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I finally did it. After months of putting up with a diminishing Windows experience plagued with issues, I bit the bullet and gave my Windows PC a proper factory reset—and boy does it feel good. I should’ve done it sooner, but I’ve been putting it off because I’ve always dreaded the whole process of migrating files and re-installing all my apps. I’m embarrassed to share this one because my colleagues are big proponents of regular factory resets, and now I understand why. It gets you back to the performance you had when everything was new, and it ditches all the bloatware that has built up over the years. I now have a lovely, clean, fresh Windows install that’s running like magic, and I’m here to encourage you to do the same. Not convinced? Here are several warning signs that it’s time to reset your Windows PC. Sign #1: Your PC feels slower than usual My main PC is a bit of a beast. Thanks to hardware review samples and friends in the right places, I was able to build an economical but very capable machine that has served me well in most respects. It’s built around the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, which gives stellar performance for gaming and professional tasks. That’s paired with 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a few TBs of PCIe 4.0 storage, and a PowerColor Red Devil 7900 XTX. Apart from the 9950X3D, this is about as fast an all-AMD PC can be. But until my most recent Windows reset, it wasn’t behaving as it ought to. General performance was fine, but this is a powerful PC setup that should offer a no-compromise experience—and I was seeing odd frame rate drops, inconsistent frame times, bizarre performance dips when tabbing to something on my second monitor, and a weird system lock that lasted a few seconds any time I launched a game or app. I basically only use my PC to play Tabletop Simulator. It’s complete overkill, I know, but when that app slows down… well, you know it’s time to do something about it.Jon Martindale / Foundry I tried troubleshooting—new drivers, new BIOSes for everything, Windows updates, uninstalled bloatware, unplugged new devices, and rolled back to a System Restore point from a few weeks ago. But the issues always cropped back up again. Now that I’ve factory reset Windows and killed off whatever it was that was causing my performance issues, I’m enjoying a pristine gaming and work experience once again. I’d forgotten what I was missing. Sign #2: Your PC crashes and glitches a lot I’ve written hundreds of how-to guides on using and troubleshooting Windows, so I like to think that when a problem appears, I know (or can figure out) how to fix it. I’m the “Computer Guy” in my extended family, so I fix all of their problems, too. Unfortunately, that makes it hard for me to throw in the towel when I’m dealing with bugs, glitches, and crashes on my own PC. It’s a point of pride, in a way, and I want to fix what I can—but sometimes troubleshooting just becomes too much of a bear. No matter how many times I reinstalled the Logitech G Hub app, it would sit stuck on this loading screen for minutes whenever I tried to launch it.Jon Martindale / Foundry For example, my Logitech webcam was causing system locks whenever I woke my PC from sleep. It was some kind of driver issue, but nothing worked—updating, reinstalling multiple times, changing USB ports, reinstalling the admin software. My ring light caused a weird USB initiation hang during post, too, and sometimes caused GameMaker Studio to freeze when launching my work-in-progress. And my second monitor always flickered to white on reboot, prompting a cable reseat. These are the kinds of little issues that built up, making my PC an utter pain in the neck to use as they piled on. I stubbornly tried my best to fix everything, but eventually it got bad enough that I was driven to reset. I only wish I reset earlier instead of digging my heels in. If your PC is bugging, crashing, and glitching, it’s fine to try fixing things on your own—but when you can’t, or when the issues keep recurring, then there’s no shame in hitting the factory reset button. It’ll save you a lot of time and headaches in the process. Sign #3: Your PC has racked up bloatware I really like a lean system. My list of startup apps is as minimal as I can make it, and I try to make a point of closing down any app I’m not actively using. But one of the downsides to writing about software is I often have to install apps I don’t plan on keeping, in order to test them out. I might be writing a how-to guide, grabbing screenshots, or just needing to know how something works so I can write about it. So many installed apps. Too much crap to count.Jon Martindale / Foundry Sadly, I don’t always delete those apps straight away—I might need them later, after all. But that just means that over time, and with enough procrastination, my collection of no-longer-used, no-longer-needed apps grows to ridiculous proportions. Bloatware. Uninstalling each and every app would’ve taken up precious time I could spend doing literally anything else. Instead, a Windows factory reset was a great way to just wipe them all out in one go. If you find yourself swimming in apps that you no longer use or need, a full PC reset is great for freeing up storage and saving time. Sign #4: It’s been years since the last reset You should really reset your Windows PC at least once in a while, and we argue that once per year is the best practice. For me, though? I’m embarrassed to admit that it’s been three