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Rescue The Drowning PC - Start 'Er Up |
Starting the beastie up is a simple
process, right? Well, not really.
Like everything else to do with
Windows, there's a right way to do
something, a wrong way...and
Windows' way. Here's some do's and
don'ts, along with some tips on
using the Start menu.
First off, when you start the thing
up, let your hard drive come to a
complete stop before you do
anything. Windows is performing
housekeeping duties behind the
scenes while the hard drive whirs
and spins, including a Registry scan
and loading of the Start menu
programs. The same thing applies to
applications -- let them fully load
before you start asking them to
perform tasks, otherwise modules and
drivers may get stuck in memory,
causing problems. The same thing
applies to shutting down a program
-- let it finish what it's doing
before you click the X.
Booting up in "Safe Mode" is an
often-recommended step that many
Windows users just aren't aware of.
Win 95 and XP users, when Windows is
loading, look for the "Starting
Windows" message and when you see it
come up, immediately press F8 (a few
Win 95 machines still use F5 or
Del). Win 98/ME users can just hold
down the Control key before Windows
begins to boot up. (Note: switching
into Safe Mode from XP is sometimes
a bit different: XP users may need
to enter MSCONFIG in the Start
menu's Run dialog, then click on the
BOOT.INI tab and check the /SAFEBOOT
box. Reboot to enter Safe mode.
Repeat the process and uncheck the
box when you're through with Safe
Mode. One caveat: Don't experiment
with the other settings on this tab.
You could wind up unable to get back
into MSConfig to undo your changes.)
Either way you do it, you'll be
taken to a menu which gives you
several options -- boot to DOS; boot
up Windows in "Safe Mode," which
boots Windows with generic, safe
settings; boot up in "Logged" mode,
which makes a BOOTLOG of the
start-up process. Boot your system
up and poke around in the startup
menu; get to know it. It's worth
your time. What exactly happens in
Safe Mode? Well, Windows ignores the
contents of the AUTOEXEC.BAT and
CONFIG.SYS files, which allows for a
stripped-down bootup. Most of the
device drivers aren't loaded (so
your scanner, for example, won't
work while Windows is in Safe Mode).
Additionally, Safe Mode uses
standard VGA graphics mode instead
of the snazzier mode provided by
your usual graphics driver. This
mode is supported by all
Windows-compatible video cards.
HIMEM.SYS, which is normally loaded
as part of the CONFIG.SYS script, is
loaded with the /TESTMEM:ON switch.
This switch tells the computer to
test the extended memory before
continuing. The Windows desktop
loads up in 16 colors and at a
resolution of 640 x 480 with the
words "Safe Mode" in each corner.
Safe Mode checks the MSDOS.SYS file
for information on where to find the
rest of the Windows files. If it
finds the files, it proceeds to load
Windows in Safe Mode with the
command WIN /D:M. If it does not
find the Windows files, it will run
command.com to bring up a C: prompt.
Windows boots using a batch file
called SYSTEM.CB instead of the
standard SYSTEM.INI file. This file
loads the Virtual Device Drivers
(VxDs) that Windows uses to
communicate with the standard parts
of the computer. Windows now loads
the regular SYSTEM.INI file plus
WIN.INI and Registry settings. It
skips the [Boot] (except for the
shell and device lines) and [386Enh]
sections of system.ini and does not
load or run any programs listed in
WIN.INI. So what should you do if
your computer boots to Safe Mode?
First, try to determine what has
changed on your system that could
have caused Windows to fail to boot
properly. If you have added any kind
of hardware, go to the Control Panel
and remove it and uninstall the
software driver for that device.
Then attempt a reboot. If Windows
boots properly, you can be
reasonably certain that there was
some type of conflict with the
device and try to resolve it. Use
this same method if you have loaded
a new game or application sometime
recently. Go to the Control Panel,
click on Add/Remove Programs and
remove the software. Try a reboot
and hopefully you will get a normal
Windows boot. If the problem is
definitely not new hardware or
software, then you most likely have
a corrupted Registry. In this case,
you will quite likely have to
perform a new installation of
Windows to set things right. (Thanks
to Vince at
5 Star Support for providing this info in
a recent newsletter.)
Want to add Safe Mode to your XP
Boot Menu? Here's how. First,
right-click My Computer and click
into Properties. Click Advanced.
Under Start Up and Recovery, click
the Settings button. Click Edit. The
BOOT.INI file will open in
Notepad. Copy this line:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft
Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect
Paste the line you just copied after
the original one. Change the second
line from "Microsoft Windows XP
Professional" to “Windows XP Safe
Mode” or something similar. At the
end of this line add the following:
/safeboot:minimal /sos /bootlog
Save the file by clicking File, then
Save. Restart your computer and Safe
Mode should be available at the boot
menu.
