Factory reset - Dell Inspiron 1750

HighamKneeDee

Good morning all

I have a Dell Inspiron 1750 , Model number 17540-8424 that I wish to perform a factory restore on, to get it to it's boxed state.

However, before I do this I am a little worried that some of the required files could have been deleted.

The laptop has been crashing lots over the past month and constantly loses the wireless internet connection.

My nephew became a lodger here 6 months back and throughout the night was using the laptop for whatever reason, Facebook etc.

He told me one morning that a 'backup process' error message came up stating there was a lack of space so he deleted some 'aged' backup files. The laptop carried on working but I noticed the 'backup process' error message constantly after that.

Since, the laptop has become very slow and clunky. So much so I bought some additional memory sims doubling the RAM in the process, replacing the old sims. it helped.
But I am having to reboot 3 times per day because of the system freezing etc.

So, my questions are...............Could he have deleted files that might stop the Factory Reset? Also, should I go with the Factory Reset, do I need to place the original RAM into the laptop first? How do I do a Factory Reset?

I have backed up all required data files to a Zip Drive therefore not concerned about losing data.

Thank you to you wonderful people, it is much appreciated.