Situation:
You have various unexplained error messages or lockups and notice any of the following:

-The problem happened during the installation of an application.
-The problem began after you installed an application.
-Even though you may get an error message when booting up, you can still get into the Windows NT screen in either Normal or VGA Mode.

You suspect the problems may be caused by memory conflicts, old drivers, or incompatible software. You have contacted technical support, and they recommend that you try a clean boot as a possible solution to the problem.

Solution:
Summary of steps for a clean boot

These are steps that can be done to make a cleaner system on restart:

Steps	What to do	Where to find it
User profiles	Create new profile with full rights	Start, Programs, Administrative Tools (Common), User Manager
Paging File (swap file Pagefile.sys)	Check Windows NT's recommended sizes and increase both initial and maximum size	Control Panel, System, Performance, Change
Startup folder	Move contents to different folder	C:\WinNT\Profiles\<userID>\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Config.sys and Autoexec.bat	Rename the files	C:\
Video drivers	Select VGA during bootup	Control Panel, Display, Settings, Display Type
Logon rights	Bootup as Administrator	The logon screen during bootup
Network drivers	Disable them	Control Panel, System, Hardware Profiles

Detailed steps for a clean boot

Paging file (swap file Pagefile.sys)
The Windows NT swap file is called a paging file or page file. The file name is Pagefile.sys. Check the following:

• The initial size should be larger than the Recommended size.
• The maximum size should be larger or equal to the initial size.
• The swap file should be located only on drives with plenty of free disk space.

To create a permanent swap file

1. Click Start > Settings > Control Panel.
2. Double-click System, then click on the Performance tab.
3. Click Change for virtual memory.
4. Choose the drive on which you currently have your swap file, usually C drive.
5. Under Paging File Size for Selected Drive enter a value into the Initial Size (MB).
   You will want a value 128 plus the amount of physical memory. As an example if you had 64 MB or RAM, then this value would be 192 MB.
6. Under Maximum Size (MB), put the same value as you did in step 5.
7. Click Set > OK > OK. This will save the value.
8. Restart your system for the changes to take effect.

Remove temporary files
Temporary files are usually files created during another process that are normally removed after that process completes. In some case through abnormal termination or other issues these files get left behind and should be removed.
To remove temporary files

1. Click Start > Find > Files or Folders.
2. Type *.tmp in the "Named" field.
3. In the "Look in" field, click the drop-down arrow and select My Computer.
4. Check Include subfolders.
5. Click Find Now.
6. Click Edit > Select All. This should highlight all the *.tmp files.
7. Click File > Delete. This will remove all the temporary files.
8. Click Yes when prompted to delete the files.
9. Exit the Find Files or Folders dialog box.

Startup folders
Move the contents of the appropriate Startup folders to a different location, and restart.

When you start the computer, Windows NT loads the shortcuts from as many as four Startup folders. One of these shortcuts could be the cause of the problem. Follow these steps to see if a shortcut in a Startup folder affects the problem.
To test the shortcuts

1. Start Windows NT Explorer.
2. Create a new folder called TempStart.
3. Under the TempStart folder, create the following folders: Administrator, All Users, Default User, and MyID.
4. Go to the folder C:\WINNT\Profiles
5. For each of the listed subfolders, go to <subfolder>\Start Menu\Programs\Startup. The subfolders are:
   • Administrator
   • All Users
   • Default User
   • Your User ID
6. For each Startup folder, copy the contents to the corresponding new folder. Copy the contents of the folder that is named for your logon User ID into the MyID folder.
7. Delete the contents of the Startup folders. Make sure you delete only the contents of the original Startup folders that you made copies of. Do not delete the copies.
8. Restart the computer.
9. Retry the problem. If the problem is gone, then it may have been caused by one of the shortcuts you moved. Put the shortcuts back, one at a time, and restart each time. If the problem reappears, it may be caused by the shortcut you just put back.

Ending background services and tasks
Some background services and tasks may be necessary for the your computer to function while others can be ended.

To end background services

1. Click Start > Settings > Control Panel.
2. Double-click Services. The services window appears indicating all services.
   You will need to manually stop many of the services that are marked as started.
3. The Services window is organized into columns labelled Service, Status, and Startup.
4. Focus on the Status column, this indicates what services are started.
5. To stop a service, select an item, and then click Stop. This will stop the service temporarily until it is called by an application, or you restart your computer.
6. The services that you will need to stop can vary. You will want to stop all services that will allow you to stop them, but there are several services that you do not want to stop.
   