Problems booting up? Going through
Safe Mode is usually the first step
you'll take to find and correct the
problem. You may need to repair and
restore the Registry; in Windows ME,
go to Start, Run and type
SCANREG /FIX and press Enter
to repair the Registry. Win 98 users
must go outside Windows to repair
the Registry; boot up your machine
in Safe Mode, choose "Command Prompt
only" from the menu, and at the C>
prompt, type
SCANREG /FIX or
SCANREG /RESTORE and press
Enter. If you find yourself needing
to make and/or use startup disks
(which you will if you can't even
get into Safe Mode), check my
Create Startup Disks page.
Win 98/ME users can modify and speed
their Startup protocols by going
through the System Configuration
utility. Go to Start, Run, and type
MSCONFIG. You get a rather daunting
menu display with lots of tabs and
items. You should peruse through
this, but for now just click the
Startup tab. You'll see a large list
of programs that all start when you
boot your computer. You can remove
programs from the Startup process by
unchecking the box beside the
corresponding program. Remember,
some of these programs must start at
Startup or Windows will fail. Before
doing anything else, click the
Cleanup button to remove obsolete
items. (Win 98 does not have this
button.) Okay, now start guessing
what you can remove. Some of the
files definitely needed by Windows
are ScanRegistry, TaskMonitor,
LoadPowerProfile, Pointer, and
SystemTray, so leave those alone.
(Note: If you have multiple versions
of LoadPowerProfile, remove all but
the last one.) A good rule of thumb
is to leave any program alone that
runs from C:\WINDOWS. Restart Win ME
and hope for the best. Another way
to get an idea of what's what is to
check the source: for example, I
used to have empty programs
connected with MS Works that
automatically loaded themselves;
since I don't bother with Works, I
don't have them load anymore, and I
have more system resources as a
result. If the system misbehaves, go
back into System Configuration and
recheck some of the items that you
unchecked.
You can force XP's Start menu to
list only the programs you choose,
instead of the default "most-used"
listing. Right-click the taskbar,
click Properties and select the
Start Menu tab. Next to the Start
Menu section, click Customize. On
the General tab, set "Number of
programs on Start menu" to zero.
Under "Show on Start menu," clear
the boxes next to Internet and
E-mail. You can now add your own
programs in the left column. The
easiest way to do that is to click
on Programs. All the applications
you need should be there. You can
right-click on any program and
select "Pin to Start menu." If the
item you want to move does not
include "Pin to Start menu," it is
not executable. There should be
another file in that folder that has
the option. You can do a similar
thing with XP's Classic Start Menu.
To set that, right-click the taskbar
and click Properties. Select the
Start Menu tab. Select "Classic
Start Menu." (Windows 98, ME and
2000 already use this Start menu.)
The area above the word Programs can
be used. To do that, click Programs
and find the applications in which
you are interested. Click them in
turn, and, holding down the mouse
button, drag them to the Start menu.
This will remove them from the
Programs list. You can avoid that by
first creating a new shortcut. Right
click the program and choose Create
Shortcut. Then move the new shortcut
to the Start Menu.
You can use MSCONFIG to access your
computer's Safe Mode without
punching one function key after
another. Go through Start, Run, type
MSCONFIG in the field, and hit
Enter. Now click the General tab,
click the Advanced button, and check
the "Enable Startup menu" box. When
you reboot, and until you go back
and uncheck the box, your PC will
boot up to the Startup menu,
allowing you access to Safe Mode,
DOS Mode, or whatever.
MSCONFIG is a highly useful utility.
A full, step-by-step user's guide
can be found at
www.netsquirrel.com/msconfig/.
Unfortunately, Win 2K doesn't have
MSCONFIG installed with it. 2K users
can download a free version for
their systems at
www.svrops.com/svrops/dwnldoth.htm.
It's actually the XP version, but it
works with 2K as well.
Some users like the old Win 95 way
of showing multiple columns in the
Start menu as opposed to the
newfangled method of scrolling.
Here's how to change it back: For
Win 98 users, in RegEdit, navigate
to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \
Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion
\ explorer \ Advanced. Select
"New" and then "String Value" from
the Edit menu, and type
StartMenuScrollPrograms as
the name for the new value.
