Clearing out a laptop

Author
Discussion

silverfoxcc

Original Poster:

7,823 posts

150 months

Saturday 14th September
quotequote all
Is there an easy way of clearing out my HP laptop, without losing any installed programs i wish to keep.
It seems to be running a lot slower than it was

I recall in the olden days i would have had a installation disc of everything, where i could just clear everyhting thing out and reinstsall, but nowadays i havent a clue what to do

Any suggestions

eeLee

832 posts

85 months

Monday 16th September
quotequote all
The thing is slow either because the software is dragging it down or the SSD needs a bit of TLC.
If you want to nuke and pave the device, this is what I would do:

Download the Windows ISO for your version installed and create a USB to boot and install from
Open a command prompt and use winget to export your installed packages to a file (winget export file.txt)
Caveat: I would remove the unnecessary software from that file - you will not need everything)

Wipe the thing completely and then winget import file.txt to install your software again.
By wipe I mean nuke, pave, delete partitions and start new. Windows should find pretty much all of your devices.

Some work on configs will be necessary but the thing should be quicker.

Road2Ruin

5,391 posts

221 months

Monday 16th September
quotequote all
silverfoxcc said:
Is there an easy way of clearing out my HP laptop, without losing any installed programs i wish to keep.
It seems to be running a lot slower than it was

I recall in the olden days i would have had a installation disc of everything, where i could just clear everyhting thing out and reinstsall, but nowadays i havent a clue what to do

Any suggestions
Go to windows settings, system, rest this pc.
A number of options in there for you, depending on how ambitious you feel.

Panamax

4,734 posts

39 months

Monday 16th September
quotequote all
How old's the device? I've never successfully revived anything over 3 years old. Now I just put up with it as long as I can and then head to Currys for a new machine.

Meanwhile my cheap Samsung tablet (£180) is a brilliant piece of kit. I'm convinced Microsoft deliberately builds in obsolescence - killing machines with persistent and ever larger updates. Even if you still had original discs for reinstallation your machine would immediately spend three weeks updating itself after they'd been loaded and you'd be right back where you started. Reminds me - isn't it modern practise to have the operating system backed up onto another part of the drive?

sgrimshaw

7,386 posts

255 months

Wednesday 18th September
quotequote all
Panamax said:
Meanwhile my cheap Samsung tablet (£180) is a brilliant piece of kit.
Wholeheartedly agree. My Samsung Tab Pro S is still going strong, can't say the same about the Surface devices I've had.

otherman

2,204 posts

170 months

Wednesday 18th September
quotequote all
Panamax said:
How old's the device? I've never successfully revived anything over 3 years old.
A clean windows install revives anything. Computer hardware doesn't get slower with age. Software, whole other story.