As part of its strategy to gradually introduce the new capabilities in Windows 8, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has taken the wraps off a couple of features that it says will either restore a PC to a clean state without losing user data or initiate what amounts to a factory reset.

And if the blog post by Desmond Lee, a Microsoft program manager, is any indication, doing so requires no more effort than say, installing an application. You can read more about both capabilities in our article about the features.

It isn't immediately clear if users would still be required to perform tiresome tasks such as typing in their product keys or initiating a new Windows Activation, though it seems those steps won't be necessary. And with references to remarks made by Lee about Windows 8 PCs with hidden recovery partitions, I would hope that the presence of cumbersome optical or USB Flash drive media would not be necessary either.

The ability to perform a "reset" or "refresh" does appear to hold the promise of alleviating two of the greatest time killers faced by front-line technicians: performing what I call a "factory reset" and eliminating particularly troublesome malware or spyware.

Perform a 'factory reset'

Usually called a "reformat" in most IT departments, this is a scorched earth operation that may be conducted prior to assigning an existing workstation to a new employee, or as part of periodic housekeeping to keep systems humming along smoothly. Sophisticated solutions do exist to greatly simplify this task, and some will even push operating system images over the network for a remote installation. However, the licensing costs of such enterprise software do mean that they are not practical for smaller or mid-sized businesses.

Eliminate malware or spyware

The typical response to a particularly troublesome malware or spyware also entails a reformat. And depending on how advanced the infestation is however, it may not be possible for users to log in to properly backup their data. Assigning a system administrator to recover the pertinent data directly from the hard disk drive works, but may result in crucial files being missed out, and is also expensive in terms of the time required.

The ability to restore a system back to a useful state while simultaneously preserving user documents in Windows 8 could literally help save hundreds of man-hours for larger organizations.

I think this feature is a winner and will be very much welcomed by IT departments - Paul Mah  (Twitter @paulmah)