how to restore my pc back to it's fresh out the box state

[ApacheOmega]

my pc has been acting funny, probably because I've installed and uninstalled so many different software's over the months. I bet my registry is straight filthy right now. So how do I restore my PC back to its original out of the box state (giving it a fresh new start)?

 

[Edwin]

my pc has been acting funny, probably because I've installed and uninstalled so many different software's over the months. I bet my registry is straight filthy right now. So how do I restore my PC back to its original out of the box state (giving it a fresh new start)?

If you have the proper installation media and a valid product key, boot from that media and perform a clean, (custom), install.

 

[DavidY]

Did the PC come with Windows 8 pre-installed by the Manufacturer? If so what's the make and model of PC?

The answer probably varies depending on who made it for this sort of PC; the hard part of doing a clean install is getting hold of the installation media. The product key is already there in the motherboard and will be found by the install process.

However your PC probably has some sort of recovery partition built in which will set it back to the state when it was new.

If you upgraded the PC from Windows 7/Vista/XP then you'll have the product key from when you bought it. You can use this to download the install ISO and use that. However I think this only works for PCs which didn't have Windows 8 in the 1st place.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/18309-windows-8-upgrade-iso-download-create.html

 

[theog]

Welcome to EightForums.

How to do a Reset:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2302-reset-windows-8-a.html

   Information

We always assume you have made your Recovery Disks using the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Media Creator app the first day you had your new PC.
& made the Startup Repair CD.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/5132-recovery-drive-create-usb-flash-drive-windows-8-a.html
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2855-system-repair-disc-create-windows-8-a.html
​

You can use the Samsung version of
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/5132-recovery-drive-create-usb-flash-drive-windows-8-a.html

   Warning

Deleting the Recovery Partition is NOT RECOMMENDED

Did you make the OEM manufacturer's Recovery Disks?