Wifi Dropping - Should I Reset?

Hi, I've had my iMac since 2012 but over the last 6 months I've been encountering really bad wifi drops - infact my iMac now lasts no longer than 20seconds at the most without dropping its wifi connection, making it almost useless. To get it back on again I have to turn on and off the wifi from the top bar over and over again.

I've read on the internet lots of people complaining of the same issues on their iMacs and MacBooks but nobody seems to of found a fix. I think its a software issue, so is it worth resetting my iMac to factory settings to find out?

If so, how do I do this without loosing my files and softwares, but still getting rid of the bug. I know I can reinstall a back up with all my files and softwares included, but will this reinstall the glitch in my software which is causing the drops to?

Any advice would be really appreciated... this bug is really beginning to get on my nerves now!

Edit: I've tried several fixes suggested online to no prevail and also tested the wifi in the house. My Macbook and iPad are sat right next to my iMac in the house and they have no issues, I'm almost sure it is software related. Thanks again.

LV426 said:

I had a similar problem with my MacBook Pro when I took it into work and tried to connect to an Airport Express. It worked fine before, but we'd just moved office.

It turned out that other WiFi networks in the vicinity were causing interference. My resolution was to set the Airport Express to work on a specific channel rather than auto select (it took a number of attempts before I hit a channel that was reliable). The connection is good and stable now.

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Hi, yeah I've read about the same on other forums but when I tried it, it didn't seem to work. Nothings changed in terms of the house, iMac or router since I've had it and although other interferances may have been added since, none of my other devices including my phone, iPad, Macbook and my stepdads iMac and devices have any issues. Just this iMac... I tried changing the channels and nothing worked, it just baffles me Thank you for your suggestion though