Whether you’re trying to fix a serious update problem, get rid of a virus, or prepare to give away your PC, you may eventually need to reinstall some iteration of Windows 10. This can be a little confusing for newcomers since there are several ways to reinstall Windows, each of which comes with its own set of benefits. So let’s take a look at the best reinstallation options, and how to get there!
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Backing up your data
Please, please do this. Windows 10 even makes it easy, so you don’t need to search for an additional backup tool. Just follow the basic File History steps below!
Step 1: Type “Update & Security” into the search box, or head to Settings and look for Update & Security. Once there, select the Backup option in the side bar, which will take you to your File History.
Step 2: You will see an on-off indicator in this window. If it’s on, that means File History has been automatically backing up your files — including contacts, desktop files, and files housed in your OneDrive folder — and you probably don’t have to worry. The feature will back up your libraries as well, but it may not back up all general folders, so put valuable folders into a library to save them as necessary.
Step 3: If your File History tool is not on, then create any libraries that you need to, and switch the tool on with the slider. This will immediately prompt the feature to begin creating backups. Depending on how much data you have, this can take some time, so get busy with something else and wait for the backup process to finish.
Of course, if you prefer to transfer everything to an external drive or utilize a cloud service for your backups, please do so! Whichever approach you choose, make sure nothing valuable can be lost.