Windows' Safe Manner is an essential tool. On computers infected with malware or crashing because of buggy drivers, Safe Mode may exist the but style to start the figurer.

Safe Mode starts your PC with a minimal set up of drivers and services. No third-political party software or drivers become loaded, and even the built-in Windows stuff is limited to just what's necessary. Safe Mode is a bully manner to remove trouble-causing software—similar malware—without that software getting in the way. It also provides an environs where you may observe it easier to roll back drivers, and use sure troubleshooting tools.

When Rubber Mode Can Help

When Windows starts commonly, it launches startup programs, fires up all the services configured to start, and loads the hardware drivers yous have installed. If y'all kickoff in Rubber Mode, Windows uses a very low screen resolution with generic video drivers, doesn't initialize much hardware support, starts but the necessary services, and avoids loading third-party startup programs.

Sometimes, you lot tin start Windows in Safe Way when you tin can't start Windows unremarkably, making it a skilful place to showtime troubleshooting potential problems. If your figurer is infected with malware or has unstable hardware drivers that cause blue screens, Safe Mode can aid y'all gear up it because those things aren't loaded the mode they are when Windows starts ordinarily.

RELATED: Everything You Need To Know About the Blue Screen of Decease

If in that location'due south a trouble with your computer and you lot tin can't seem to fix it—or if your computer is unstable and keeps crashing or blueish-screening—you should driblet into Safe Mode to fix it.

How to Commencement Windows In Safe Mode

RELATED: How to Kick Into Safety Mode on Windows 10 or 8 (The Easy Way)

Your Windows PC should automatically start up in Safety Mode if information technology crashes more than than once while trying to start normally. However, yous can also boot into Condom Mode manually:

  • Windows vii 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 bill of fare that appears.
  • Windows 8: Concur Shift while clicking Restart on the Power bill of fare on either the login screen or through the Charms bar bill of fare to begin the procedure.
  • Windows ten: Hold Shift while clicking Restart on the "Power Options" submenu of the Start Carte du jour. Click Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Startup Settings > Restart. Press the "4" cardinal when yous see the Startup Settings screen.

How to Prepare Your PC in Rubber Way

Afterward starting Windows in Condom Mode, you lot can perform most of the regular organization maintenance and troubleshooting tasks to fix your estimator:

  • Scan for Malware: Use your antivirus awarding to scan for malware and remove it in Safe Fashion. Malware that may be impossible to remove in normal mode—considering it's running in the background and interfering with the antivirus—may exist removable in Rubber Fashion. If you don't accept an antivirus installed, you should be able to download and install one in Safe Mode. Of course, if you're using Windows Defender in Windows 10, you might be better off performing an offline malware scan.
  • Run Organisation Restore: If your computer was recently working fine but it's now unstable, y'all tin can use System Restore to restore its organization state to the earlier, known-practiced configuration. Assuming your computer is unstable and crashing, it may exist possible to run Organisation Restore without crashing from Safe Mode.
  • Uninstall Recently Installed Software: If you recently installed software (such as a hardware driver or a programme that includes a driver) and it'due south causing your figurer to blue-screen, yous can uninstall that software from the Control Panel. Your computer should hopefully start normally after you've uninstalled the interfering software.
  • Update Hardware Drivers: Assuming your hardware drivers are causing system instability, yous may want to download and install updated drivers from your manufacturer's website and install them in Condom Style. If your computer is unstable, yous'll have to practise this from Condom Fashion—the hardware drivers won't interfere and make your reckoner unstable in Safe Mode.
  • See Whether a Crash Occurs: If your figurer is unstable ordinarily simply works fine in Condom Mode, it's likely that there's a software problem causing your computer to crash. However, if the figurer continues to crash in Prophylactic Mode, this is ofttimes a sign that at that place's a hardware trouble with your computer. (Note that stability in Safe Way doesn't necessarily hateful it's a hardware trouble. For example, your graphics card may be faulty and causing crashes under load. However, it may be stable in Rubber Fashion because your computer isn't performing demanding operations with it.)

Beyond Rubber Way: Reinstalling Windows

If you are having estimator problems, it's often not a practiced use of your time to spend hours isolating and fixing them. It may be much faster to reinstall Windows and start over with a fresh system.

  • Windows 7 and earlier: Bank check out our guide to reinstalling Windows from a Windows disc or your estimator'southward recovery partition.
  • Windows 8 or Windows 10: Employ the Refresh or Reset your PC characteristic to restore Windows back to a clean state.

Of course, reinstalling Windows will crusade you to lose your personal files, so be sure you have a backup. On Windows viii or ten, Refreshing your PC will preserve your personal files while replacing the arrangement software.

RELATED: Beginner Geek: How to Reinstall Windows on Your Estimator

If your estimator continues to be unstable subsequently a full Windows reinstall, your estimator's hardware may be faulty. A consummate Windows reinstall rules out any software issues, unless at that place's a faulty hardware driver that needs to exist updated.

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