background, icons, and their names. When each frame is constructed, all the components are placed on it, like first the background, then the icons and their names. The taskbar acts as a layer that is placed on top of the background.

If each component had to be placed in every succeeding frame, it would be a tiresome job for the hardware. So, to reduce the burden on the hardware, an optimization technique has been deduced in which only the components which are needed to be changed are marked as dirty and then recreated in the next frame. This reduces the load on the CPU.

The refresh option marks all the components of the screen as dirty, and the whole screen is recreated in the next frame and displayed on your monitor. That’s the prime job of the Refresh option in Windows.

So, feel free to press the F5 button the next time. But do decide whether you need it or not. Anyways, it’s your machine, and the Refresh option is free–press it as many times you want.

How do I refresh my desktop in Windows 10?

On Windows 10 and older versions, you can refresh your desktop by right-clicking anywhere in the empty space on the desktop. Next, select the third option from the context menu. Alternatively, as mentioned above, you can also press the F5 key to use the refresh option.

Did we clear your confusion? Tell us in the comments below.

What does Refresh Desktop or Refresh explorer window actually do?

I am sure that you must have noticed that when you right-click on your Windows desktop or inside an open explorer window, you see an option called Refresh in the context menu. The Refresh option has been there since you can remember!

But have you really wondered what this option actually does? Does it refresh your Windows OS and keep it running smoothly? Does it make your Windows faster? Or maybe you think it will clear your computer’s memory or refresh the RAM…? Actually it is none of these!

What does Refresh Desktop or Folder do

The Desktop is nothing but a folder in the Windows operating system. It is programmed to auto-refresh when its contents change. When the contents of the folder changes, it will auto-refresh. But at times, you may find that the desktop or folder does not auto-refresh.

You may then need to refresh your desktop manually in the following circumstances:

• The desktop does not display the files or folders you just created, moved, deleted, renamed or saved on it
• You need to re-align your desktop icons
• You find that you cannot use the desktop icons.
• Files that were created to the desktop by some 3rd-party application do not appear
• And such similar situations where the contents of the desktop or the folder do not change when expected to.

In such a case, when you press F5 or right-click on your Windows desktop and select Refresh, the situation will be corrected. Manually refreshing the desktop or folder may re-order its contents as, folders first, then files, in alphabetical order.

But if you constantly need to use the Refresh option frequently, to refresh your desktop or explorer windows, you may want to see this fix – Desktop does not refresh automatically in Windows.

Why do some people Refresh desktop constantly?

You may have noticed that some people just refresh their desktops frequently for the sake of refreshing it. It has become almost like a compulsive disorder, to refresh the desktop constantly. You may have noticed this habit especially among some Computer Engineers and Technicians who are obsessed with using the Refresh option – almost in a state of frenzy.

What is the reason for this? There is no need or reason to do this. It is just a silly habit, they simply need to break.

Do you have any friends who are in habit of using the Refresh Desktop option frequently? Maybe you want to share this post with them.

Or maybe you too are one of them … if so do try and break this habit! 😉

NOTE: The Refresh option cannot be removed from the right-click context menu, or changed as it is not a shell extension, but is hardcoded in the operating system.

Date: December 28, 2017 Tags: Desktop, Tips

What does refresh your pc do on windows 10? — (FAQ)

Category: what . Last Updated: 1 months ago . Views: 2

ANSWER

Windows 10’s “Refresh Your PC” feature effectively performs a quick reinstall of Windows, removing all your installed desktop programs and any other system modifications, while preserving your personal files. You don’t even need a Windows disc to do this.

What Does The Refresh Option In Windows Actually Do?

What actually happens is that Windows has an auto-refresh feature inbuilt by Microsoft, which enables the screen to display the changes made to a folder–even desktop is just a folder for your

What does the Refresh Desktop in Windows actually do ? The Windows refresh does nothing to the Windows system or RAM! It is actually meant to refresh your Windows desktop. You have to remember that the Windows Desktop is nothing but a folder in the Windows operating system. It has been …

How to Reset or Refresh Windows 10 without Losing …? Windows 10 refresh and reset When your system has problems, you can choose to refresh, reset or restore from a backup to fix the problem. In some previous Windows 10 builds (15002), you can see the feature Refresh Windows in Windows Defender. In the newest Windows 10 version, that features seems to be removed.

How to refresh, reset, or restore your PC?

Refresh your PC to reinstall Windows and keep your personal files and settings. Refresh also keeps the apps that came with your PC and the apps you installed from the Microsoft Store. Reset your PC to reinstall Windows but delete your files, settings, and apps—except for …

What Does Refresh Actually Do? What does Refresh Desktop or Folder do The Desktop is nothing but a folder in the Windows operating system. It is programmed to auto-refresh when its contents change. When the contents of the folder changes, it will auto-refresh.

What exactly does «Refresh your PC» do? Refresh your PC—Attempts to solve system problems by replacing system files without affecting user files (similar to what a repair install does WRT to system files at least under earlier Win versions). User files still should be backed up. Installed programs will have to be reinstalled except those from the Windows Store.

Should I refresh Windows 10?

