Windows XP is the most successful and popular operating systems released by Microsoft after the earlier success of Windows 98. Windows XP is more reliable and error free compared to the earlier versions of the windows operating system. Normally, the Windows XP operating system does not crash easily and when the computer experiences an improper shut down due to power failure or due to the user mistake or due to various other reasons, then the boot menu shows up while rebooting the computer. This menu asks the user whether to start the windows normally or using the safe mode option. Usually this occurs when the computer operating system is continuously switched or turned off improperly. In some cases, the operating system gets rebooted in the safe mode without the intimation of the user indicating a big problem in the operating system and when the Windows XP gets booted in the safe mode, the users will be restricted in using certain features of the operating system and only the essential and the most basic programs will run in the safe mode such that no further damage is done to the operating system. When the computer still persists and continues to shut down improperly then the operating system Windows XP crashes with the final blue screen of death message and after this blue screen appears, there is no other way than re installing the entire Windows XP which will take around 40 minutes and the essential software's like Microsoft office, photo shop etc must be installed in addition to the Windows XP which will consume even more time.

When the user prefers to go to the safe mode or tries to understand how to boot the Windows XP in safe mode manually, then the user has to press F8 key when the Windows XP operating system gets rebooted. On pressing this key, the boot menu appears and from this menu, the user has the choice to enter in to the safe mode according to their preferences. This is the normally preferred method that can be done manually to boot the Windows XP in safe mode. Usually Windows XP boots in the safe mode with minimum device drivers and with a low performance to diagnose the problems that exist in the operating system. Windows XP is designed in such a way that most of the errors can be diagnosed by itself without crashing and safe mode is one of the diagnosing ways of Windows XP.