system restore is like reboot?

[Redink]

Ok, my old laptop is a vista service pack 1 and I lost my reboot cd that came with it when I first bought it. I searched the internet and some people say that I can do a system restore to factory settings... while some people say I will need to do a hard manual reboot or need the CD.

So my question is, can I do a system restore to factory settings... will that delete everything and go back to how it was when I First bought it? if this work then why do people need reboot cd?
Thanks!

[CptainCrunch]

Re: system restore is like reboot?

You can try to do a system restore to factory settings. The problem with system restore is that it generally rebuilds the OS to the last time a restore was made. If the system or you never made a restore point then you cant restore.

The other problem is that spyware and virus creators figured out a long time ago how to infect restore files so that when you do a system restore you will end up restoring the thing that is probably messing up your system to begin with.

So it all depends what your issue is and how your restore point works. Yes, technically, you could restore your system back to when it was first purchased. You will just have to try it and see.

Crunch

[Vreki]

Re: system restore is like reboot?

Also, the difference between "reboot" and "restore" are kinda important.
You might want to research that part a bit before you follow instructions found on the internet

[LunaTiK TunaLiK]

Re: system restore is like reboot?

I believe the person that told you that is resets the computer back to "factory" was meaning a system recovery. It seems though your system recovery was located on discs. These days they are often on a smaller partition so you don't lose it.

If by some chance you do have a partitioned system recovery you can usually access it by repeatedly hitting the F10 or F11 key while your computer loads into windows.