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What
is Safe Mode?
INTRODUCTION
Safe mode
is a special diagnostic mode Microsoft built into Windows 9x to
allow a user to recover from mistakes made in Windows. Safe mode
starts the computer up using a minimal set of drivers to get the
computer up and running. This means that the fancy hardware you
have in your computer will not work in safe mode. For example,
safe mode uses the built in VGA graphics chip on your motherboard
instead of your video adapter. In fact, the only drivers Windows
will load in safe mode are a keyboard driver, himem.sys (to take
advantage of high memory) and the VGA driver.
Safe mode
is an absolute lifesaver. If you are ever running Windows and
install the wrong driver for your new video card and your screen
goes blank, or your new sound card locks up your system, you will
be thankful for safe mode. It is where to go when you are having
problems with Windows.
GETTING
THERE
Windows 9x
- Reboot
your computer
- Upon startup,
press F5
- Or upon
startup, choose F8
- Choose
option 3 for safe mode.
Note: There
are other diagnostic options in the menu F8 brings up. More often
than not, you won’t need to use these unless you are really
in trouble. The command prompt option dumps you straight into
DOS if you are really stuck, but working with DOS takes a good
book and patience. The Step-By-Step startup option is an option
which steps through your config.sys and autoexec.bat files, two
files Windows loads at startup. These two files can contain many
startup options, like loading CD-ROM drivers, or loading a virus
checking program. If you have an unusual startup problem that
you have trouble pinpointing, you should run the Step-By-Step
option and choose various combinations of what to start to pinpoint
any problems in these two files.
Windows
NT:
Windows NT
has its own form of safe mode although the way to get there is
entirely different.
- Reboot
your computer
- When the
startup menu comes up, choose the Windows NT (VGA) mode.
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