[Trainer-Talk] Reformatting a computer

[Humberto Avila]

Dear Thom, 

Thanks for asking your question and I don't know that we would be straying off-topic. But what you are asking here is very much feasible from an accessibility point of view, especially with fairly recent versions of Windows, spcecifically Windows 10. I have done this many times myself. 

My experience reformatting both my Asus laptop and Dell desktop is the same. Once, I've actually had to recover my Windows from a corruptZ install due to some driver update, and it cost me a lot of AIRA / Be My Eyes calls because I needed to recover from the factory disc image built-in to the unit. Once the Windows setup loads, I can use Narrator to guide me through the process. The Windows install screens can also be accessed with Narrator although in my experience, there's no way to change the loud volume it uses when the install modules are running. But once the first setup screen appears, Narrator should get you going. Control+Windows+Enter is the command to use to toggle the presence of Narrator regardless of whether he is running on regular setup process, an install media or Windows itself. 

My point, long story short, is, yes, it really is possible to reformat a PC, at least with Windows 10. The easiest thing to voluntarily get the process going is to search, “Reset this PC” with the Start menu. It should be straight forward from then to whipe out your Windows and start it brand new. Note that Windows actually downloads a fresh disc image of itself before beginning the process and unpacking necessary files during whipe-out process, unless something really is duely blown up with your Windows and like me, need to use AIRA to help me through BIOS to unpack and use the Recovery module built-in to the motherboard. But over all, the process is accessible and one can do so very independently. 
And yes, going back to the drawing board, for the purposes of this list, this process is also teachable and I wouldn't be surprised if at any point during my career, I have to guide someone how to reinstall and setup their PCS and encourage them to live through the process because, yes, it is tedious. :) 

Best Regards, 

Humberto 


“Be kind; for everyone you meet is fighting a really hard battle.” — πλατο 



> On Mar 11, 2022, at 7:23 PM, Tom Cramer via Trainer-Talk <trainer-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> I have a laptop that I'd like to completely wipe out and basically
> start it over as a brand  new machine with Windows 10. Am I able to do
> this? How would I either load or reload Windows 10? I can load JAWS
> when I'm done.
> I simply don't want to do something from which I couldn't recover.
> TC
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Trainer-Talk mailing list
> Trainer-Talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/trainer-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Trainer-Talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/trainer-talk_nfbnet.org/humberto_avila.it104%40outlook.com