Double-click on the
StartMenuScrollPrograms
value, and type FALSE as the data
for this value. Click OK and then
close the Registry Editor. This
setting should take effect
immediately. Note that this affects
the Start Menu's Programs folder and
all folders underneath it, but it
won't affect folders directly in the
Start Menu folder (which appear
above Programs in the main Start
Menu). If this doesn't work on your
machine, try adding a second
StartMenuScrollPrograms
value, as described above, to the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \
Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion
\ explorer key (just the
parent key of the one in the
instructions). If this still doesn't
work, check the spelling and make
sure you're putting the values in
the right keys. Try restarting
Windows to see if that helps. For
Win ME users, select Settings in
your Start Menu, and then select
Taskbar & Start Menu. Choose the
Advanced tab, and turn off the
"Scroll the Programs" menu option.
For Win XP, select Settings in your
Start Menu, and then select "Taskbar
& Start Menu." Choose the Start Menu
tab, choose "Classic Start Menu,"
and click Customize. Turn off the
Scroll the Programs menu option, and
click OK when you're done.
Win 98, and presumably ME, can be
configured to have its Start
Menu/SendTo menu contain groups of
program shortcuts; for example, if
you use a lot of graphics and
multimedia programs, you can open
media files simply by copying your
MultiMedia program group from the
'Start Menu' to my 'SendTo' folder.
After checking that it works, you
can open your SendTo folder and
delete any extraneous or duplicate
shortcuts you may have created. Now,
by right-clicking SendTo on any
media file and sliding over to the
Multimedia folder icon, you can get
a cascading list of shortcuts to all
your media apps. Maybe you want to
create a Games folder, a Business
folder, a Utilities folder, or
whatever.
Win 98 has a neato keeno little
utility called Automatic Skip
Driver, which works to highlight
troublesome drivers and skip them on
future startups. When there's a
startup problem, it analyzes the
startup log, tries to identify the
offending driver, then offers to
skip the problem device in the next
startup. Find it by going through
System Tools, System Information,
and looking in the Tools menu.
Windows tries to be helpful by
restarting the system the same way
it was when it was shut down -- in
other words, whatever files and
applications were open when Windows
shut down will be automatically
reopened. To prevent this from
happening and make Windows start up
clean, just press Shift when you
hear the little Windows startup
sound during bootup.
Problems during startup? Windows can
make a Startup Log that may prove
helpful (to the techies if not to
you). When you start up Windows, as
soon as you see the "Starting
Windows" message, press F8. (Win 98,
hold down that Ctrl key as soon as
you start the machine.) In the
resulting Startup Menu, choose
"Logged (\BOOTLOG.TXT)." Windows
will create the named document in
the Windows folder, and every step
that Windows goes through to start
up your PC will be logged there. The
Bootlog file can track what happens
while Windows is trying to start.
After pressing the F8 key during
startup and choosing to make a
Bootlog, you can then start again,
press F8, and choose to start in
Safe mode. Then type EDIT
BOOTLOG.TXT and press Enter to see
the bootlog file. There will be a
series of entries, most saying
either: "Loading-success" or
"Loading-failed." You can be
suspicious of the driver software
that failed to load. But your prime
suspect should be any final listing
that says "Loading-system halts."
That's where the startup didn't work
right. You may need to check any
peripheral that this driver is meant
to handle -- is it plugged in, set
up properly -- or may need to get a
newer version of the driver. If you
can't provide these fixes, just
remove the drivers and try starting
without them.
Win 98/ME users sometimes find
themselves faced with an unwanted
display of the Startup Menu every
time they boot up. For whatever
reason, Windows has become set to
open with this menu displaying at
startup. Disable this by going to
Start, Run, typing MSCONFIG in the
command field, and when the program
opens, go through the Advanced tab
to find a box labeled "enable start
menu." Uncheck this box. OK out.
When you next reboot, Windows should
open normally.
Performing a "clean boot" of Windows
ME is a little different that with
other iterations of Windows. An
article in Microsoft's Knowledge
Base, at
support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q267/2/88.ASP,
walks you through the procedure.
It's not hard, but it's picky. Read
through the article first and be
aware that starting Win ME like this
disables many of the secondary
protocols and programs that come up
during ordinary startup.
You already know how to start an
application when Windows starts, by
placing its shortcut in your Startup
folder. (To access this folder,
right-click the Start button, select
Open, and double-click Programs.)
You can also start any startup
application minimized. That way, the
application opens and then shrinks
to the Taskbar, ready and waiting.
It's a great way to keep those
windows from hogging valuable screen
space. Assuming that you've already
placed a shortcut in the Startup
folder, right-click the shortcut and
select Properties. Click the
Shortcut tab, click the down arrow
next to Run, and select Minimized.
