No one here will discredit a good backup (at least not anyone with long standing status). I might be among the closest to scorning reliance on back ups here and I still make them. I tend to prefer clones, cold storage, and mirrored archives. But that's me. Not everyone has the time, energy, or patience for all that. Plus not everyone is in possession of hundred's of hard drives.
Fortunately Windows has its own backup system that is about 50% reliable. That's always a good way to start because sometimes it actually works. Secondly, the good old fashioned System Restore generally will also work (but not always) if you can still at least log into your OS. Thirdly, there is also the option of File History (yes, they still have it) and I know that works because I've tested it and once used it in earnest on my daughter's PC. In addition to this there are the third party people. Some of them are quite good. Others not so much. My view is if you're not paying for it don't expect a whole lot.
Windows does give us the option of a refreshing our OS to keep our files and folders but this is notorious for unreliability. Sometimes it is worth a shot. Just when to reinstall or rebuild is the end user's call. How many hours does one wish to spend trying to rescue something that can be replaced in a matter of minutes? One could spend the same amount of hours (in some cases) just reinstalling the apps, updates, and data fresh, on a fresh, clean OS. And often this is the wiser of the two choices. I recall wasting three days of my time trying to get an OS up and running again because it was for a friend who had absolutely zero back up. I told myself NEVER AGAIN.
Anyway, I think that is what
spapakon was saying: sometimes it's just easier (and more practical) to reset. Back in the Win Vista days or earlier not-so-much so but today, resets are relatively painless and effective.
