There is a small part of Windows that people have come across. However, not many people know exactly what it is about and why it is there. It’s called Windows Safe Mode and you may have to boot into it.
I remember the first time I encountered Safe Mode when I was a kid, running on Windows 98. Of course, things were very different back then, but Safe Mode still did what it was supposed to do and gave us a way to repair our computers. Let’s discover what Safe Mode is and what it’s supposed to do.
What is safe mode?
Windows safe mode is when Windows starts without running most device drivers and works using standard VGA graphics mode. It also comes in 16 colors and at a very low screen resolution of 640 x 480 (*shudders*). You may have seen it in the event of a serious system crash affecting the standard operation of Windows. This could mean that an inappropriate driver was installed, or it could have been activated if you find that you have a virus running when you boot into Windows.
How to activate Safe Mode manually
Easily enable Safe Mode manually! Just turn on your computer and press F8 before you hit the boot screen. You need to be quick here because normally the boot screen (the first screen that shows up when you power on your PC) doesn’t stay there for long.
Then select Safe Mode and Windows will boot into Safe Mode. Trust me, it looks a lot worse when it’s stretched across your screen. Compared to the research I found on the internet, my Safe Mode actually loaded at 800×600 and was available in a wide selection of colors. (Though it really isn’t a spring chicken.)
You can also choose to boot into Safe Mode with Networking. In this mode you can troubleshoot network problems. In this mode, you will also be able to connect to the internet if:
- You connect to the Internet using a PPPoE connection. (Most DSL connections use PPPoE.)
- PPPoE connection requires a username and password.
- The computer is connected directly to the DSL modem. (If you connect to the Internet using a router connected to a DSL modem, you can use safe mode with a network connection.)
This can be useful in case you are trying to download something to remove spyware, or if you need to consult a guide or some other web document to get out of Safe Mode. Notice the full Wi-Fi bars in the system tray.
Alternatively, you can choose to enable Safe Mode through a system utility called msconfig. To run msconfig, just type it in the Windows 7/Vista Start Menu search bar. (If you’re on XP, you’ll have to go to the Start Menu and click Run, then type “msconfig”.
This will take you to the msconfig dialog window. Click the Startup tab. Navigate down to the Secure Boot option and select it.
You will be prompted to restart in this case. Do so if you want to boot into Safe Mode.
Why is it able to activate itself?
Safe Mode can be activated if your computer detects that your system is not booting properly. In this case you will have to go into Safe Mode and find out which recent hardware or driver failure is the cause of this problem and fix it accordingly (remove/replace it). Just navigate to My Computer, select Properties, then the Hardware tab, click on Device Manager, and uninstall the driver that doesn’t work (the one you installed most recently).
Also, in more severe cases, you may need to remove viruses or some malware that is preventing your computer from working properly. You may want to check out Spybot Search & Destroy for a scanning solution.
Let’s hope that you’ll never have to step into this realm of Windows. In case you did, you now have a better understanding of why and what you can do to fix it!
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
