Windows XP forum: I reset my computer to factory settings my mistake. HELP!

with Sandy. We need information about the computer, (those notes in RED above each post submission window).

Hitting F11 seemed to start the "Restore to factory settings" procedure. For Safe Mode you needed to tap the F8 key as the system was loading.

If the system is now restored to factory settings, there is little you can do. It cannot be reversed.

If that 'restore to factory settings' procedure has created a backup of all your files into a folder called "My Backup", then that is what you need to search for on the hard disk.

The first place to look is inside your "My Documents" folder and sub-folders. If there is nothing there, open My Computer and look for any other hard drives or partitions which may have a My Backup folder. Other than that, perform a search of the whole computer, (Start > Search), for My Backup.

You will have to note that any programs/applications/software you installed yourself will have to be re-installed. They do not usually survive a complete re-install like that.

Mark

You found the folder. That's a good start. How many gigabytes? Is that the full contents of your hard disk as it was? Or are you missing many GB?

What happens if you try to open the folders? "I'm not able" just says too little. They might be compressed somehow to save disk space. What does the user manual tell about that?

I've never heard a folder saying anything, let alone that it needs to be finished loading. What program are you using to look at the folder, what is the exact message and when do you get it?

What is a "malicious removal"?

Kees

You DO have recovery back ups (2) available. 1 is Factory Original which you already used. 2 is you condition BEFORE reverting to factory. This is the back-up you want to use. this IS ONLY, by design, accessible via the "e-recovery program" on your machine. Like Sys Restore, those files are locked EXCEPT to the e-recovery program.
You need to go to all programs and find e-recovery entry and click that, chose restore and you should be shown the 2 backups. You want to chose the "newer" one and then proceed to restore from within the program.

If you can't find under all programs, you may be able to access as below instructions BUT these were to restore to factory orig. but MAY get you into the program to try to select "user back up"? Good Luck!

http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-53091-restore-to-factory-setting-with-a-gateway
"The way to restore Gateways is to hold down the ALT Key and repeatedly hitting f10 then it should bring you to a boot sequence screen then choose the HDD and then hold down ALT and repeatedly hit f10 again that should prompt the restore feature for gateway. If that doesn't work the only way to do it is to boot into windows and run the
>>>>>eRecovery program.<<<<

"Thanks for the info your post worked perfectly!! I was able to restore from the restore partition, following my customers lack of creating restore disks."

Let us know if this works please! Happy New Year! Sandy