Backup Files & Programs before Factory Reset Windows 10 PC

If your Windows 10 machine is acting up, it may be time for a tune-up. If it's a new purchase, you may just need to clear the junk files. However, if you don't think your computer is running as well as it should be, or you're getting worrying error messages, it might be time to reset your PC to its factory settings. But before you reset your Windows 10, you must back up data to avoid data loss.

Back up Data Before Factory Reset 

To effectively and safely backup files and install programs before factory reset windows 10 computers, you should find reliable Windows backup software. As there are so many such utilities on Google, which one you can trust is a problem. Here, to save you time and effort, we would like to recommend you use EaseUS file backup software. Coming with many advanced and flexible backup features, it can help you backup your system, files, settings, disks, partitions with ease. 

To back up files & installed apps before factory resetting windows 10, follow these steps:

Step 1. For the first time you use EaseUS Todo Backup to back up files, click Create backup on the home screen and then mouse click the big question mark to select backup contents.

Step 2. Since you're going to back up files and folders on your computer, go on with the "File" backup mode, where you can select pictures, videos, documents and all other types of files to back up.

Step 3. Follow the paths to locate the files, folders or directories you want to back up, select them all and click "OK".

Step 4. Now you need to select a backup location to save and retain the backup.

Step 5. EaseUS Todo Backup allows users to save the backup files to every device that is handy for you, like a local hard drive, external USB drive, SD card, network drive, or a NAS drive, plus a cloud drive of the EaseUS brand. We personally recommend users to choose the cloud drive prior to a physical drive to save important backups due to the greater accessibility, flexibility and safety.

To be able to access to EaseUS cloud, all you need is an email registration and login. 

Step 6. If you're interested in an automatic and intelligent backup schedule for the next file backup task, go on with the "Options" setting. There you can encrypt a confidential file backup, compress the backup image size, or customize a backup scheme to tell the software in what time to start the next backup. 

Customize an advanced and automatic backup task here:

Step 7. Click "Backup Now" to start the file backup process. Your completed backup files are visible on the left area in a card style.

To back up or transfer apps and programs, refer to this page:

Transfer or migrate programs

Steps to Factory Reset Windows 10

After the backup, you can start the factory reset process.

Step 1: To access it, head to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery. You'll see a Reset this PC header; Click "Get started". 

Step 2: Click either "Keep my files" or "Remove everything", depending on whether you want to keep your data files intact. Either way, all of your settings will return to their defaults and apps will be uninstalled. 

Step 3: Click "Next" if Windows warns you that you won't be able to roll back to a prior version of the OS. Click "Reset" when prompted. Click "Continue" when prompted.

Once the PC is restarted, you can then reinstall your apps, and configure settings. If the system still crashes, there may well be a hardware problem, in which case a hardware engineer may need to inspect the system for any issues the PC might have.