Soft resets are usually conducted in an attempt to fix malfunctioning applications or because they're required for software installation.
Soft reset contrasts with hard reset, which removes all user data, settings and applications and returns a device to the same state it was in when it shipped from the factory.
1. This very easy to do proces starts from unlocking your screen and then holding down your power button. Please do that.
2. Once you do that you should see a menu pop up on your screen. It should look similar to this:
3. Now please choose and tap on reboot or reset option.
Sometimes your phone is not responding due to some application or other problem, in this situation you can reboot your phone.
If you want to erase your all data from your phone then you should go with factory setting restore. This option will erase your all data.