C
Crazy Horse
I'm new to XP and am currently using Home Edition (SP1a) on a DELL
laptop, having upgraded from an antique (circa 1995, Win'95) desktop
computer. Prior to installing XP-Home, I made numerous unsuccessful
attempts at a "clean" install of Windows 2000 Professional before
finally giving up in favor of installing XP-Home. During my brief
experience with 2k-Pro, one thing I *did* like (and expected to find in
XP) was the option to press F8 during the start-up process, which then
gave me a number of useful start-up options (e.g., Last Known Good, SAFE
Mode, etc.). However, I do not seem to get the opportunity to engage
this set of options when I boot up XP-Home.
Is my XP-Home system working as designed? Or is my current confuration
somehow missing the proper settings that would allow these F8-enabled
options?
BTW- I've already explored *and used* the "System Restore" utility to
regress my system to a previous "restore point"(1), as well as manually
setting a new restore point. And this seems like a pretty good utility.
However, it (at least) seems that one can only take advantage of this
utility once one has already managed to successfully boot the operating
system in the first place. I'm concerned about the potential scenario
in which I wouldn't even be able to get far enough along in a successful
boot-up attempt that would allow me to engage this System Restore
utility.
I'd sure like to get a better handle on this before I get too much
further along with installing my application suite of software, so
whatever guidance you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
_______
-CH
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
1. Actually, I've done this twice now -- both times to regress to a
point prior to unsuccessful Shutdown attempts. So far, I've only had
two such episodes, and the relative infrequency of these has given me a
good feeling about the general reliability and stability of XP.
laptop, having upgraded from an antique (circa 1995, Win'95) desktop
computer. Prior to installing XP-Home, I made numerous unsuccessful
attempts at a "clean" install of Windows 2000 Professional before
finally giving up in favor of installing XP-Home. During my brief
experience with 2k-Pro, one thing I *did* like (and expected to find in
XP) was the option to press F8 during the start-up process, which then
gave me a number of useful start-up options (e.g., Last Known Good, SAFE
Mode, etc.). However, I do not seem to get the opportunity to engage
this set of options when I boot up XP-Home.
Is my XP-Home system working as designed? Or is my current confuration
somehow missing the proper settings that would allow these F8-enabled
options?
BTW- I've already explored *and used* the "System Restore" utility to
regress my system to a previous "restore point"(1), as well as manually
setting a new restore point. And this seems like a pretty good utility.
However, it (at least) seems that one can only take advantage of this
utility once one has already managed to successfully boot the operating
system in the first place. I'm concerned about the potential scenario
in which I wouldn't even be able to get far enough along in a successful
boot-up attempt that would allow me to engage this System Restore
utility.
I'd sure like to get a better handle on this before I get too much
further along with installing my application suite of software, so
whatever guidance you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
_______
-CH
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
1. Actually, I've done this twice now -- both times to regress to a
point prior to unsuccessful Shutdown attempts. So far, I've only had
two such episodes, and the relative infrequency of these has given me a
good feeling about the general reliability and stability of XP.