Safe Mode - technical definition

The troubleshooting mode in Windows 95/98/2000/XP. It allows the system to boot when it otherwise may not, often due to conflicts from newly installed hardware. Only the mouse, keyboard and standard VGA drivers are loaded, and all configuration files are bypassed, including the Registry, CONFIG.SYS, AUTOEXEC.BAT and SYSTEM.INI. Windows may automatically boot up in this mode if the previous session was not shut down properly. See Win Safe Mode.