MacOS: Boot menu - this is how easy it is to open the Mac menu

Even if you don't care much about technology and only use your Mac for classic applications, you should know how to open the boot menu and use it. Because with Apple, many customizations as well as solutions to technical inconveniences work directly through the boot menu.

This is what you should know about the boot menu

Once you know how to open the boot menu and what basic changes you can make, you will have the opportunity to fix many problems yourself.

1. To open the menu, right after you press the start button of your Mac, you need to hold down the ALT key. You will now see not the start screen, but the boot menu.
2. You can see there which hard drives are present and which bootable media there are.
3. It can happen, especially by adware or malware, that a lot of data garbage accumulates on your Mac. Then you can specify via the boot menu that you want a repair of the hard drive. To remove all files.
4. If you have problems with the startup in general, you should reset the NVRAM or the PRAM. To do this, open the boot menu, and then press the combination of "Option" + "Command" + "P" + "R".
5. If you want to know what a problem may be due to, then press "D" in the boot menu. This will start the Apple Hardware Test. This program will give you an indication of what your Mac is having problems with.

Assess your skills properly

If you don't like to deal with technology, you should only solve those problems that you can do no harm in fixing. If you don't get anywhere with the traditional approaches in the boot menu, visit the nearest Apple Store or a Geniusbar and get help there.