   Services you DO NOT want to stop:
   • Event Log
   • Plug and Play
   • Remote Procedure Call
   • Protected Storage

To end background applications using the Task Manager

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+Del, this will launch the Windows NT Security screen.
2. Click Task Manager. This will launch the Task Manager dialog box.
3. Click the Processes tab.
   You will want to End Process on items that are not critical to system operation. Sometimes certain programs won't close entirely, and even though they're no longer on your taskbar, remnants of them can be found in Processes.
4. To end a process, click on the process to highlight it and then click End Process.

Autoexec.bat and Config.sys
Follow these steps to see whether these files affect the problem.
To test Autoexec.ban and Config.sys

1. For a clean boot, rename these files. As in Windows 95, these files can be renamed without affecting Windows NT's ability to boot because they are used only for legacy hardware and software. If you repartitioned and formatted all your drives before installing Windows NT, you may still have these files. They may have been added by your software, or by restoring backups.
2. Restart the computer.

Video drivers
Select VGA mode during startup. This is an easy way of testing whether the system has a video driver problem. If the problem no longer occurs, you may have video drivers that are not compatible with Windows NT. You can continue using Windows NT in VGA Mode until you resolve the video driver problem. However, Norton Protection will not work in VGA mode. To use VGA drivers without booting up in VGA Mode, follow these steps.
To change to VGA mode

1. Open the Windows NT Control Panel.
2. Double-click the Display icon.
3. Select the Settings tab.
4. Change the Display Type to VGA.

Windows NT often detects video driver problems and prompts you to change the settings. If Windows NT stops responding once you restart your computer after a program install, restart your computer again. This time, it may display the message "video driver settings are incorrect" and prompt you to change the settings.

Clean up memory dump files
DMP files are 'memory dump' files used to diagnose a computer. If you have a large amount of memory then these files could take a substantial portion of hard drive space. Removing them will increase available hard drive space.
To clean up memory dump files

1. Click Start > Find > Files or Folders.
2. Type *.dmp in the "Named" field.
3. In the "Look in" field, click the drop-down arrow and select My Computer.
4. Check Include subfolders.
5. Click Find Now.
6. Click Edit > Select All.
7. Click File > Delete. This will remove all the files.
8. Click Yes when prompted to delete the files.
9. Exit the Find Files or Folders dialog box.

Logon rights
Follow these steps to see whether logon rights affect the problem.
To check logon rights

1. Create a new user ID and make it a member of the Administrators group for your own computer (instead of for the Domain).
2. Restart the computer.
3. Logon with the new User ID.
4. Retry the problem. If it is gone, then the source of the problem may be corruption in the logon accounts. You may need to delete your account and recreate it from scratch. For more information, see Microsoft documentation regarding user profiles.

Network drivers
Follow these steps to disable the network drivers by creating a new Hardware Profile.
To disable network drivers

1. Click Start > Settings > Control Panel.
2. Double-click the System icon.
3. Select the Hardware Profiles tab.
4. Create a new hardware profile with no network drivers.
5. Restart the computer. You will have a choice of which hardware profile to logon with. Choose the new profile you just created.

Summary of other places to look for problems
Check these places for possible problems on the system. For further information, check the indicated location, or check the Microsoft Knowledge Base at: http://www.microsoft.com/kb.

What to check	What to check for	Notes
Minimum requirements for application	Make sure all requirements are met.	Check free disk space.
Windows NT version	If have Service Pack 2, make sure the hotfixes are also installed.	Install the hotfixes.
Device drivers	Check for presence of third party drivers, beta drivers, or drivers incompatible with Windows NT.	Found at: Control Panel, Devices.
.ini files	Check for *.386 drivers.	Look in C:\ and C:\WinNT, at the files: Boot.ini, System.ini, Win.ini, Desktop.ini, others.
Hardware compatibility	Check all hardware devices against the Windows NT hardware compatibility list.	List is on Web at http://www.microsoft.com/hwtest.
Environment settings	Check settings to make sure they are reasonable.	Found at: Control Panel, System, Environment. Try adding C:\Progra~1\Norton~1 to the System path.
Event Viewer	Check for red Stop errors, or yellow Notification messages for possible system problems.	Found at: Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, Event Viewer.