Where to start…? Operating system market share Windows 10 is now on slightly over 25% of the PC’s in the world. What (very!) little data I can find so far seems to suggest that Windows 10 is more resilient to abuse, more stable and forgiving and a

How to clean and refresh your Windows 10 PC » …? There may come a time when you may need to clean and refresh your Windows 10 PC. Many hiccups may occur due to a newly installed Windows 10 app, driver, or other update, or maybe your Windows 10

What Do The Function Keys (F1

F12) Do On Windows 10? What Does F1 Do #1: Open a new browser window or tab. If you press F1 on Windows 10 desktop, you’ll be brought to the how to get help in windows 10 search page in Edge. If you press F1 in an opening browser, you’ll get a new tab (often shows the corresponding support page).

How to Clean Up Windows 10 With the Fresh Start Tool …? Microsoft’s Fresh Start feature can rid your Windows 10 PC of junkware and return it to a clean, pristine state.

What is the significance of refresh in windows?

In technical terms, it invalidates the screen, making it dirty, so that it can be rendered again. Let me explain the word dirty here. (No, it’s not what you’re thinking.) Your first question would be What does this ‘dirty’ term has to do with re

How to Refresh your PC running Windows 8, 8.1, & 10 ? How to Refresh your PC Running Windows 8, 8.1 & 10. About Lenovo + About Lenovo. Our Company News

How to Refresh or Reset PC From Command Prompt on …? Refresh PC: When you refresh a Windows 10 PC, Windows will refresh and/or replace all system files. Refreshing a PC doesn’t remove your personal files.However, Windows will uninstall all applications except the ones that come pre-installed, like the built-in store apps. Reset PC: Resetting is the more aggressive version of Refresh. That is, resetting a PC removes all installed applications

How to ‘Refresh’ Your PC When Windows Says There’s a …? Enter the letter of the drive where Windows is installed on your PC (if you don’t know, run the command dir [letter] (for example, dir C, if you have a C drive) to see a directory for the drive

What Happens When You Reset Network Settings on Windows 10?

Here are the steps to reset network on Windows 10. Step 1: Open Settings on your PC by clicking on the Start Menu and then hitting the Setting icon. Alternatively, use the Windows key + I …

How to do a system refresh on Windows 10? Hi my name is Roger Ahuja and I’m going to take a couple of minutes and show you how to do a windows refresh on Windows 10. Now before you do your windows r

How to Refresh Windows 10? If your Windows 10 laptop or desktop PC hangs, freezes, crashes, gets struck, or if it is just running slowly, you should refresh your Windows 10 PC using the refresh feature available in Windows 10 and make it work fast like if it is a fresh Windows 10 install.

How to Refresh Windows 10?

Micro Center Tech Support shows you how to refresh Windows 10http://www.microcentertech.comhttp://www.microcenter.com

How to Reset and Refresh Windows? A system refresh just restore your system to its default state. But a reset do more. It clean your files and personal data. Then re-install windows. It is more secure than windows refresh. How to Reset or Refresh Windows PC Effectively: Windows 8, 8.1 and Windows 10 have the reset and refresh …

How to Change the Monitor Refresh Rate in Windows 10 ? We show you how to do a monitor hz test and change the refresh rate of your monitor in Windows 10. By. Markus Kasanmascheff — November 24, …

How to Refresh Windows 10, an Alternative to a Clean Reinstall? If your PC comes with a recovery image from your its manufacturer, then Windows 10 will use that image to refresh your PC. If not, you will need a Windows 10 installation or recovery media. Another option would be to create your own custom refresh image. Note that this tutorial works on both Windows 8 and 10, but it was tested on Windows 10 only.

How to fix Windows 10 and 8.1 refresh problems?

‘The best way to keep good acts in memory is to refresh them with new’ Cato the Elder. Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 refresh options are undoubtedly a real boon to the users of the operating systems in question: for instance, if your computer keeps playing up for no apparent reason and you wish to give it a fresh start, the opportunity to refresh your wayward machine can come in very handy.

How to Safely Sell or Donate Your Old Windows 10 PC? The Reset option in Windows 10 does a good job of performing a clean install if you choose the option Remove Everything. The part I don’t like about Reset, though, is that it can take

Do You Really Need to Regularly Reinstall Windows? With Windows 10, the built-in Windows Defender plus an anti-exploit app like Malwarebytes make a great combination. Use a startup manager tool like the one built into Windows 10 to prune useless programs from your startup process.

How to Change Your Monitor’s Refresh Rate Settings in ? Changing the Refresh Rate on Windows 10. If you’re using Windows 10 and the display transitions aren’t as smooth as they should be, it’s time to check the refresh rate set. Similarly, if you’ve just purchased a new monitor with an excellent top-end refresh …

How to Reset or Clean Install Windows 10 using ‘Reset …?

RELATED: Want to Reset the PC as well as update/upgrade to the latest version and build of Windows 10 automatically? Check out the Fresh start feature or its equivalent Windows 10 “Refresh Windows” Utility.Using the built-in Fresh Start feature or the Refresh Windows utility will keep your personal files and some Windows settings. They remove your apps and start with a clean and up-to-date

How to reset your Windows 10 PC when your having problems ? Back before Windows 10, there was a clear difference between resetting and refreshing your Windows PC: the former deleted all your files, settings, and apps, while the …

How to Make Your Windows 10 Computer Work Like New Again? With Windows 10, it’s easier to do than ever before. Here’s how to get that brand new PC feeling on your machine. Reinstalling Windows is an easy way to fix a PC that’s been giving you problems.

Last modified: March 02 2021

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