Send your tips to [email protected] 5 - 18 February 2020^65
Web User Masterclass
TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
More advanced tips for when you’re feeling bravegives you more time to select the
options you want.
Open the Control Panel, then click
Power Options and select ‘Choose what
the power buttons do’ on the left. In the
‘Shutdown settings’ section, untick ‘Turn
on fast start-up’. The next time you
power on your PC, it will pause for a
couple of seconds before booting to
give you time to press keys for boot
options, BIOS setup and so on.
If Windows is failing to boot and it’s
set to fast start-up, it can be difficult to
access your boot options. If you have a
troublesome PC or frequently use boot
options, you may want to clear the fast
start-up option permanently.
If you can’t change fast start-up, click
the link ‘Change settings that are
currently unavailable’ at the top.
Choose what loads with
Windows
There are several ways to start Windows
and you can choose what’s loaded as it
boots. Most of the time, you’ll want
everything to load, but if you’re having
problems – whether it’s with Windows,
hardware or your PC’s security – a
minimal boot can sometimes help solve
the problem.
Press Windows+R and enter
msconfig. Select the General tab to see
three startup options, one of which has
three sub-items. ‘Normal startup’ is the
one to use when the PC is running fine,
but you can also use ‘Selective startup’
with the first two sub-items ticked.
If you’re trying to solve a problem with
your PC, such as removing malware or
fixing an attached device, use ‘Selective
startup’ with all the sub-items cleared to
prevent troublesome programs, services
and drivers from loading. ‘Diagnostic
startup’ is a more extreme version.
After solving whatever problem you
are having – or if the settings do not
help – return the startup settings to their
original state.
it saves the current Windows state,
programs, services and windows to
the hard drive, then turns the power
off. When it next restarts, it continues
exactly where it left off. This is a very
fast boot that restores all your open
programs and windows.
It’s a bit tedious having to open a
Command Prompt window and type
the shutdown command and
parameters, so it’s worth creating
desktop shortcuts for those you want
to run regularly.
Right-click the desktop and select
New, then Shortcut. When it asks you
to type the location of the item, enter
the shutdown command you want,
such as shutdown /h. Click Next and
type a name for the shortcut, such as
Hibernate, then click Finish. Now
you can double-click the Hibernate
shortcut on the desktop to shut down.
The next time you boot up, you’ll
continue exactly where you left off.Automatically reboot and
refresh
Restarting a computer always
performs a clean boot, which is why
we are often told to restart a PC and
not switch it off and on again, which
would only force a fast or hybrid boot.
A restart is like a refresh, so if you
never switch off your computer, you
might want to schedule a restart to
clean boot and refresh the system
every now and then.
Click Start, type schedule and
open Task Scheduler. Click Action,
then ‘Create basic task’. Enter a name
for the task, such as Restart My PC,
and click Next. Select Daily for the
trigger and click Next. You can then
choose the first date and time it
should occur, such as 5am tomorrow
morning. Click Next, select ‘Start a
program’ and click Next. Enter
shutdown.exe for the program and
/r for the arguments. Click Finish.Choose advanced boot
options
Safe Mode is a diagnostic and repair
mode for Windows. It boots to the
desktop with the minimum of drivers,
services and programs, which makes
solving certain problems easier. To
boot in Safe Mode, open the Windows
10 Settings app and go to ‘Update &
Security’, then Recovery. Click the
‘Restart now’ button under ‘Advanced
startup’; or click Start, Power, then
hold down Shift and click Restart.
The PC shuts down and reboots
but, instead of the normal boot
process, a menu appears with options
to boot from another device or to
troubleshoot. Select Troubleshoot
with the cursor keys and press Enter.
Select ‘Advanced options’ on the
next screen, then ‘Start-up settings’
on the one after that. Select Restart
(it’s the only option) to reboot the PC
to a new menu showing nine different
boot options. Safe Mode, either on its
own or with networking (for internet
access), is the most useful. Press the
number key that represents the
startup option you want.Shut down or hibernate
The shutdown command is available
at the command prompt. As
mentioned previously, the way in
which Windows is shut down affects
how it boots next time. Press
Windows+R, type cmd and press
Enter to open a Command Prompt
window. Type shutdown and scroll
back up to look at the options- shutdown /s shuts down the PC
normally; shutdown /s /hybrid
prepares the PC for a fast restart and
shutdown /h puts it into hibernation.
When a computer hibernates,
Enable fast start-up for speedy booting or
disable it to access the startup options
Shift+Restart in the Start menu brings
up the advanced startup optionsReboot your PC on a schedule to
regularly clear out your system