Final answer:
Jerry should use the Last Known Good Configuration to recover from a situation where a recent system change—like a driver update or registry change—prevents Windows from starting properly. It takes the computer back to the settings from the last successful login, which can effectively repair the registry and revert problematic changes without affecting personal files.
Step-by-step explanation:
Jerry should use the Last Known Good Configuration option when he needs to recover from an incorrect driver, a bad system update, or a registry issue that prevents Windows from starting properly. This option allows the computer to start with the configuration that was last known to work correctly. Whenever a user installs a new program, driver, or update and then experiences problems starting the computer, utilizing the Last Known Good Configuration can be an effective troubleshooting step. It does not affect personal files and folders, but it could repair the registry and revert the settings and drivers to the state they were in at the last successful login.
To clarify Jerry's options:
a. Roll back a device driver - While Last Known Good Configuration can revert driver changes, it is not specifically a roll back feature. For a driver-specific rollback, Device Manager would be used.
b. Repair the registry - This is indeed one of the purposes for using Last Known Good Configuration; if the registry was changed during the last startup attempt and is now causing issues, this option can revert those registry settings.
c. Roll back a bad Windows update - Last Known Good Configuration is not designed to roll back updates. The proper feature for this would be Windows System Restore or recovery options.
d. Recover from a bad software installation - If the software installation made system changes that prevent Windows from starting, then Last Known Good Configuration could help.