Today we will talk about a little trick you may desperately need one day, so you might want to print this post and keep it … er, safe, so to speak!

I have mentioned before, because it is very useful for dealing with viruses and spyware, as well as other problems that may plague your computer. Launching Windows in fires up only the bare essential programs to run your PC, so it will look odd.

But it therefore leaves more vulnerable to attack, and is a good place to run your security scans. It is also useful for recovering lost from your user accounts, which you can read about right here.

However, getting into safe mode with can be tricky. You may know that you have to press F8 (or Esc on some computers) on your keyboard as soon as Windows starts loading. If that does not work, you must reboot and try again.

The good news is, there is another way that is more likely to preserve your sanity: using the utility. Click Start, Run, and type “msconfig” into the box (without the quotes). Click OK. Now if you click the Startup tab, you will see the list of programs that start when you turn on your computer.

To get into safe mode, click the BOOT.INI tab. Under Boot Options, click the checkbox next to /SAFEBOOT. Select MINIMAL if you are NOT on a network. Click Apply, OK (or Close) and reboot the computer. The machine will boot into safe mode. Most of your Desktop icons may be gone (temporarily!), so use Start, All Programs to find your stuff.

Run your scans or do whatever it is you need to do. Then go back to msconfig as above, and uncheck the /SAFEBOOT option. Click Apply, Close, and your PC will start up normally next time.

Syd Tash is a noted computer security consultant and author of How to Protect Your Computer Online. He has been keeping Internet surfers safe and secure since the last century. Find out how he does it; protect your own computer with five layers of protection right here: => http://MyPCSecuritySite.com

You may include these Tips in your Web sites and publications, provided they remain unchanged and include the above paragraph, with the author’s name and Web site. You can also get a direct URL to this post. Click the title, then copy the URL in the browser address bar.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!