One of the tricks Windows 8 will be able to perform is a very fast start-up cycle, where the operating system will boot in a manner of seconds. Now, Microsoft has stepped up to detail how this process will actually work and what has been modified in the past months.

Chris Clark, a program manager of Microsoft's User Experience team, talked about the fact that Windows 8 boots so fast that it became a problem - one that affected interruptions and the overall experience.

As a solution, all the troubleshooting tools - the developer-focused options for Windows startup and other methods of accessing the firmware's BIOS setup - have been brought under one roof, called the boot options menu.

Keystroke interruptions will no longer be needed, with Windows 8 requiring a simple click of an icon to bring up the boot options menu - allowing the user to turn off the computer, resort to troubleshooting tools, switch to another operating system or even use a USB/DVD device for recovery issues.

Microsoft now relies on clicks to activate the panel and whenever a problem is detected and the OS is unable to successfully boot, Windows will automatically pop the options menu to help the user resolve it.

Previous reports have shown that Windows 8 can boot in under 10 seconds on a standard computer, a performance accomplished by redefining the Shut Down process and by modifying the start-up sequence.

Source: Building Windows 8