Fact or Fiction - Safe Mode

Not that I know of. It just boots up with a limited number of items running, a basic video driver setup and some limited network connectivity (if that option is chosen.)

I suppose one could sort of look at it that it's "fixing" something because often times a PC will boot into Safe mode when it won't run in regular mode. But the "fix" only lasts until you are out of Safe mode. Then it's "broke" again.

Perhaps a rather naive (and technically wrong) way of viewing Safe mode?

 

I don't think this is fiction.
Windows is nothing but a computer program, like any other software
A program can test a number of conditions, if one or more conditions are false, a program can correct a bad situation by restoring correct values of certain parameters in Windows.
This has nothing to do with artificial intelligence or intuition , the programmer did this.

 

I wouldn't be able to prove it, only the programmers of Windows can confirm this.
I can't give any examples either, but I know it is possible.

I can give you another example.
Suppose an AntiVirus scanner has an update and repair program and both run automatically.
The repair program checks if the program folder of the AV has still all its files.
If a file is missing, the repair program downloads the missing file and puts it back in the program folder.
If a file has the wrong file size the repair program could replace it with the original file.
If a file is unknown in the program folder the repair program can delete it.
If a registry doesn't have the right contents or is missing, it can be repaired by the program too.
Anything is possible.

 

I've also noticed that Safe Mode somehow does "something" positive. Quite a few times i've seen computers that refuse to boot for various reasons, including my own. After starting up in Safe Mode, and without changing anything, i have then been able to successfully re start normally. I never found out how it did it, but the fact that it works was good enough for us, and has saved many a day.

So something definately happens that makes a big difference when booting up in Safe Mode.


StevieO

 

I find this interesting. Like to know more.

 

I find that interesting too, but they don't do it much in practice.
Any software should have such a program that checks the integrity of its own registries and programs and repair itself, if it finds something abnormal.

 

I don't think that safe mode results in fixes by itself.
What it does is booting with a minimum set of drivers and it doesn't load autostart applications.
In that way it prefends problems that are the result of malfunctioning drivers/applications and in safe mode you are able to fix these problems by uninstalling them.

If you restart in normal mode without any changes, there won't be any magical repair done.

I bet you can create a test script and see what happens.

 

Great article, thanks.

 

Just rebooting into windows allows windows to do a bit of house cleaning and lets it put things back into place. That is why a computer that hasn't been restarted in quite a while runs better after a reboot.

 

It works even better if you throw some salt over your left shoulder.

Seriously though -- When I was running WinME, I had a few experiences where going into Safe Mode had cathartic effects. I also had several experiences where the mere act of doing 2 or 3 re-starts solved the problem.

 

Once, a cold reboot solved my problems early in the morinng, after numerous warm reboots at night without results.
Using salt seems to be a good idea.