Click OK, and from now on, starting
Windows will launch that application
and turn it into a Taskbar item.
You can change the items that show
up in the menu that appears when you
right-click on the Start button from
the typical choices of Open,
Explore, Search, and Properties. If
you have other stuff there that you
never use, or you want to add
something, go to the registry and
get busy: Open RegEdit, and go to
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and expand
it. Find the Directory folder and
expand it. Right-click on "shell,"
select
New | Key, and give the key a
name. Let's use the example of the
well-known freeware program called
NoteTab, so we'll call the key
"NoteTab." On the right pane,
double-click on the "(Default)"
value, and add a title with an
ampersand (&) in front of the letter
as an accelerator key. In this case,
it would be "&NoteTab." Click OK.
Right-click on &NoteTab (NOT
Default), and select
New | Key. Call this key
"COMMAND." Double-click on COMMAND
and enter the full path and program
you want to execute into the Value
box. In this example, we would have
entered
C:\Program Files\NoteTab
Light\notetab.exe. Close the
registry editor. Now, right-click on
Start, and the new program is there.
Your Start menu is really just a
folder full of items that can be
organized and managed like any other
folder. Depending on your system,
you can browse to either
\WINDOWS\START MENU or
\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\[user
name]\START MENU and edit as
you like, especially within the
PROGRAMS subfolder.
Windows 2000 and Windows XP both
maintain two sets of Start menu
links -- one for the current user
and one for all users. They probably
reside in a folder with a name like
C:\DOCUMENTS AND
SETTINGS\username\START MENU.
The corresponding links for all
users would be found under
C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\ALL
USERS\START MENU. You can
open the current user's Start menu
quickly by right-clicking on the
Start button and choosing Explore
from the pop-up menu. To open the
Start menu for all users, follow the
same procedure, choosing "Explore
All Users." Now you can reorganize
both your Start menus.
Many computers come out of the box
with gobs of programs already placed
in the Startup menu, so when you
fire up the beast, all these
programs that you don't want start
up, too. If you have Win 98/ME, you
can prevent these programs from
starting when you start up your
machine by going into your
C:\WINDOWS\ALL USERS\START
MENU\PROGRAMS\STARTUP folder and
deleting whichever shortcuts found
therein. These are just shortcuts;
you aren't deleting any programs.
Leave the ones that you want to
automatically start when you boot
up.
Just what are all of those
programs loading up when you start
Windows? You can get a peek at them
by hitting Ctrl+Alt+Del, but if you
know what LOADQM, DEVLDR16, MOTMON,
AHQTB, or some of the others are,
you're a better techie than I am,
Charlie Brown. Luckily Vince at
5 Star Support knows. Check out his page
at
www.5starsupport.com/startup.htm/.
Another source of info is at
www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm.
You can add items to the Start Menu
in several different ways. The
"official" method is to go through
Start, Settings, Taskbar and Start
Menu Properties. Chock the Advanced
tab, and click the Add button. Use
the Browse function to find the item
you're looking for in your machine's
directory. Select whatever program
you like, click Open, and click
Next. Now you'll get to choose where
on the Start Menu you want to place
the item -- say, on the Start Menu
itself, in one of its submenus, or
whatever. Choose where it goes, type
the name of the program into the
box, click Finish, and OK your way
out.
You can also make program shortcuts
directly from the Start Menu to the
Desktop without going through the
above procedure. Here's how you do
it: Find the desired program in My
Computer, Windows Explorer, or
Search. Click and drag the item to
the proper menu or submenu of the
Start Menu. Reverse the process by
dragging the shortcut icon onto the
Start button. The Start menu will
open, as will whatever submenu you
drag the icon over. When you've got
it where you want it, release the
mouse button. You can also create
shortcuts to the Desktop by doing
almost the same thing, except that
you'll need to hold down the Ctrl
key as you drag the item, and you'll
need to choose the right-menu
"Create Shortcut Here" selection
when appropriate (you'll see it).
You can move programs around on the
Start Menu by simply dragging them
where you want them. You can rename
an item by right-clicking it and
choosing the Rename option. You can
delete an item by right-clicking it
and choosing Delete, or by
right-clicking it and dragging it to
the Recycle Bin. Remember, when
you're working with the Start Menu,
you're working with shortcuts, not
the actual programs.
Another way to edit the Start Menu
is through Windows Explorer; the
easiest way to access this is to
right-click the Start button and
choose Explore from the menu. This
is also the only way to create a new
submenu: to do this, you select
whatever menu you want to add a
submenu to, choose File, New,
Folder, and type the name of your
new submenu into the box. Press
Enter.
