


Press the “4” key when you see the Startup Settings screen.Īfter starting Windows in Safe Mode, you can perform most of the regular system maintenance and troubleshooting tasks to fix your computer: Click Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Startup Settings > Restart. Windows 10: Hold Shift while clicking Restart on the “Power Options” submenu of the Start Menu.Windows 8: Hold Shift while clicking Restart on the Power menu on either the login screen or through the Charms bar menu to begin the process.Windows 7 and earlier: Press the F8 key while the computer is booting (after the initial BIOS screen, but before the Windows loading screen), and then select Safe Mode in the menu that appears.However, you can also boot into Safe Mode manually: Your Windows PC should automatically start up in Safe Mode if it crashes more than once while trying to start normally. RELATED: How to Boot Into Safe Mode on Windows 10 or 8 (The Easy Way) If there’s a problem with your computer and you can’t seem to fix it-or if your computer is unstable and keeps crashing or blue-screening-you should drop into Safe Mode to fix it. RELATED: Everything You Need To Know About the Blue Screen of Death Sometimes, you can start Windows in Safe Mode when you can’t start Windows normally, making it a good place to start troubleshooting potential problems. If your computer is infected with malware or has unstable hardware drivers that cause blue screens, Safe Mode can help you fix it because those things aren’t loaded the way they are when Windows starts normally. If you start in Safe Mode, Windows uses a very low screen resolution with generic video drivers, doesn’t initialize much hardware support, starts only the necessary services, and avoids loading third-party startup programs. When Windows starts normally, it launches startup programs, fires up all the services configured to start, and loads the hardware drivers you have installed.
