How can I do a factory reset on a MyTouch 3G Slide?

Question

I have a MyTouch 3G Slide w/ Android 2.2 and am having issues with the text messaging freezing up. I am trying to do a factory reset and looked under settings, sd card memory and security for the factory reset option and didn't see it. How do you reset the phone?

I tried these instructions but couldn't get that screen to come up... is there another way?

1. Turn the power off. If your HTC myTouch 3G Slide is frozen, pull the battery out and reinsert it
2. Hold the Volume Down button
3. Press and release the Power button
4. You are now presented with a menu that allows for Fastbook, Recovery, Clear Storage, and Simlock
5. Select Clear Storage by pressing the Volume Down button
6. Press and release the Power button
7. Now simply confirm your decision: Volume Up for YES and Volume Down for NO

Answer 1

To do a factory reset, you should be able to go to Settings -> Privacy and hit Factory data reset.

Alternatively though, to just clear the SMS data you should go to Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications and find the SMS app ("Messaging" or similar) and clear the data for it. There may also be something like "Messaging Storage" that you need to clear.

If you really need to boot into recovery, I would try the following:

1. Hold power and volume down until the phone reboots or turns on
2. Hold the power button for two more seconds, then release it (if the phone reboots again, you held it too long)
3. Keep holding volume down until recovery mode appears