Is Windows Lite Safe

[Trudi Miranda]

Im trying to boot into windows safe mode so that I can run the DDU utility and install the Bootcamp adrenalin drivers (for gaming). When I boot and select the windows partition, I hold 'shift' which brings up the boot options, I select 4 (safe mode), and the login screen flickers, then a black screen, and no response.

I rebooted to a black screen using a 5K monitor over USB-C / Thunderbolt. So, I hooked up a 4K screen over HDMI which did the trick. Windows doesn't play nice with 5K screens over USB-C / Thunderbolt.

In the near future my company is being forced to switch from SonicWall Netexender VPN to the Windows built in VPN as our firewall is being replaced. Is the VPN built into Windows Safe, how secure it is if a feature built into Windows?

To answer your direct question, the Windows VPN is only as secure as you make it. There are many factors that contribute to how secure something will be. Here is a guide to setup: -vpn-windows-server-2012-r2/

We are not doing anything with a server, just a new firewall, the change will be on the client side, currently the user (client) connects using the Netexender VPN client software. The new way will use the Windows VPN that is built into the OS of the users computer, no software needed.

As others have said, its a VPN client that uses VPN standards, so you can create an IP-Sec tunnel using the built in client, and it would be just as secure as another client-based VPN creating IPSec tunnels

An alternative is not to let people VPN in and run an RD Gateway with terminal servers behind as either full desktop or Remote App sessions. Also works well largely. But does require more infrastructure and CAL costs.

I have a Windows server that will sometimes reboot into safe mode after updates. I'm working on that issue but what I'd really like to know is how can I check to see if Windows is running in safe mode or not.

According to this article, an environment variable called SAFEBOOT_OPTION is set to either Minimal or Network if the system is started in Safe Mode or in Safe Mode with Networking; otherwise, the variable is unset.

A test on the variable's value should do the trick; however, keep in mind that if the system is actually running in Safe Mode, it'll have no networking to begin with, so reporting its status could be... difficult.

A more useful way to determine if you're in safe mode of not is from: Microsoft Windows Internals: Microsoft Windows ServerTM 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000 by Mark E. Russinovich, David A. Solomon.

The Windows kernel scans boot parameters in search of the safe-mode switches early during the boot and sets the internal variable InitSafeBootMode to a value that reflects the switches the kernel finds. The kernel writes the InitSafeBootMode value to the registry value HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\SafeBoot\Option\Option Value so that user-mode components, such as the SCM, can determine what boot mode the system is in.

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SystemStartOptions contains a string and if you are in safe mode there will be a "SAFEBOOT:???" within the string where ??? is MINIMAL or NETWORK. This gets updated on each boot.

And by extremely slow I mean startup time of the order of 5-10 minute. And all the applications make me wait. Sometimes an application does not even start properly. Basically it's unusable for any realistic work. Funny thing is that cpu usage in the task manager is constantly

You may then reenter msconfig and selectively check items you want to boot under the Services tab and under the startup tab. This will allow you to determine the program causing it, you may then uninstall it.

In fact, it was caused by Windows Driver Profiler Start Menu > Search > verifier.exe. Indeed, I activated it a few days ago because of several BSOD caused by failing drivers, and forgot to disable it. Once I disabled it ("delete previous config" option), everything was restored back to normal.

You should be able to run the uninstall from safemode. How ever this may not resolve the problem. I would recommend running to do a full scan of your system and remove any other programs that may be running in the background. You may also run msconfig from the run command box, then look at the startup tab, remove any programs that you are sure you donw need. Windows safe mode only runs with the minimum programs needed to start windows which makes it super quick.

Create a safe space for your kids to explore online. Use the app's content filters to set healthy boundaries, block inappropriate apps and games, and limit browsing to kid-friendly websites using Microsoft Edge on Xbox, Windows, and Android.

Screen time limits work on Windows (Windows 10 and Windows 11), Xbox (Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S), and Android apps and games. They can be managed using the Microsoft Family Safety app on Android and iOS.

Turn web and search filters on to filter out sites and search results that are too mature when using Microsoft Edge on Windows (Windows 10 and Windows 11), Xbox (Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S), and Android devices. Other commonly used browsers will be blocked for this to work.

Restart. After your PC restarts to the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart.After your PC restarts, you'll see a list of options. Select 4 or F4to start your PC in Safe Mode. Or if you'll need to use the Internet,select 5 or F5 for Safe Mode with Networking.

I had a similar problem where I needed to boot into safe mode or access other Windows recovery options, but couldn't because my Mac had the touch bar and for some reason my trackpad and keyboard would not work when booting into Windows, at all. After learning that Windows should automatically boot into recovery mode if there have been 4-5 hard reboots (assuming Bootcamp is your main startup disk), I tried hard resetting (holding the power button down until it shuts down, then pushing the power button to turn it on) several times.

On top of that, considering my trackpad and keyboard would not work when booting into Windows, I instead hard rebooted while holding down the Option button, which brought up the Mac and Bootcamp (Windows) partitions, where my trackpad and keyboard worked. Then, I held down the shift button while I clicked on the Bootcamp (Windows) partition "arrow" button. That booted Windows into recovery mode, which gave me the options I needed and I was able to fix what I needed to.

I just finished going through this, and fixed it. It was a pain because you can't run the tool on a Mac, so you must run the tool on a spare PC. I was on vacation, and didn't have one until I got home. My Windows 10 boot up was stuck at the blue logo.

My question is basically in the title - We all know about the telemetry bullcrap that windows 10 comes with and about NSA spying on everyone. Considering all that stuff, is it (from a privacy perspective) safe to use a VM to use linux? Will windows be able to collect data from my VM or is it the same as basically having linux as the host OS?

This may seem very paranoid to you but I feel like this is something I have to ask to be sure. I cant just delete my Windows installation and go full-blown Linux because there is software I need to use on Windows. I also cant (better said: dont want to) use only Windows because I dont want to be spied on. So I thought I'd go the middle way.

A more detailed explanation: A few things pop to my mind that you would want to protect from Windows/microsoft in terms of privacy. There are also other dangers to privacy such as proprietary software, spyware etc. running on your system. But since you asked specifically about Windows/Microsoft, I will not address that.

Solution: You could of course encrypt your ubuntu home directory or the entire "drive" during installation. That should prevent any software running on the host system to read data inside your VM. However, since the decryption key is theoretically also accessible by the host system, it would be possible to decrypt the data with full control of the host system and thus the decryption key. I would argue, that with encryption you can hide from automatic generation of statistics about your usage and your files, but a targeted attack against you/your computer by someone in control of the host operating system would render all encryption useless.

Problem: You are most likely using Ubuntu to browse the web, access file servers, read your emails and so on. Some of these connections will be encrypted, some will not. Those that are not encrypted pass as plain-text through the VM host system (Windows 10). Theoretically, if there was software installed in your Windows 10 that monitors/sniffs network traffic, it would be able to at least read some of your web traffic. Moreover, encryption would not prevent the software to determine that you are communicating with someone and who that someone is. Encryption alone only hides the content.

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