Got a slow Android Phone? Reset it.

I have had the original Droid for almost 2 years now running Android. I like it, but it’s been driving me crazy lately. Apps are constantly hanging, the screen freezes, things crash. Today it finally hit me, maybe I should reset the phone and start over. I was surprised at how easy this process actually was, and now my phone is good as new. In case you are interested here are the instructions I followed: 

Format the SD Card

Now this step isn’t really necessary, but I wanted to completely start from scratch in all aspects. If you just want to reset the phone, skip this step.

1. Connect your phone to your computer, mount your SD card via USB,  and backup all photos, files etc from your SD card that you want to keep.

2. Once all files of importance have been backed up to your computer, on a PC, right click on the device in from your My Computer folder and click format. Follow the prompts to wipe everything off your SD Card.

3.  Un-mount the USB connection from your phone.

Reset the Phone

If you want to backup any files do that first! For example, I got a list of my installed apps printed out from AppBrain, and have my contacts backed up to Google. There is a good article here on backing up things you want to keep:

1. On the phone, go to the Settings screen, and click on Privacy Settings

2. Tap on Factory data reset, and continue with prompts.

3. The phone will shut down, then restart just as a new android phone would from scratch.

4. Follow the prompts to get your phone up and running, then re-install any apps you didn’t sync or backup that you want, and restore your Google settings etc.

Useful Links That Helped Me: