Wednesday, May 01, 2002

I don't always get along with the GUI. Sure, it's all pointy and clicky, but sometimes I need the full skinny. When Windows shows its splash screen as it boots, there's stuff going on in the background. But what? Only the shadow knows - and now, thanks to the miracle of modern medicine, you can see what's going on under the hood, too! Windows 9x users know that they can disable the startup "logo" through TweakUI (or any other god-given Windows customization utility). But what about those of us "stuck" running 2000 / XP? We'll need to edit the BOOT.INI file (as opposed to the legacy MSDOS.SYS file). MSCONFIG has a special tab for it, but if need be, you could use Notepad. Be careful, though. One wrong move and there could be hell to pay. Add the /SOS switch (complete with forward slash) to the end of the initialization string. Reboot. Ah, so that's what it's been doing and loading all this time! To get back to the boring old boot up, just remove that switch and you'll be gold. Or black, if you use Windows XP. Power users will appreciate this tip more than anybody else on the planet. 5:00:22 PM    trackback []     Articulate []