Although most computer users understand that there is a way to access and modify the information displayed in that enigmatic display which flashes for barely a second or two at bootup, they would never dare to venture into its uncharted depths. That BIOS control doesn’t need to be feared, and can actually be used to significantly improve your computer experience as well as quickly ameliorate problems that your local technician would charge a couple of hundred bucks to fix.
The BIOS Settings, also known as the Setup Utility, is configuration software that sets the options held in the PC’s CMOS to instruct all of the computer’s subsystems to play nice together. In order to access this software, you need to press either the F1 or Delete key on most computers. Check the swift-passing BIOS screen and it will likely tell you which key to use at the bottom left.
Once you’re in there, you will see instructions about how to navigate around the screen, usually by using Page Up, Page Down and some of those other “legacy” keys that you’ve often wondered why the heck they exist at all. Now you have access to all sorts of functions. Some can be experimented with to see if you like what they do. Some will screw up your PC bigtime and put a big wad of your hard earned money in the wallet of the local geek squadder. Here is a short guide to the major functions: the ones to play with and the ones to leave alone. If you start messing around with BIOS options you don’t understand please remember that you’ve been warned!
Boot Sequence: This is the order that the computer will use its peripherals to boot itself up. You can save some boot seconds in both XP and Vista by setting your C: drive (where your Operating System resides) as your first choice. This function is very handy if you’d like to temporarily set a USB key or external HD, or even your CD-DVD drive as the source of the boot. This way you could have a dozen keys on your desk, each one loaded with a different flavor of Linux and Windows and boot into whatever OS you felt like at the time. If that’s what turns your crank!
Date & Time: Changes the Date and Time. Whoopee. You can do the same thing by right clicking on the time on your Windows taskbar.
Diskette Drives: Most PCs no longer have floppies so forget this.
Hard Disk Priority: The Primary or Channel 1 Master should be your C: drive with your Operating System. However, for various reasons, you may have different operating systems on different hard drives or partitions. This is where you set the priority of what drives the computer should look at after C:.
Hard Drive Settings: Although you can modify all sorts of functions here, most of them will just scramble the data on your hard drives.
Hardware Monitor: There are various sensors on your motherboard which provide information on operating temperature, voltage supply and other operational data. Keep in mind that BIOS temperature sensors are famously inaccurate, and the only real way to measure if your CPU is overheating is by using an accurate temperature probe while the PC is under load. Either that or by waiting for the big puff of smoke to billow from the case. If you’re really a freak about what temp your processor is running at and want a constant readout on your Windows taskbar, download SpeedFan written by my old friend Alfredo. We I-ties stick together.
Memory Settings: You can change the latency settings here but that is primarily of interest to Overclockers who are on the way to frying their systems anyway, so avoid this.
NumLock Status: What a pain. This is one of those pointless legacy features that made sense in 1973 but not since. Of course you want your numeric keypad to work.
