Windows 10: what is most thorough way to factory reset windows 10?

Hi there

I bought a windows 10 laptop about a week ago that I now wish to return to the vendor that I bought it from.

For the week that I had it though, I used it as if it were my own. Set it up with various passwords, installed a few bits of software, and also on things like google chrome etc. , I logged into my standard account that I have synced across all my devices.

When it comes to restoring Windows 10 to factory default, it all seems pretty straightforward as per the below Microsoft Support page:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...4-c2c1fbceb8dd

However, it occurs to me that if I were to reset my laptop as per the instructions on the above link, won't all my details still technically be stored on memory on that laptop? -- and so in theory, whoever is the next owner of this laptop, assuming he is sufficiently skilled, could perhaps pull information off the laptop that could pose a security risk to me .. ?

I should say that I think it would be quite unlikely that any subsequent owner of this laptop would either have the inclination or the skills to do this, but it still is on the back of my mind that it may technically be possible to recover my sensitive date from that laptop.

Any and all advice or feedback on the above discussion would be most welcome!

:)

 

Windows 10 factory reset

Hi Charlie,

We can see here that you are having issues with doing a factory reset on your Windows 10. There are several factors
why you get the said error and that's what we are going to figure out. To isolate this concern, may we know the following:

• Any changes made on the computer prior to this concern?
• What troubleshooting steps have you tried so far?
  
• May we know the reason why you want to perform a factory reset?
• Did you experience any issues on the computer before you tried performing a factory reset?
  

 

Windows 10 infinite restart black screen

Thank you john for all of your help i decided to get the usb my computer came with and factory reset it i didnt have anything that personal or valueable so its ok thanks for the help though i appreciate it

 

Can you restore files after thorough reset?

I have a very quick question that need a answer. I tried google searching, but I wasn't able to find the answer to the problem I'm trying to refer.

So, let's say that you need to reset your Windows 10. There are two options for resetting; quick and thorough reset. I know that with quick reset you erase all data and restore Windows 10, but you can recover files using third party programs. But the problem refers the most to the thorough reset. If you do a thorough reset, can you still recover files like the quick reset? If the answer is no, what is the actual process for making all files unrecoverable with the thorough reset?