Most people don’t know why Windows have ‘Safe Mode’ built-in. Whatever problem Windows faces, they try to fix it by switching on the computer to normal boot. Problem will be solved in normal boot also, no doubt about that. But it won’t be fully solved as many people think. There will be some immovable files left behind, eating up space.
Booting Windows in safe mode will load minimum no. of drivers, programs and services. This will make it easier for you to solve problems, such as removing unwanted software and malware fully, because you can tackle troublesome elements before they load.
To go to safe mode in Windows up to version 7, turn on your computer, press F8 number of times just before Windows loads up. If the timing is proper, a menu will appear on the screen. There will be 3 options in Safe Mode:-
- Safe Mode
- Safe Mode With Networking
- Safe Mode With Command Prompt
Viruses, Spyware and Adware can easily be detected and removed using anti-virus softwares and other clean up tools. System Restore can also be used in Safe Mode to undo recent changes to Windows by selecting a restore point from a date.
Safe Mode With Command Prompt
When you launch safe mode with command prompt, you will go back to the 1980’s. You know, just MS-DOS, Windows at the most basic.
- Type ‘help’ to see the list of commands.
- Type ‘sfc/scannow’ which checks all Windows files for problems. Mind you, it will take a long time, but corrupted files if any will be repaired.
- Type ‘tasklist’ to remove viruses or any other malware. It shows the program that are running. If you smell fishy, if you see something that shouldn’t be there, type ‘taskkill/IM prog-name’ where prog-name is the name of the program.
