MSConfig � What Would I Do Without You! MSConfig – What Would I Do Without You!

Being a web developer typically means you�ve probably been around computers your whole life.� This means that you�ve troubleshooted them, broke them, fixed them, fixed them for others, etc�� As time has gone by and I�ve dedicated myself to the art and craft of development, I�ve slowly drifted away from supporting computers.

However, I recently upgraded my work laptop from Windows 7 to Windows 8 � what a frustrating experience this was!� But not the purpose of this article, just part of the train tracks of a good story!


While attempting to upgrade my Dell, I was having no luck.� I kept getting an error after attempting to restart the computer with Windows 8 that the install was unsuccessful and my computer was reverted back to Windows 7.

As I was troubleshooting this issue, the main points for trial and error were around this tool MSConfig.� Honestly, I�ve never heard of it because I simply haven�t had any computer issues in a long time.� The forum I was reading indicated using this tool to disable start up services because apparently encryption or anti-virus software can somehow prevent the Windows 8 upgrade from happening.

The suggestion was two-fold.� Firstly you need to launch the tool by pressing Windows Key + R and typing �msconfig� in the run dialog.

Step 1:

Select the �Selective startup� radio button

Step 2:

Select the Services tab, click the �Hide all Microsoft services� checkbox and then click �Disable all�

After you complete these steps, a reboot will be required.� I�m sure you�ll notice that the restart is really quick since every non Microsoft service is now disabled.

Unfortunately this did not help me upgrading to Windows 8�

The long-and-short of that story is my Dell had some raid accelerator software installed that had to be disabled during the upgrade�that�s the nice and simple after math, but man was it frustrating before I was able to figure that out!

Skip a head 4 or 5 days now and my wife tells me this morning that her laptop is acting all weird.� Quick peak and diagnosis and she clearly has a virus�

MSConfig to the rescue!� Using my newly found knowledge of being able to quickly and easily disable all services � and if you notice beside the Services tab there is a Startup tab and this tab allows you to easily disable any applications that run during startup.� And of course, I�m sure you guessed it, right in that list was the virus itself.

So I quickly disabled, rebooted the laptop and voila the virus is disabled.

Was this was done; I simply restored her laptop from the most recent system restore point prior to the virus.� Everything is back to normal and I can stop being a desktop support person again!

Published on Feb 11, 2013

Tags: Theory | msconfig

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