Add "Safe Mode" To Your Regular Boot Menu

1. Open the System Properties dialog box. You can do this from Control Panel (click System).
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. Click the Settings button under Startup and Recovery.
4. Click the Edit button under System Startup. This opens the boot.ini file in Notepad.
5. One line should end with "/fastdetect" (NOT "/fastdetect /sos"). Copy that line.
6. Paste the line you just copied below the original line. Change "WINDOWS=Microsoft XP Professional" to "WINDOWS=Safe Mode" and add the following text to the end of the line: /safeboot:minimal /sos /bootlog
7. Save the file and click OK to exit the dialog boxes.
   

Note: If you named the Windows XP installation folder something other than WINDOWS when you installed XP, that name will appear instead of WINDOWS in step 6.