HOW TO USE REFRESH AND RESET FEATURES OF WINDOWS 8

From my earlier post, REFRESH AND RESET FEATURES OF WINDOWS 8 I brought to bare the importance and uses of this two important features. They help you to refresh your operating system (OP) without deleting your files and apps while reset deletes your apps and files  and used only used when you want to upgrade or downgrade your PC.
Today's post will dwell on how to use this two features.

HOW TO DO REFRESH ON WINDOWS 8

1. Open settings charm by pressing Win-C (Windows key and C together). Alternatively, point your mouse to the top right or bottom right corner of your screen for the Charms Bar to appear. 

2. Click on Settings > Change PC Settings > General.

3. Scroll down until locate the option, Refresh your PC without affecting your Files.

4. Click Get Started. To find the options screen below.

5. Click on Next to start refresh. This option takes quite sometime say 10 to 15 minutes.

6. When complete, the page below appear with information on programs removed.


HOW TO DO RESET ON WINDOWS 8

1. Open settings charm by pressing Win-C (Windows key and C together). Alternatively, point your mouse to the top right or bottom right corner of your screen for the Charms Bar to appear. 

2. Click on Settings > Change PC Settings > General.

3. Scroll down to locate the option, Reset your PC and start over.

4. Click Get Started. To find the options screen below.

5. Click on Next to start refresh. This option takes quite sometime.

6. When complete your PC is free of programs, files and personal settings. This is ideal when you want to give out your PC. 

Read REFRESH AND RESET FEATURES OF WINDOWS 8 for more.

In most cases, once you start to refresh your PC, it will finish on its own. However, if windows needs missing files, you will be asked for recovery media, which is typically on a DVD disc or thumb drives. If that happens, what you will need depends on your PC.

Another good characteristics of windows 8 which may not be as effective as refresh or reset  but can be used to fix some small problems under a much lesser amount of time is the Restore feature. It becomes handy when your PC temporarily starts malfunctioning or showing signs of imminent crash. It does not delete any of your personal files or programs. It is a good start for observed problems before going for the refresh and reset features. Your comments, feedback and questions are appreciated below.

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HOW TO RESOLVE VIRTUAL MACHINE INACCESSIBLE ON VIRTUALBOX.

I recently encountered a problem with the virtualbox software on my PC. At first it will like start-up and after sometime it brings a message "virtual machine inaccessible". Before I continue, for the benefit of readers of articles here who do not know what a virtual machine is all about, here is a rundown.

A virtual machine is a software based make believe computer. It accepts and executes operating systems programs like a real computer while also allowing the OP to accept and execute other programs. It provides a complete system platform that supports the execution of many OPs. It does everything which a real computer can do except that it has no hardware. This software helps you to run several OS on a computer. The need being that several fields of endeavour have softwares which are not adaptable  to some some particular OPs. Having a virtual machine installed on your computer with a different OP saves you the stress, time and money of getting another computer that is built for your desired OP. Some of this virtual machines can take-up to five OPs at once. 

This therefore means you can run a maximum of six OPs on that particular computer.

Having explained that, I will continue with the solution to the problem. Whenever this problem comes up, it appears in a form like the one below:

Runtime error opening 'C:\Users\joe\VirtualBox VMs\Linux Mint\Linux Mint.vbox' for reading: -102 (File not found.).

E:\tinderbox\win-rel\src\VBox\Main\src-server\MachineImpl.cpp[685] (Machine::registeredInit).
Result Code:
E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component:
VirtualBox
Interface:
IVirtualBox {c28be65f-1a8f-43b4-81f1-eb60cb516e66}

To solve this problem follow the sequence outlined below:

1. Shutdown virtual box completely.
2. Check the virtual machine folder ( where the file is supposed to be). Computer >> user >> VirtualBox VMs >> OP
3. Observe the name extension of the file, you may see either .vbox-tmp or .vbox-new.
4. If either of these exists, rename the extension to .box.
5. If and only if neither of those files on (3) above exists, there should be a .vbox-prev file in the same folder. This you can again change to .box.
6. Restart virtual box, expectedly it should be able to run now.

The solution above should be able to resolve the problem as it helped solve mine. What really happened was that the extension of the file concerned was erroneously auto changed and the file can no longer be read. You can proceed with the 5th solution above only after trying the first four without getting the desired result.

Have you ever encountered a problem like this while working with virtualbox? Share your experience using the comment box below.

  

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REFRESH AND RESET FEATURES OF WINDOWS 8

Windows 8 the latest in the series of windows operating systems (OP) by the tech giant Microsoft comes with a lot of useful and easy to use features. As a widely used OP at least in this part of the world, knowing this features which is fascinating and clearly not present in latter series is the Reset and Refresh enablement.
Before now, when the need to re-install or upgrade windows on your PC arise, the time consumed and the troublesome process is overwhelming. But with this two new features, it will no longer be.


REFRESHING
Refreshing on Windows 8 is the process of refreshing an already installed Windows 8 OP and still keep your personal files and settings intact. This does not have any effect on pre-installed applications which come with your PC and those installed yourself from Windows store, CD ROM or any other means. By this process, you need not to backup and restore your files manually. This is handled by the OP. It retains the apps that come with the PC and deletes the rest of others. But the list of all the apps which were deleted it saves on your desktop enabling you to easily install them again once the PC refresh is over.
Refreshing becomes necessary when you want to have a fresh Windows OP free of restoring and backing up all the files. Although, this is with the limitation of wiping some unwanted apps but it keeps a list for you. This process also helps you to get rid of Malware, unwanted apps leftovers and other offensive and annoying software.

RESETTING
Resetting totally dumps and deletes all apps and files pre-installed before resetting. It re-installs Windows 8 to your system without your personal files and apps. It is best advised to have a backup of your file and restore them after or you stand a chance of losing them completely. This feature will be effectively utilised if you wish to sell your computer or give it out to charity without giving your files and apps out. It is also important if you want to start from the scratch.  This option makes your PC a tablaeraser with only OP. Next post will be on how to use the refresh and reset features.
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