Windows 8 to have restore to factory setting option and other features

[Abhishek Ghosh]

Chinese site Win7China had an exclusive talk with their tipster in Microsoft and according to them Windows 8 would have restore to Factory settings option which would allow users to fully restore your windows to ‘factory’ state within 2 minutes and also it wouldn’t utilize much of the disk space. In Windows 7 and previous Windows we can create a ghost copy of Windows after it has been installed and can recover using it whenever required, but with the addition of this new feature in Windows 8 it would be much easier to restore your windows to factory state.

Another thing they talked about it is that the installation of Windows 8 Milestone 3 took 8 minutes compared to the 23-25 minutes taken by Windows 7 on same configuration. This means that Windows 8 would install around 2.5 times faster then Windows 7. In addition to the installation time, the time taken to update Windows and the time taken to wake up from sleep has been improved significantly.

Source

 

[n0th1n9]

On my desktop, it takes Windows 7 seven mintues to install, using a USB thumb drive though and not the DVD.

 

[johnwillyums]

Thanks Abhishek. That's a good idea for many of us

 

[Rhammstein]

Awesome, thanks for posting. I've been all over the trending of win8 and didn't see this.

 

[pparks1]

Yes, that would be a very nice included feature. Sure, I can do it now with an image, but this is just one more thing that I wouldn't necessarily have to rely on from a third party.

 

[RealPetChicken]

awesome to hear, i love me some windows.

 

[Fayla]

A very useful feature to have! oh and finally a Window's 8 screen shot. I was getting bored of people just quoting version numbers.

 

[snottynosekid]

What...Win8 is out, and I just now got the Win7.....

 

[pparks1]

Win8 is not out.

 

[Buddahfan]

Restore to factory settings?

I have it my Acer Inspire netbook that came with Windows 7 Starter Edition and is now running W7 SP1 HP.

That is cool.

However I purchase Dell computers for my every day and media needs. Dell computers come with McAfee which sucks rotten eggs and I have to uninstall it and replace it with another ISS. I hope if I ever purchase a Dell with W8 that I never have to restore it to factory settings.

 

[Bill2]

This is a somewhat confused source. The term "factory settings" is relevant only in the context of OEM machines that sell with windows preloaded and preactivated from the factory. Such computers already have a recovery manager software (called by different names in different brands) that lets you revert to factory state in a jiffy.

As for retail windows, "factory state" could mean a fresh OS install or after drivers are installed or after apps are installed etc. Even in win7, one can create an image using the inbuilt restore-backup. Its possible win8 could have an autostarting wizard that would prompt you to create this image or it could even be an automatic process requiring no user intervention. Or perhaps there could be an OEM-like mechanism that would capture an image and create a hidden recovery partition.

 

[darkfriday]

I had XP for almost a decade....I'm a little over a year into Windows 7 bliss.....I am not looking past 7 for another few years. I don't see the need for a new OS this quickly.....sorry Bill

 

[Bill2]

I had XP for almost a decade....I'm a little over a year into Windows 7 bliss.....I am not looking past 7 for another few years. I don't see the need for a new OS this quickly.....sorry Bill

I appreciate your sentiments darkfriday.

But I'm an inveterate tester and looking out for an unstable-ish OS, I wish the 8 beta would come out quickly.

 

[Julio Cortez]

I had XP for almost a decade....I'm a little over a year into Windows 7 bliss.....I am not looking past 7 for another few years. I don't see the need for a new OS this quickly.....sorry Bill

Exactly what I think at the moment. I don't see the need for a new OS right now, as W7 does everything I need.

Back in topic, I see this could be a huge step forward for the average user (which with a simple button could have a brand new OS like it was out of the box) but I don't think I'll ever use it (as I feel more comfortable when I install the OS myself the way I want to).

To me, a way more useful function would be a built-in "restore to X" feature letting the user choose what X stands for (personally, I'd install the OS, the drivers then the main software like a burning suite and Office, plus Firefox and a couple of other things, and this would be my X I'd eventually wantr to restore to).

 

[mckillwashere]

I had XP for almost a decade....I'm a little over a year into Windows 7 bliss.....I am not looking past 7 for another few years. I don't see the need for a new OS this quickly.....sorry Bill

I appreciate your sentiments darkfriday.

But I'm an inveterate tester and looking out for an unstable-ish OS, I wish the 8 beta would come out quickly.

Im right there with you Bill.

 

[mckillwashere]

Julio you can click edit and then Delete to remove your double post.

 

[Julio Cortez]

Julio you can click edit and then Delete to remove your double post.

Thanks, I completely missed the "Delete" button out.

Even if it's a stupid mistake, I think I can give you some little rep for this as you suggeted something I didn't figure out myself, silly me

EDIT: why isn't the rep button available in here? -_-'

 

[Imperfect1]

To me, a way more useful function would be a built-in "restore to X" feature letting the user choose what X stands for (personally, I'd install the OS, the drivers then the main software like a burning suite and Office, plus Firefox and a couple of other things, and this would be my X I'd eventually wantr to restore to).

GREAT idea Julio! I would appreciate being able to restore to "X" also --- I spend a lot of time customizing practically everything on my system and hate the thought of having to do that all over again.

 

[Gornot]

I would appreciate being able to restore to "X" also --- I spend a lot of time customizing practically everything on my system and hate the thought of having to do that all over again.

So why not simply use VirtualBox or something similar and instal Win7 as a virtual machine? Ever since I started poking around the system files to customize the OS I'd test it in a VM first.

 

[Abhishek Ghosh]

Thanks to all