I believe the Restore partition is still intact, how do I restore the OS to the factory settings? does pressing on the blue Access IBM will do that? I cannot see that option when I press on the button, it only propose to restore from a previous backup (does not see any) (this is for X41 tablet)

When you reboot, is F11 one of the boot options presented? If so, selecting that will do a restore to factory settings. It has to be done from a reboot or a cold boot. If F11 is not presented as an option, the restore partition may not be intact.

Thanks for the info, I would have never known that because the splash screen does not present F11 option. I hit F11 anyway and I was greeted with the system recovery menu and yes, the factory setting restore option is present. Right now the computer takes about 4 to 5 minutes to boot up before I can use it, it is stuck a long time on the IBM Access Connection. I am still trying to do a clean up and tweak a bit and if I don't succeed, I will restore to the factory OS

If you go into the BIOS settings, one of them should be Logo vs. BIOS screen. I always choose to see the BIOS messages. You might also try either a diagnostic startup from the boot menu, or boot into windoze and run "msconfig", choose diagnostic startup and turn things off in the startup section. If IBM Access Connection is the culprit, disable it, or try uninstalling it and reinstalling it.

I loathe complete re-installs. I would find out what is causing the slowdown and fix that. Like it says in the book of I Ching, "Perseverence Furthers."