Wednesday, July 25, 2007

What is msconfig

MSConfig, or System Configuration Utility, is a boot configuration utility bundled with all Microsoft Windows operating systems released after 1995 except Windows 2000. Windows 2000 users can download the utility separately, however. This tool modifies which programs run at startup, edits certain configuration files, and simplifies controls over Windows services. Part of the base Windows install, it can be accessed by running 'msconfig' on any system on which the user has administrator access.

Files that can be edited through MSConfig include AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI on Windows 9x systems, and BOOT.INI on Windows NT systems. The chief benefit to using MSCONFIG to edit these files is that it provides a simplified GUI to indirectly manipulate the sections of those files and the Windows registry tree pertaining to the Windows boot sequence.

The most recent version of MSConfig, released with Windows Vista, features a greatly simplified user interface and increased support for managing services.

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