years. Three long years of bloatware buildup, performance dips, and stubborn bugs. (Do as I say, not as I do! It’s true, I commit several PC sins and mistakes.) Foundry If you ignore all the other signs that you should reset Windows, at least remember this one—and stick to it. Perform a Windows reset as part of your annual spring cleaning. It’s an easy milestone to track, and you’ll be keeping your PC in tip-top shape before all the small issues crop up, pile on, and noticeably start dragging you down. Sign #5: You’re going to upgrade your PC Another great opportunity to factory reset your PC is when you’re performing a big upgrade. Sure, Display Driver Uninstaller will give you a good clear out if you upgrade your GPU—it’s one of my favorite hidden gem apps for Windows users—but for everything else, you never know what legacy code or drivers are hanging around gumming up the works. Samsung Memory / Unsplash In some cases, you kind of have to reset Windows because it’ll throw a fit if you toss out too much of the silicon baby with the proverbial bath water. But it also means you can make the most of your new hardware with a freshly installed operating system. You deserve that true, new hardware feel. Skipping the factory reset is doing yourself and your new hardware an injustice. Plus, a reset would’ve felt great on your old hardware—imagine how much better it’ll be with some brand new hardware with it? Sign #6: You’re dealing with malware Modern PC security solutions are more capable than ever. You have anti-ransomware systems, AI-backed malware detection, identity fraud protection, and phishing blockers. Windows’ own security systems are robust enough now that you probably don’t need other antivirus. solarseven / Shutterstock.com But malware makers will find ways to get around those systems, and if your machine is ever infected by something nasty, it can be hard to clear it out—or worse, know whether it’s been fully removed. That can leave you paranoid, thinking the infection is quietly stealing data from under you. If you want ultimate peace of mind after dealing with a malware attack, a proper Windows factory reset is a great option. Better yet, zero out your hard drive or even just buy a new drive altogether. Further reading: Signs your PC was hacked (and what to do if it was) Read...

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At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Solar charging means that, in theory, you never need to plug in this robot Very effective cleaning (at least while its battery lasts) Lots of operating modes Cons The effectiveness of solar charging varies with the weather, and it can take days even in optimal conditions Couldn’t clean my entire pool on a single charge, due to an undersized battery App is prone to disconnects Our Verdict A solar-powered pool robot sounds like a perfect cleaning solution, but it turns out the sun can provide only so much juice in a day. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Wybot S2 Solar Retailer Price $1,999.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices The dream of every swimming pool owner is that some device will come along that will clean the pool without requiring much—or any—interaction. Pump-powered robots are obtrusive and unsightly thanks to their snaking cables. Battery-powered robots must be manually retrieved after a few hours, cleaned out, and recharged. The holy grail remains elusive. With its S2 Solar Vision, Wybot takes at least one baby step in the right direction, outfitting a modified version of its existing Wybot S2 robot with a solar-powered docking and charging station. In simple terms, a solar panel sits on the edge of the pool, charging the robot through an inductive plate that sits below the waterline. Better still, the docking station can communicate with the robot while it’s in the water, so it can find its way back to the dock when its battery is getting low. The Wybot S2 Solar Vision does an amazing job on walls and the waterline—it really churns up the water with its front-mounted scrubbers. Specifications The Wybot S2 Solar Vision’s docking station features a solar panel that sits at the edge of the pool, where careless–or malicious–kids might step on it and damage it.Christopher Null/Foundry A few specifics may help fill out the picture. The entire system comes in two boxes. The robot and docking station fill one, the solar panel occupies another. The solar panel and docking station must be connected through a simple, albeit not immediately intuitive, process, and the assembled dock can then be (roughly) adjusted and balanced on the edge of your pool. (The goal is to get the dock reasonably flush with the pool wall, so the robot can easily climb into it unaided.) The 20-pound, treaded robot includes a battery with a 5200mAh capacity. The docking station has a capacity of 2600mAh. The 30-watt solar panel itself has no battery of its own. Both robot and docking station include standard A/C adapters if you want to charge them more quickly, though this, of course, defeats the point of the setup to some degree. The unit promises a running time of 2.5 hours (or longer in its low-speed “eco” floor mode) and an “ideal pool size” of up to 3,230 square feet. My test runs generally ended after closer to two hours. A careful reading of the battery capacity numbers cited above might reveal one of the biggest problems I had with the Wybot S2 Solar Vision: The solar panel charges the docking station’s battery, and the docking station’s battery in turn charges the robot. This