Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
11 Posts
0
12897
Laptop Drivers/Registry
Please read fully and answer all questions, thank you.
I would consider myself a novice, or average, computer user, so I have a few questions about things I have done to my new Alienware 18 laptop. I received it about a week ago and I quickly started installing drivers from Dell's website to get the most updated versions. Well, after installing all the drivers from the website, I then proceeded to install all the drivers that came on the Resource DVD with my laptop. Again, I am a noob at this stuff, so I didn't really know what I was doing. I also used tutorials to try and edit a few registry listings to change settings on my computer. A few days later, all of these updates/changes started making me nervous, as I wasn't sure if I just screwed things up with my drivers and registry. At this point I decided to just factory reset the laptop. When I booted back up it took me through the initial start-up process just like it had on the first day I got it. So, my question is this. Will resetting my laptop to factory settings like that also restore my drivers/registry? Are the drivers now reset, or is there any way the drivers that I installed/updated before the factory reset are still on my computer somewhere? And, secondly, is my registry now completely reset, or are the things that I messed with still messed with? Thanks in advance, and please go easy on me.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
8 Wizard
•
17K Posts
0
April 29th, 2014 14:00
... and are usually older than files found online at dell.com sites.
TyreceGaines
11 Posts
0
April 29th, 2014 14:00
Thank you very much Naomi! That's exactly what I wanted to hear! So, just to be clear, all of the extra drivers I installed and idiotic attempts at changing the registry will be permanently deleted, and I will be back to factory defaults, as if I had never touched the computer, correct?
Alienware-Naomi
1.8K Posts
0
April 29th, 2014 14:00
Hi!
The Factory Reset recovers the entire software to factory state, this means that both registry and drivers are back to the original settings.
For future reference, the drivers and software from the Resource DVD and Support website are installed from factory. So, when you receive a new computer the drivers should already be installed.
Alienware-Naomi
1.8K Posts
0
April 29th, 2014 17:00
That's right! Everything will be restored to the way it was when you first received the computer.
As Tesla said, the Support website offers our latest drivers. There you can check for updates to the BIOS, drivers and Alienware applications.