Nothing is perfect, and that includes our PCs, it can malfunction and have trouble sometimes. And add in the fact that almost everyone is working from home, we rely on our computers more than ever before. So, what if all of a sudden, you experience an issue with your Windows machine? It will be a huge issue, and bringing it to a repair shop will cost you a lot of money. So, what do you do? Well, in this post, we’ll show you what and how to use Microsoft’s System Configuration. This tool is built in onto your operating system which can help you diagnose and hopefully resole your problem. One of the tools that can help you with your PC problems is Microsoft System Configuration. This tool was integrated into windows since Windows 98 and is still in the Windows 10, Microsoft’s last version of windows. This tool allows you to set the programs that will run at start-up and to edit your computer’s configuration files. This also offers simplified control over Windows Services.
The Microsoft System Configuration has 5 different tabs, namely: General, Boot, Services, Startup, and Tools. These tabs have different functions and uses to help you with your computer.
General Tab
The General tab is the default tab in the System Configuration tool and this shows you options as to how your computer will start, and by default, the Normal startup option should be selected.
The list of choices for startup configuration are as follows:
Normal Startup. This starts your computer in the default manner. Use this mode to start Windows after you are finished using the two other modes of startup to troubleshoot the problem.
Diagnostic Startup. Starts Windows with its basic services and drivers only. This mode can help you determine if basic Windows files is/are the root of your problem.
Selective Settings. Starts Windows with basic services and drivers and the other services and startup programs that select.
Boot Tab
The Boot tab allows you to make the same adjustments that you can make to the Windows boot.ini without having to edit said file. This also shows configuration options for the operating system and advanced debugging settings, including the following:
Safe Boot. Safe mode starts Windows in a basic state, using limited sets of files and drivers. If a problem doesn't appear in safe mode, this means that Windows’s default settings and basic device drivers aren't causing the issue. Observing Windows in safe mode enables you to narrow down the source of a problem, and can help you troubleshoot problems on your PC. Safe boot has different options. Safe boot (Minimal) boots the Windows Graphical User Interface (GUI) in safe mode running only critical system services. In this mode networking is disabled. Safe Boot (Alternate Shell) boots the Windows Command Prompt in safe mode while only running critical system services. The GUI and Networking are disabled in this mode. Safe Mode (Active Directory Repair) boots the Windows GUI in safe mode running only critical system services and Active Directory. Safe Boot (Network) boots the Windows GUI in safe mode running critical system services. Networking is enabled in this mode.
No GUI Boot. When enabled, the Windows splash screen does not display when booting your computer.
Boot log. This stores all information from the boot process onto “%SystemRoot%/Ntbtlog.txt”.
Base Video. Boots to the Windows GUI in minimal VGA mode. This loads standard VGA drivers instead of display drivers specific to the video graphics driver for your integrated/dedicated GPU.
OS Boot Information. Shows driver names as drivers are being loaded during the computer’s boot process.
Make all boot settings permanent. Changes made in System Configuration are not tracked. If you want to make changes later, you will have to do so manually. Selecting Normal startup in the General tab does not work if this feature is selected.
Timeout field. This is only mostly used when you have a dual boot machine. A dual boot machine is a computer that has 2 operating systems installed. Using Microsoft System Configuration can cause the operating system selection screen to display for thirty seconds; as a result, thirty seconds is added to the overall startup time. To prevent the operating selection screen from appearing for thirty seconds on startup, change the timeout line in the Timeout field to zero.
Services Tab
The Services tab allows you to enable or disable any of the Microsoft Windows services or other program services running on your computer. The Services tab lists integrated Windows services and programs that start when Windows starts, or are run periodically by Windows. Enable or disable programs or services from starting by checking or disabling the checkbox next to the program name. Be careful when disabling services as many are critical to the computer's operation. Do not disable services in this list unless you know they are not essential to your computer’s operation. Selecting Disable all will not disable some secure Microsoft services required for the operating system to start.
Startup Tab
With the release of windows 8, Microsoft decided to move the startup programs of the computer onto the task manager. In this blog post, we’re going to only discuss about the startup tab that is in the task manager as most users are no longer using Windows 7 or older because Microsoft no longer offer support for these versions of Windows. The startup table lists software that opens automatically when
Windows loads. Use this tab to prevent individual software from opening when Windows starts. This can be very useful when trying to find a software program that might be causing performance problems. Note: Disabling applications that normally run at boot time might result in related applications starting more slowly or not running as expected.
The following is a list of some of the types of software applications that open from the Task Manager:
Anti-virus software - Disable Anti-virus software only when troubleshooting. Make sure to enable the Anti-virus software when finished troubleshooting.
Keyboard managers - Disable to prevent the extended multimedia keys and volume control knob from working.
Systems tray icons - Disable to prevent a software application tray icon from displaying on the systems tray (next to the time).
The Startup tab of the Task Manager shows a list of current software applications that open automatically after Windows opens and shows the status of each program. Disable individual software applications by highlighting the application and clicking Disable.
Tools Tab
The Tools tab lists diagnostic tools and other advanced tools you can run to improve computer performance. Before opening a tool, read the description next to the name of the tool to better understand the function it provides. To open a tool, select the name of the tool from the list and click Launch.
And that’s Microsoft’s System Configuration Tool, one of the built-in tools in Windows to help diagnose and configure your computer. Read our next blog post to find out more tools to help you configure and diagnose your computer.
Kommentare