if you use the me restore pack to restore your computer to factory settings thats all that came with this computer me was built in .what does it do with the files or programms that were in the computer does it delete them or does it store them somewhere. ive already coppied them onto discs but i just want to know if restoring my computer to factory settings would use space by putting the system back in alongside the system thats there already or will it overwright most of it therefor not using more space.ps is doing this reformating..

If you are refering to System Restore, then anything in My Documents is left intact, but any programs installed after the restore point will be lost. The proccess is completely reversable, so why not test it and see if it produces the desired results. If this isn't what you are asking, could you please explain a little bit more?

no not system restore.. restore pack which resets computer to factory settings. for example my computer crashed and i have something very wrong which i can only fix by putting in the restore pack which came with this computer(floppy and disc to get it running again)i maybe could fix the problem but as me was built in i dont have origanal me disc just this stupid restore pack which says on it that if put in dvdrom will returtn computer to factory settings.what happens to the stuff already on the computer i know it will be lost but where does it go is it deleted or is it stored somewhere tacking up space.. the point being that my son has done something hes tried this site for an answer but i think the easest way forward is to stick the restore pack in and start again after ive saved most of my work we have already tried system restore which worked but we now get an error messageCANNOT FIND THE FILE C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM WE HAVE BEEN ON THIS SITE FOR SOME HELP SEE GRAY SCREEN,GREY SCREEN2 AND GREY SCREEN3 ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT AS IM JUST ABOUT GIVING UP..............

Oh, I see. Well, don't give up. Usually, when you use the retore disks, you must insert the disk and reboot. You will most likely have the option of reformatting. When you reformat, everything is deleted and pretty much unrecoverable. After a reformat, you have not disk space used except a small bit from the format itself, but that's normal. If you would like, I have a link to an article that shows you how to make a Windows disk from a recovery tool. Making a Windows CD from a recovery disk I hope you find that in the least bit helpful. If it cannot find a file, I would suggest getting the file from someone (Like me) and copying it to your computer from DOS.

thanks for your time but i think its a wee bit above me. I see the file in c:\windows but when i click on it i get the same error message....................the trouble is i cant extract this file as i cant put in the disc because it will start to set the machine to factory settings.when i had win 98 no problem.is there a database of files online which you can download or do microsoft not allow it(they should give everybody original discs in the first place instead of restore crap)if anyone can find this file will they please let me know or better still send it to me. william.taylor5@btinternet.com

Here, i've got the file for you. Click here to download it

if you use your factory recovery disks you will lose all curant data and soft ware programs as it will reformat your hard drive.and the erases every thing