Ian Evenden takes on possibly the most boring yet essential task it’s possible to carry out on your PC

THERE ARE MANY REASONS why you may want to reinstall Windows on your PC. The most common is hardware change—a fresh installation will often run better than one that was previously installed on a different PC, so if you’re swapping out motherboards and CPUs, it’s worth doing it to squeeze the maximum performance out of your new hardware.

Then there are reasons of maintenance: Perhaps something has gone wrong deep inside the operating system, a botched driver installation or damage from some malicious software affecting how your PC runs. Maybe Windows is just unbearably slow, and you don’t know why.

All of these are good reasons to reinstall Windows, and it’s a quick and easy process these days. And while a complete reinstall is your nuclear option, wiping away all traces of what came before, there are other options—Reset and Refresh—that can help you out too, saving your documents if you’re not so hot on the backup regime.

Here is not a discussion of why you should reinstall the OS—you’ll know when the time is right—but how to do it. While there are different methods, they all rely on being able to download the OS from Microsoft’s servers, so you’ll need a PC with an internet connection. Do not let your PC get so bad that you can’t fire up a web browser!

GETTING STUCK IN

If you need to completely wipe your system and start again, there’s a bit of work to do first. You’ll need a Windows PC, a USB stick that’s 8GB or larger (or a blank DVD-R in a writable drive), and the Media Creation tool from www.microsoft.com/enus/software-download/windows10. Run it, choose “Create Installation Media…” and follow the prompts.

When it comes to a full reinstall of Windows 10, you will need your product key, or at least a digital license linked to your Microsoft account. Check “Settings > Update & Security > Activation.” If you see the message “Windows is activated with a digital licence,” this means you’re digitally signed, but you should link that license to your Microsoft account in case of installation issues or future hardware changes. Head to “Settings > Accounts > Your Info,” sign in with your Microsoft account details, and the message should change to “Windows is activated with a digital licence associated with your Microsoft account.”