computer experts

[astromech_kuhns]

i consider myself decent with computers and in the end i usually as i did this time can trouble shoot problems, but i when the bad things happen i have no clue what is happening why or how to prevent it.

but any computer experts out here, what do you know about safe mode?

my computer has had some problems where it reverts to this a couple times and then i restart my computer and it will work just fine.

i often have computer problems i don't know why but they are attracted to me like a fly on honey.

i use my computer a TON and im going to be building my own soon. i use my computer for more then just simple facebook and internet browsing, i have my fan fic, pictures, home work, work for my dad and lots of things that i need to have.

i am considering buying a external hard drive so that i can back everything up onto it in case of problems, but i don't with the amount of problems i have want to pay all the time to fix it. so i would like to learn about computer problems, how to fix them, and how to prevent them.

there are many things i want to know about computers that if you guys/ any computer experts out there could help me learn to use and fix my computer i would love to learn! but one step at a time with the way my computer reverts to safe mode i would like to know more about what it is.

ill explain my general problems and what happens a little later on once i learn a bit about the things that are happening.

Thank you and sorry for the long post!

[xl97]

explain 'revert' to safe mode? like in the middle of working..it just 'goes' to Safe Mode? or doest it shut down..and then re-boot into Safe Mode?

Usually when things like happen..in my opinion its usually hardware or driver related.

Have you taken any Windows updates that updated any drivers? video/sound?

How old is you hard drive?

Have you scanned for any mal-ware?

Malware-bytes is AWESOME.. and free.. although pretty much only good after the fact.. if you want 'real-time' protection.. you'll have to pay..

but I would get it and run a quick scan. (just to be sure)

I 10000% recommend getting an external hard drive..or at the very least.. partitioning you internal HD and treatign it as a storage area only.

that way if you evern have any problems.. you can wipe the C: partition and not have to worry about loosing your files.

Thins I always try to back up before formatting:

Bookmarks/Favorites
Fonts (only needed once really)

Any documents you create like word, excel..etc.. shoudl all be saved to the oter partition/external HD.. so you dont lose them.

Same for tings like iTunes or Limewire...etc make the save directory a folder in the other partition/external HD..

is there some pattern as to when the computer 'goes' into Safe Mode? a specific game? application starting? try to pin point the problem to repeatability.. like you can ALWAYS trigger this error by doing...X, Y, Z...

[pipster79]

my guess is spyware/malware/adware or even virus related. do some scans and also defrag your drive. but again it could be hardware related as well but if you havent done any spyware/malware scans ever 10-1 says you got tons of it on your system without knowing it. it can be worse then a virus. it will attach itself to windows core files, and doesnt want to let go. some can be extremely hard to get rid of.

word of wise is not to click just any link you see. or any add you see on a webpage, any of those adds that say free scanner click here or free online scan and junk like that stay far far away...or the dark side will get you!!!!!

[astromech_kuhns]

i dont go onto advertisements at all and i am carefull about the links i hit. i also have virus scanner and i defrag my computer.

well as far as safe mode goes is sometimes when have to force shutdown my computer for whatever reason, when i start it up it goes into safe mode.

not sure how old my hard drive is though.

i scan for viruses but not malaware, unless avast! gets that to.

[pipster79]

sorry to say but avast is free junk!!!! it barely gets any of the stuff and barely blocks anything. ur going to have to pay for a retail spyware scanner. no scanner is the best but ive found that bullet proof and spyware doctor arent too bad. my self i use kapersky anti virus and spyware, and also do a scan with malware bytes once in a while, as it for a free program actualy works well for some of the really tuff to get spyware and malware

[ARKM]

Astromech, if your boot.ini is setup the default way, when you forcefully shutdown your computer and then turn it back on, it does not boot up into Safe Mode by default. Instead it goes to a boot menu with Safe Mode highlighted and a 30 second timer counts down. If you let it count down and touch nothing, it will boot into Safe Mode. If you press the up or down arrow on your keyboard, it will highlight the option above or below Safe mode and will also stop the timer. Once you have highlighted the option you want, press Enter. So... either your boot.ini has been modified or you always leave your computer when rebooting and thus miss seeing the 30 second countdown. Please let me know if you get the countdown or not. If not, I can help you modify your boot.ini file so that it does. We can even set the timer for longer or shorter if you like.

[astromech_kuhns]

Astromech, if your boot.ini is setup the default way, when you forcefully shutdown your computer and then turn it back on, it does not boot up into Safe Mode by default. Instead it goes to a boot menu with Safe Mode highlighted and a 30 second timer counts down. If you let it count down and touch nothing, it will boot into Safe Mode. If you press the up or down arrow on your keyboard, it will highlight the option above or below Safe mode and will also stop the timer. Once you have highlighted the option you want, press Enter. So... either your boot.ini has been modified or you always leave your computer when rebooting and thus miss seeing the 30 second countdown. Please let me know if you get the countdown or not. If not, I can help you modify your boot.ini file so that it does. We can even set the timer for longer or shorter if you like.

i apreciate your post!

my computer doesn't always start up like that. only when i do a force quit. but yes i know the screen and options you are talking about. but if i just normally boot up my computer it doesn't do that.

what i need to know is what safe mode is and how to use it, i know that it is for fixing problems. but since my computer does this im guessing something happens that needs to be fixed.

no it doesn't boot in safe mode automatically i select that option because i was told that if it starts up and give me that option safe mode is what you need to start up in.

[Sairon]

I remember there is a way to switch off saftey mode with ctrl-alt-delete, but you have to not have windows task manager. Do ctrl-alt delete and a pop up thingy will occur and will say lock this computer blah blah and saftey mode. You just turn it off. This may however not work, I can run a couple tests over my next week for ya if ya want and try to figure out an answer if that doesn't work. Seeing as how I never if had this I'm not totally positive.


And saftey mode is just another background/browser thingy, it makes things harder to do say for kids so they don't screw up ur computer.

[astromech_kuhns]

well, i don't want to disable it because there is nothing wrong with it starting up like this i just want to know what its for and how to use it.

[Sairon]

It's basically just like another firewall, it makes your computer a little slower and the screen gets weirded out most of the time. Thats about all it does.