Restoring OS
Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: Restoring OS

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2001
    Location
    East Horsley, Surrey, UK
    Posts
    2,352

    Restoring OS

    What ho one and all,

    I am trying to help an elderly neighbour with her Asus netbook that is running so slow, grass grows faster!

    She was given the computer by her son, about three years ago. I don't know which OS it had, W7 or 8 and neither does she. She only uses it for sending the very occasional e-mail, reading incoming mail and mostly using Skye to chat with her sons who live overseas.

    Because MS have bombarded her with W10 up-grade memos, she some time ago, pushed the 'Go' option. Now, it seems to be working even slower than before and has changed things in ways that are confusing her. Basically, she regrets going to W10 and is feeling even more lost!

    I know zilch about W10 (I am an XP wizard!) and don't' want to totally mess her up, but what can I do to restore to the previous purchased OS?

    Because I don't know my way around W10, I cannot even find simple things like the disk layout in Control Panel/ Admin tools. I assume there is a Restore Partition somewhere, but how to find it?

    Thanks
    What if the Hokey Cokey IS what it's all about?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Location
    Sheboygan, WI
    Posts
    53,392
    Start [type in} this pc , and hit enter will give you My computer.
    This silly laptop does not have a restore partion, so I have to use a bootable Win 10 USB stick.

    Laptops, if you can boot F12, which is a one time boot select, usually lists a restore this computer option.

    But if it has been over 30 days, unless she has the restore partition, she is stuck with Win 10.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2000
    Location
    Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA
    Posts
    18,063
    As rain mentioned, if it has been more than 30 days, she is stuck with Windows 10. If that is the case, you could try a clean install of Windows 10. That may speed up the machine until the next time Microsoft pushes out another "update", at which time it could cause more problems.

    http://www.howtogeek.com/224342/how-...ll-windows-10/

    http://www.lifehacker.com/how-to-do-...-10-1720775893

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Arkham Asylum, Cell 13
    Posts
    11,686
    Asus netbook
    What is the model number? Netbooks are usually underpowered to begin with, so dumping Win10 on top of it doesn't help. Newer OSes generally require more horsepower than older ones.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2001
    Location
    East Horsley, Surrey, UK
    Posts
    2,352
    Model number, I don't know. What I do think is that both the HDD and RAM will be limited and MS has, as you say, 'dumped W10' and now the thing is way underpowered.

    However, I do know that before she got W10, it was running, albeit pretty damned slow. I will chat with her and see if she has any paperwork.

    If it is not possible to use the built-in restoration partition, is it possible to reformat the HDD and do a clean install of W7 or 8. What are the implication given that each computer has such diverse hardware?
    What if the Hokey Cokey IS what it's all about?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Arkham Asylum, Cell 13
    Posts
    11,686
    Model number, I don't know.
    Get the model number first, so that we can look up the recovery instructions. Otherwise, we are just playing a guessing game.

    If it is not possible to use the built-in restoration partition, is it possible to reformat the HDD and do a clean install of W7 or 8.
    She would have had to make the recovery DVD or Flash drive ahead of time. If it's a netbook, then there's a good chance it came with Win7 Starter edition.

    What do you mean "diverse" hardware?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2001
    Location
    East Horsley, Surrey, UK
    Posts
    2,352
    What I mean, (and I'm not sure I know what I am referring to ) is for example, Dell recovery partition has a lot of crop that relates to the specific Dell computer. When I tried to install XP I encountered issue which I resolved by fully wiping the HDD, reformatting and did a clean XP install without any Dell crap.

    Given a netbook has most of its hardware built-in, I figure there could be problems wiping it and reinstalling just the OS. But what do I know?

    Will swing by and get the model number; may be she has some books and/or recovery disk?
    What if the Hokey Cokey IS what it's all about?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Arkham Asylum, Cell 13
    Posts
    11,686
    I think you mean bundled software and drivers. If you do a clean install, you have to hunt for the drivers separately.
    It doesn't matter that the netbook hardware is "built-in". You'd still need to find and install the proper drivers.

    Most manufacturers (if not all) require that the customer burn/create their own recovery media. Hopefully her son made it before he gave the netbook to her, but I wouldn't count on it.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2001
    Location
    East Horsley, Surrey, UK
    Posts
    2,352
    Nor would I!

    I think her grandchildren have played with it when visiting and they have probably installed photos and stuff that is slowing it down. My guess would be, a good defrag would help.

    I want to assist but I don't want to be the one who 'breaks' the machine.
    What if the Hokey Cokey IS what it's all about?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2000
    Location
    Sheboygan, WI
    Posts
    53,392
    TFC by oldtimer maybe a big help, normally it is.
    Okay, I do not like CCleaner !
    http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/files...r-by-oldtimer/

    TFC (Temp File Cleaner) will clear out all temp folders for all user accounts (temp, IE temp, java, FF, Opera, Chrome, Safari), including Administrator, All Users, LocalService, NetworkService, and any other accounts in the user folder. It also cleans out the %systemroot%\temp folder and checks for .tmp files in the %systemdrive% root folder, %systemroot%, and the system32 folder (both 32bit and 64bit on 64bit OSs). It shows the amount removed for each location found (in bytes) and the total removed (in MB). Before running it will stop Explorer and all other running apps. When finished, if a reboot is required the user must reboot to finish clearing any in-use temp files.
    And it does NOT install. Just runs from where it is.

    7,6 GB is the most it has removed for me, and that made a huge difference.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •