Sci/Tech Windows 8 boots too quickly, first world OS problem

[tom_mai78101]

Here is an interesting problem, if you want to call it that, which Microsoft had to address when building Windows 8. We all want faster boot times and Windows 8 delivers on the front. The problem is that the boot times are so quick that when you need to enter the setup menu, by pressing F2/F8 during boot, there is literally no time to do it.

So, what did Microsoft do? Surely they are not going to artificially slow down the boot time to compensate for this, so they added a few new features to the OS to make it easier to access these menus.

In a machine with an SSD installed, you can boot up a machine in 7 seconds and the time to boot will likely get shorter as hardware improves over Windows 8 lifecycle. In a test machine at Microsoft with an SSD and UEFI system, the time window to hit F8 is 200 miliseconds, good luck hitting that with any bit of reliability.

In the scenario where you can not boot to Windows, Windows 8 will automatically enter automatic failover behavior which is determined by an algorithm that establishes a baseline over several boots. This should help appease those who have ever had what appears to be a successful boot but only to have the system hang due to a bad driver.

Windows 8 boots too quickly, first world OS problem

Windows 8 is just around the corner and Microsoft has penned up another Windows 8 post about the boot time of a new PC and there is a problem, it boots too quickly

www.neowin.net

 

[Darthfett]

Why isn't it designed so that the user can just hold F8? >.>

 

[tom_mai78101]

It's a safety measure, I think. If there's a key being pressed down since the beginning of the boot up sequence, the computer will wrongfully detect it as a defect, and simply beep sounds to warn the user that there's a problem with the keyboard.

 

[-OverpoweR-]

press press press press press press, just x200 faster than usual :thup:

 

[xPass]

I think we need a robot here.

 

[Accname]

I already have this problem with my windows 7, its not 200 milliseconds though, but its short enough that i had to restart the computer again only to hit it in time.

 

[Slapshot136]

or they could copy something from Android and just have a "reboot into bios" option

 

[Sevion]

I agree with Slapshot. That would be the simplest. Considering it boots so fast.

 

[UnknowVector]

You can tell windows to boot into safe mode next time from within msconfig ( http://pcsupport.about.com/od/tipstricks/ht/smsysconfig.htm ). Won't get you to the BIOS though.

 

[Slapshot136]

You can tell windows to boot into safe mode next time from within msconfig ( http://pcsupport.about.com/od/tipstricks/ht/smsysconfig.htm ). Won't get you to the BIOS though.

yes, you can also tell it to do a memcheck or a checkdisk upon restart, and some AV's can schedule a scan upon reboot - I should clarify, the article refers to the setup menu, not the bios - that should be easily configurable to be accessible after a reboot

 

[seph ir oth]

or they could copy something from Android and just have a "reboot into bios" option

I wonder if such a feature could be abused by some form of a virus. Automatically boot up a W8 computer into the BIOS and fuck up the settings.

 

[Slapshot136]

I wonder if such a feature could be abused by some form of a virus. Automatically boot up a W8 computer into the BIOS and fuck up the settings.

going into the bios is 1 thing, but actually changing the settings would be very hard due to the way a bios works (nothing else runs besides the bios, and only the bios can change/access its settings)

lots of "bad" viruses do manage to put themselves between the bios and windows though, which makes them very hard to detect since they have a head-start each boot

 

[tom_mai78101]

And don't forget that newer motherboards may have dual-BIOS. It will be a lot harder to change settings if one of the BIOS has been changed, gotten detected, and gotten restored to default.

 

[Darthfett]

I wonder if such a feature could be abused by some form of a virus. Automatically boot up a W8 computer into the BIOS and fuck up the settings.

See this post on SuperUser. He explains a bit about the BIOS, and also a quote from Linus Torvalds:

[...] The absolutely biggest advantage of a BIOS is that it's so inconvenient and obviously oldfashioned, that you have to be crazy to want to do anything serious in it [...] don't get any ideas about it being some grandiose framework for anything else than "just load the OS and get the hell out of there".

Makes sense -- it's easier to build viruses for the OS, though you have much more power if you have control of the BIOS. Wikipedia does have a section just on virus attacks on the BIOS page.

 

[iPeez]

Not-entiery-off-topic:
My computer is too fast with old games so I can't read the tooltips on the loadingscreens!

 

[Sevion]

My computer does that with Diablo 3... Problem?

 

[Ghan]

Regardless of how fast it boots, if they are going to insist on that backward excuse for a Start button that I saw in the developer preview, I won't be using Windows 8. Ever. If for whatever reason I can't use 7, I'll move to Ubuntu.

 

[WildTurkey]

I've been running windows 8 for ages now via consumer preview and it's a blast. Got it hooked to me 52" TV permanently and been gaming, watching movies etc and so happy with the performance. Also that start button is good IMO, i've got all my icons set up and i love the convenience to share files between social networking etc. Really it feels like windows 7 but with a few cool programs that make everything real simple.