Question from Anthony: I have no discs for windows 8.1, so is going back to factory mode a safe and easy way to restore my computer without the use of discs, and then just download the programs I had back on to my computer?
Rick’s answer: Anthony, you can certainly restore your Windows 8.1 computer back to its factory state using the Recovery Partition on the hard drive.
That being said, nothing we do in life is without at least some risk, and that goes double for anything we do with our computers. I always recommend having some form of backup recovery media on hand (if possible) before using the Recovery Partition on the hard drive to restore a PC back to its factory state.
Since the only recovery media shipped with most PCs these days is the hard drive’s Recovery Partition, creating a System Image Backup is one of the first things we should do when setting up a new computer. This post explains how to create a System Image Backup in Windows 8.1.
But in your case, since your PC is probably experiencing some difficulties (hence your question), I recommend simply creating a Recovery Drive that replicates the hard drive’s Recovery Partition. That way if something goes wrong and your Recovery Partition becomes unusable, you can always use the Recovery Drive to re-install Windows 8.1.
The awesome video below shows you, step-by-step, how to create a Windows 8.1 Recovery Drive that is in effect a replica of the hard drive’s Recovery Partition. Good luck!