Introduction

Starting up and shutting down a PC should be easy. Press a button and it turns on; click a few buttons and it turns off. The same holds true for your PC's system properties. There should be nothing complicated about doing things such as setting the system time or giving your computer a name.

But in computing, as in life, things are not always simple. And so things can get difficult and complicated. What if you sometimes want to start up your PC with debugging turned on, for example, or using safe mode, or using an entirely different operating system? What if you want to hunt down and kill programs and services that cause system conflicts? What if you want to change your boot screen or customize your system sounds?

You'll find recipes for doing all that and more in this chapter, so that you can take control of startup, shutdown, and setting your system's properties. For information about troubleshooting startup problems, turn to Chapter 20, Crashes and Errors.