is necessarily inefficient and, because the dock’s capacity is half that of the robot, something of a mismatch. The Wybot S2 Solar Vision’s poolside docking station and solar panel.Christopher Null/Foundry Even if 100 percent of the energy in the dock made it to the robot, it would still only be half full. In theory, the sun should recharge the dock while it is discharging into the robot, but even eight hours of sunlight wasn’t enough to recharge the robot in a timely fashion in my tests. In the dead of the Texas summer, it took more than 2.5 days to take the robot from a 19 percent charge level up to 100 percent. That’s bad news if you have a particularly dirty pool and want to run the robot every day—and it’s worse news if the weather isn’t cooperating. You can always revert to removing the robot from the pool and manually recharging it, of course, but if that’s going to be a regular occurrence, you can save $1,000 by forgoing the docking station and solar panel and buying the non-solar Wybot S2—with a larger, 7800mAh battery—for $800. Daily usage testing The Wybot S2 Solar Vision features three operating modes on its touch-sensitive control panel— floor only, walls only, or floor/walls/waterline—but it quickly became apparent in my testing that the unit just doesn’t have a big enough battery to do the entire job effectively. Test runs under the “everything” mode invariably left me with a pool floor that had barely been touched. The Wybot S2 Solar Vision does an amazing job on walls and the waterline—it really churns up the water with its front-mounted scrubbers—but it just didn’t have anything left in my testing to finish the job after all that action. On one occasion it didn’t even have enough power left to return to the dock, and I had to manually rescue it from a corner of the pool with a pole. The Wybot S2 Solar Vision did an excellent job cleaning my pool’s waterline.Christopher Null/Foundry The good news is that in floor-only mode, bypassing the walls and waterline, it also did exceptional work, cleaning up 100 percent of my synthetic test leaves before returning successfully to the dock. The Wybot stores debris in a simple hinged basket, and it comes with an additional filter for finer-grained material. That said, the basket itself, which does a plenty good job on its own. It’s also easy to pop out and clean when needed. When the robot is docked, however, you’ll need to reach about a foot into the pool to grab its handle, which won’t be ideal in the winter months. (A pole is also an option, of course.) The solar panel includes two physical buttons that are usable for impromptu operations. A Play button starts the robot on whatever mode it’s currently in, and a Home button calls it back to base. Both of these worked fine in my testing, although the robot can be quite slow to get back to base when called, and I would often press the home button multiple times to be sure the command was received. The Wybot S2 Solar Vision’s app offers lots of cleaning options.Christopher Null/Foundry Note that homes with small children might want to rethink the S2 Solar Vision altogether, as the panel would likely be destroyed if anyone accidentally—or intentionally—steps on it. The Wybot S2 Solar Vision offers both Bluetooth and 2.4GHz Wi-Fi connectivity and a mobile app, but I had such trouble with the app that Wybot sent me a full replacement robot, docking station, and solar panel after a firmware update killed the system’s wireless connectivity entirely. Wybot’s app is fine, but quite limited. Four additional operating modes are available here, as is a simple remote to manually control the robot for spot cleaning. As with the Wybot F1 skimmer I reviewed on June 18, the app’s battery status reports—one for the robot and a second for the docking station—are prone to inaccuracy unless you force-quit an restart the app. The Wybot S2 Solar Vision’s large debris basket captured a large amount of material during my tests.Christopher Null/Foundry A “weekly cleaning” feature lets you set a daily schedule for operations, including both time of day and type of run; and like the original Wybot S2, you can set options for pool shape and the way you want the robot to go about its work, although I can’t imagine why you’d care whether it cleans in an S pattern, cross pattern, or star pattern. Should you buy the Wybot S2 Solar Vision? One hiccup of note: If the docking station battery dies—which it did frequently, often overnight, in my testing—the system will lose its wireless connectivity during robot recharges. The only solution I’ve found for this is manually turning the base station back on by tapping the home button once it has a small amount of charge on it. But that means another physical trip to the pool. Problems like that further obviate the S2 Solar Vision’s best feature, which is the promise of convenience. Between cleaning out the filter basket, retrieving a wayward robot from the pool floor, waiting for recharges, and rebooting the dock, I found myself trekking out to the pool nearly as much as I would do with a standard pool robot—all while enjoying only a third of the availability due to slow recharging. And for that, you’ll pay $1,800 after using a coupon on Amazon, making this one of the more expensive robotic pool cleaning systems on the market. If you have a small pool, lots of sun, minimal debris to clean up, and infinite patience, the Wybot S2 Solar Vision might work well for you. But for my circumstance, I simply didn’t see enough savings in time or effort to justify the expense. Read...