What he probably meant is to restore it to factory settings or a fresh install of Windows, this will wipe everything you have on your hard drive so you would need to back up all of your data first.

Sorcery wrote What he probably meant is to restore it to factory settings or a fresh install of Windows, this will wipe everything you have on your hard drive so you would need to back up all of your data first.

Not to tell you you're wrong because you are right about restore, but he did mean refresh the OS. It's a new functionality in Windows 8 only. However it's similar to a restore with the fact that it will wipe all user data and programs but unlike a restore it will refresh it to the point where it was bought from a store meaning it will already have the OS, drivers, and any other utilities that were previously on it(unlike a restore which just puts on the OS and you go in and download all the drivers etc)


However to answer the question more directly, it is similar to a restore and it will wipe all user data and programs. I personally always recommend backup up to either a cloud service(google drive, dropbox, or skydrive) or buy a external drive usually 50 dollars for 500gb and run backups monthly if not weekly.

If you need any further assistance on the actual process itself please feel free to private message me and I will be able to answer any questions you may have regarding refreshing or restoring your computer.

-EDIT-
One further side note to add onto that, if you contact me via private message I may be able to resolve the issue you're having without actually wiping the drive.
Just to save you some hassle and what not.

-Whiskey wrote

Sorcery wrote What he probably meant is to restore it to factory settings or a fresh install of Windows, this will wipe everything you have on your hard drive so you would need to back up all of your data first.

Not to tell you you're wrong because you are right about restore, but he did mean refresh the OS. It's a new functionality in Windows 8 only. However it's similar to a restore with the fact that it will wipe all user data and programs but unlike a restore it will refresh it to the point where it was bought from a store meaning it will already have the OS, drivers, and any other utilities that were previously on it(unlike a restore which just puts on the OS and you go in and download all the drivers etc)


However to answer the question more directly, it is similar to a restore and it will wipe all user data and programs. I personally always recommend backup up to either a cloud service(google drive, dropbox, or skydrive) or buy a external drive usually 50 dollars for 500gb and run backups monthly if not weekly.

If you need any further assistance on the actual process itself please feel free to private message me and I will be able to answer any questions you may have regarding refreshing or restoring your computer.

-EDIT-
One further side note to add onto that, if you contact me via private message I may be able to resolve the issue you're having without actually wiping the drive.
Just to save you some hassle and what not.

Oh, sorry about that I've never used Windows 8 and certainly don't intend to.

Sorcery wrote Oh, sorry about that I've never used Windows 8 and certainly don't intend to.

I do apologize if I came across in a rude manner, certainly didn't intend it to be that way. And I wouldn't blame you for never using it, being that it's a utter piece of trash.