Windows 8 to include built-in Reset, Refresh, and hard drive imaging

[YosemiteSam]

Rejoice, all ye faithful! Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, will provide push-button Reset and Refresh in Windows 8. Reset will restore a Windows 8 PC to its stock, fresh-from-the-factory state; Refresh will reinstall Windows 8, but keep your documents and installed Metro apps in tact.

That’s right: When your aged mother phones up to complain about her slow, broken, and malware-infested computer, instead of schlepping over there with a Windows install disk, you can just tell her to click “Refresh.” Refreshing keeps network settings, BitLocker settings, drive letter assignments, and personalizations (lock screen image, desktop wallpaper, etc.) Only Metro apps are preserved, however; Desktop apps, due to their third-party installers and other caveats are not easy to save — plus, due to the restrictive permissions placed on Metro apps, it’s probably a Desktop app that is causing a computer to misbehave in the first place. File associations, Windows Firewall settings, and Display settings are not preserved during a Refresh.

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[Khartun]

I could have used this functionality last week. Takes me a full day to reformat and reload all my stuff.

 

[Teren_Kanan]

As someone who likes to reformat his computer every 6 months or so..

This is amazing.

 

[Yeagermeister]

As an IT guy I really hope that is a feature you can disabled. I can already see one of my users calling me and saying they reset their computer because it was running slow.

 

[tupperware]

As an IT guy I really hope that is a feature you can disabled. I can already see one of my users calling me and saying they reset their computer because it was running slow.

I'm sure this is something you can prevent via policies.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I'm going to hack into Yeager's job and set up all his PCs on a schedule to do this automatically at midnight every night.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Or I could fix by not using Windows8

 

[YosemiteSam]

Or I could fix by not using Windows8

Then what I would do instead would be more painful.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Then what I would do instead would be more painful.

I'm not the net admin so got for it :laugh2:

 

[Dallas]

As an IT guy I really hope that is a feature you can disabled. I can already see one of my users calling me and saying they reset their computer because it was running slow.

You allow administrative privs to your users? :laugh2: Job security I guess.

You should see what I say to my users who request admin privs on his/her pc.

Pretty comical exchange really.