Reset is one step better than format and reinstall. It doesn't keep your data or apps, it only keeps the installed drivers. Big deal! I would prefer to do a clean installation to make sure no issues left. Also refresh keeps your data, so you don't spend time to backup, but doesn't keep your apps. This is also not convenient as Windows installs in less than an hour, but to reinstall everything else can take too many hours. So I would rather try to repair the installation before I give up and reinstall. An office PC running Microsoft Office, Adobe Reader and 3-4 more apps is not big deal to reinstall. But an average home PC with a lot of GB to backup and tens of apps to reinstall is nightmare. I would rather avoid it. I did it back in March and it took my 2-3 weeks to return it ALMOST to the state it was before. I say almost because it is never the same. You can forget something, or have different configuration than before, or whatever. If you have tens or programs to reinstall is not easy to make it in exactly the same state as before the format. Even worse if you have limited free time and takes days and you forget details in between.
My Computers
System One System Two
-
- OS
- Windows 11 Pro 23H2 (5699), 25H2 (8655)
- Computer type
- Laptop
- Manufacturer/Model
- Acer Extensa 5630EZ
- CPU
- Mobile DualCore Intel Core 2 Duo T7250, 2000 MHz
- Motherboard
- Acer Extensa 5630
- Memory
- 4GB
- Graphics Card(s)
- Mobile Intel(R) GMA 4500M (Mobile 4 series)
- Sound Card
- Realtek ALC268 @ Intel 82801IB ICH9 - High Definition Audio Controller
- Monitor(s) Displays
- 1
- Screen Resolution
- 1280x800
- Hard Drives
- Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB SATA Device (250 GB, SATA-III)
- Internet Speed
- VDSL 50 Mbps
- Browser
- MICROSOFT EDGE
- Antivirus
- WINDOWS DEFENDER
- Other Info
- Legacy MBR installation, no TPM, no Secure Boot, no WDDM 2.0 graphics drivers, no SSE4.2, cannot get more unsupported ;) This is only my test laptop. I had installed Windows 11 here before upgrading my main PC. For my main PC I use everyday see my 2nd system specs.
-
- Operating System
- Windows 11 Pro v25H2 (build 26200.8655)
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Manufacturer/Model
- Custom-built PC
- CPU
- Intel Core-i7 3770 3.40GHz s1155 (3rd generation)
- Motherboard
- Asus P8H61 s1155 ATX
- Memory
- 2x Kingston Hyper-X Blu 8GB DDR3-1600
- Graphics card(s)
- GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3050 WINDFORCE OC V2 6GB (GV-N3050WF2OCV2-6GD)
- Sound Card
- Realtek HD audio (ALC887)
- Monitor(s) Displays
- Sony Bravia KDL-19L4000 19" LCD TV via VGA
- Screen Resolution
- 1440x900 32-bit 60Hz
- Hard Drives
- WD Blue SA510 2.5 1000GB SSD as system disk, Western Digital Caviar Purple 4TB SATA III (WD40PURZ) as second
- PSU
- Thermaltake Litepower RGB 550W Full Wired
- Case
- SUPERCASE MIDI-TOWER
- Cooling
- Deepcool Gamma Archer CPU cooler, 1x 8cm fan at the back
- Keyboard
- Mitsumi 101-key PS/2
- Mouse
- Sunnyline OptiEye PS/2
- Internet Speed
- 100Mbps
- Browser
- Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox
- Antivirus
- Microsoft Windows Defender
- Other Info
- Legacy BIOS (MBR) installation, no TPM, no Secure Boot, WDDM 3.0 graphics drivers, WEI score 7.4
