How safe is Safe Mode?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tom Duke
  • Start date Start date
T

Tom Duke

Hi group,

How safe is Safe Mode?
What actually does it mean, can it be described in straight
forward language?

I am quite familiar with this type of OS´s, have used Win 95
since its beta days and all the 98s, NT, W2k as well as XP
and have from time to time either been thrown into Safe Mode
after a crash, or deliberately booted into Safe Mode when
needed. But I am not sure of the details of it.

The problem right now is a friends computer that may be
infected with a nasty virus. Something has thrown up a
warning message threatening to wipe the hard drive. The girl
switched it off and called her wizard brother. He says not
to touch the machine until he comes to town in some three
weeks.
I am thinking to boot into Safe Mode and run a virus scan
from there. I would really like to think that nothing
harmful can be triggered on the computer while in Safe Mode
but I am not sure of it.

From a virus point of view, is there a big difference
between Safe Mode and Safe Mode with Command Prompt?

W2k SP3, NTFS, F-secure.


Lars
Stockholm
 
What anti-virus program do you have? You may be able to boot from the
install CD and run a virus scan from there.
 
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