You can reset your PC to the factory default settings to fix problems and improve performance, and in this guide, we’ll show you how on Windows 10. Although Windows 10 is a reliable operating system, you can encounter many problems over time. You may have issues with starting up or shutting down, excessive memory usage, performance running apps, and battery draining quickly, among many other issues, and when any of this happens, resetting to factory settings can come in handy.

If you experience persistent performance issues, Windows 10 has various recovery options to reset the system to the factory settings keeping or removing your files to resolve common problems and improve performance. You even have the option to download and use the original Windows image instead of the custom manufacturer recovery image that may contain bloatware and settings you don't need.

This guide will walk you through how to reset your computer to its factory settings without your files or erasing everything on Windows 10.

Open Settings.
Click on Update & Security.
Click on Recovery.
Under the "Reset this PC" section, click the Get started button.
Click the "Keep my files" option.
Choose the Windows 10 reset option:

Cloud download: Download a fresh copy of the installation from the cloud and reinstall Windows 11. However, this option will not restore the tools, apps, and configuration that came with the original image provided by the manufacturer.
Local reinstall: Uses the files already available to reset the computer. If this is a branded device (such as Dell, ASUS, Lenovo, etc.), this process will restore the factory drivers, settings, and tools.

Afterwards, run all the Windows Updates.