Find all those "top-of-the-Start
Menu" shortcuts annoying? Lots of
programs like to stick shortcuts to
themselves at the top of the Start
Menu. You can get rid of them by
right-clicking Start and choosing
Explore. In the right pane, you'll
see the Programs folder and all the
"top-of-the-Start Menu" shortcuts
just below. Right-click and delete
to your heart's delight. Of course,
you can also add items there by
dragging them, rename items, or
whatever works for you.
Windows ME, 2K, and XP have a
newfangled personalized Start Menu
that is popular with some users and
a headache for others (i.e. don't
use a shortcut for a few sessions
and watch it "disappear," relegated
to a secondary menu -- what a pain).
2K and ME users can disable it by
clicking Start, Settings, Taskbar
(or just right-clicking the
Taskbar), and choosing Start Menu.
When you see the "Taskbar and Start
Menu Properties" dialog box, clear
the "Use Personalized Menus" check
box. XP users have a slightly
different methodology: you guys need
to right-click the Start button,
choose Properties, click the
Customize button next to "Classic
Start menu", and in the scrolling
list of options, uncheck "Use
Personalized Menus" and then click
OK twice.
You can still have XP's Start Menu
show all the programs without that
annoying double arrow at the bottom,
simply by disabling both the "Use
Personalized Menus" and "Scroll
Programs" options. If you play with
a combination of the two options,
here's what happens:
-
Scroll Programs: Enabled,
Use Personalized Menus: Enabled
shows the most recently used
programs in the Program Files
folder.
-
Scroll Programs: Disabled,
Use Personalized Menus: Enabled
same as above.
-
Scroll Programs: Enabled,
Use Personalized Menus: Disabled
shows the contents of the Start
Menu with single scroll arrows
at the top and bottom of the
Start Menu if your programs
exceed the size of your desktop.
-
Scroll Programs: Disabled,
Use Personalized Menus: Disabled
shows a multi-column Start Menu
fully expanded.
In WinME, you can go to Start,
Settings, Taskbar and Start Menu,
and find the option to disable the
collapsible menu.
To bring up lots of programs at once
from the Start menu, hold down the
Shift key and click the Start
button. As you click one program
after another, the menu stays open
and ready for business. Letting go
of the Shift key drops the menu.
Bring up the Start menu only to
decide you don't need it? Whacked
that Windows key, didn't you? Banish
that menu to its hiding place by
either clicking on an empty area of
the Desktop or by hitting Esc.
If Windows 98/ME locks up
frequently, forcing you to perform a
cold restart (turning the PC off and
on), Windows will probably launch
Scandisk upon startup. You may see
an error message from ScanDisk that
reads,
The free space on drive C is
reported incorrectly, there may be
more or less space available on the
drive than is actually being
reported. ScanDisk will ask
you if you'd like it fixed, and
usually it will fix the space
reporting error, but it may not fix
the lockup problem. The solution
isn't an obvious one. First,
Scandisk's error message is actually
the way Microsoft intended Windows
and Scandisk to work. When Windows
fails to shut down properly, it
fails to correctly clean up any
temporary files and monitor the
information necessary to properly
manage its temporary swap files.
Temporary swap files are always
changing when Windows is in
operation. Without correct space
usage monitoring before a Windows
exit, Windows could corrupt your
hard disk, and we don't want that.
Windows lockups are difficult to
decipher and deal with. You'll need
to consider the following: does this
form of lockup occur without the
ability to reboot from Ctrl-Alt-Del?
Have you removed programs in your
Windows startup that may be causing
the freeze? Are there certain
applications running, like Internet
Explorer on a certain home page,
that instigates the freezeups? You
might want to try downloading and
installing a third-party process
monitor utility that monitors what
applications are running and what
CPU cycles are used during Windows
operation (plenty are available on
my
Shareware, Disk, Maintenance,
Hardware, and Diagnostic Utilities
page. If Windows locks up with a
monitor running, it will capture the
information about what you are
doing, and what applications are
running when a lockup occurs. After
you reboot, the monitor will provide
you with a text file snap shot and
possibly provide you with clues as
to why and what is causing your
system lockup. Some suitable process
monitors include the old but still
functional WinTop, a Microsoft
authored freeware tool that was part
of the Windows 95 Powertoys. Another
utility is TaskInfo 2002 from
www.iarsn.com/ and SysInternals
Process Explorer from SysInternals
www.sysinternals.com/, though
there are plenty of others to choose
from.
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