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Why Should You Install A Windows Boot Manager For Your Computer

By Martin Brinkmann
Sep 22, 2008
Windows already comes with its own boot manager. Then why would you want to consider installing another one?

What if you want to multiboot; which is loading two separate operating systems on your PC like Windows along with Linux? This is where a boot manager comes handy.

After you switch on your PC it performs a power on self test (POST). It goes through the BIOS parameters and then tries to load software known as boot manager. This piece of software allows you to install, use and manage multiple operating systems on a single PC.

A third party boot manager can handle this and provide many more features missing in the Windows boot manager. You can even install multiple separate copies of Windows on different partitions of your hard disk drive or a second one. You can boot to more than a dozen operating. Some boot managers allow you to have over 50 operating systems.

If you have two or more hard disks attached, you can boot from anyone of them without configuring the boot parameters in the BIOS of your PC.

Some advance boot managers support booting from CDROM, USB pen drives, ZIP drives in addition to hard disks. You can even password protect your boot menu or hide partitions that you don't want anyone to see.

Some other benefits include adjustable delay self timer, set default boot partition, naming your partitions.

In addition to making the boot menu highly customizable, they are capable of booting Windows, DOS, Linux, Solaris, BSD, BeOS and others. You can boot another hard disks' main boot records also known as chain loading. A FAT or NTFS partition is not required for their installation.

Boot managers can help you keep a copy of your master boot record and in case it gets corrupted, you can restore it from the backup.

If you try to install a boot manager, please make a backup copy of your master boot record in case things go wrong. If you are not confident in installing one, ask someone who is familiar with partitions and disks for help.

Even if you are not going to install multiple operating systems on your PC, you can consider installing a boot manager for added safety and convenience.

So, with that being said, you should install a Windows boot manager on your computer - to enhance your computer's capabilities and to keep backup files of your computer's hard drive, which would be very beneficial to you if something ever happened to your computer.
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