Can I disable system extensions (previously called INITs) under System 7?

Yes. If your system crashes when you first turn it on, or if you are experiencing unexpected behavior with an application or in the Finder itself, you may have one or more system extensions (INITs) that are incompatible with System 7 or with each other.

If you suspect that problems you are experiencing with your system are due to extensions loaded in your System Folder, Extensions folder, or Control Panels folder, you can temporarily disable them by holding down the Shift key as you start your computer.

After you have started your Macintosh while holding down the Shift key, you can remove any extensions that may be causing problems. The next time you restart, all of your extensions will load as usual.

Holding down the Shift key when you start the computer turns off all extensions that may cause other things on your system not to work. You should do this only when you think a newly-added extension is the cause of your problems. Some system extensions are needed to do essential things like share files, access file servers, access CD-ROMs, and so on. However, you can continue to print even with the extensions disabled.