Years ago, computing was much harder to deal with, especially when upgrading parts. One frustration was the need to reinstall Windows when switching CPUs because of a quirk of Windows's architecture ...

There's nothing like a fresh Windows installation when everything works the way it's supposed to. That never lasts, though. Sometimes reinstalling Windows is the only way to fix all the nagging issues ...

Q: My daughter’s computer wouldn’t boot and displayed a message stating that Windows System 32 was missing. I paid a computer guy to look at it. All I wanted was to get her pictures off her hard drive ...

I have done it, and it can be scary. If you don't have your driver disks and detailed information about what components are inside your computer, you may have devices that Windows doesn't recognize or ...

Microsoft Corp. is reportedly integrating a built-in recovery system that will allow users to reinstall the Windows 11 operating system through Windows Update without losing their existing files. The ...

Patrick Scott bought some laptops for his kids, but they were so slow the kids stopped using them. This is a common issue with bloatware-laden consumer laptops, sadly. He performed a “factory reset,” ...

I recently got a new laptop that came with Windows pre-installed, but it came with a lot of extra bloatware I'd rather not have. Can I do a clean install of Windows over it, or will my product key not ...

Wayne Klawuhn used DBAN to securely wipe his hard drive. Unfortunately, it also wiped the tools necessary for reinstalling Windows. Every computer sold with Windows pre-installed must come with a tool ...

Over time as you install new programs, install new hardware, and use your computer, Windows can start to become slower and encounter problems that are hard to fix. These problems could be unable to ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Antony reviews and covers the latest PC hardware and laptop technology This article is more than 10 years old. Yesterday saw the ...