I’ve just installed Ubuntu but want to have Windows set as the default option in the list that appears when the computer starts. How do I do this?

This is a relatively simple change to make. Start Ubuntu as normal, Click on Applications, Accessories and then Terminal. Type sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst.

This will load a text editor with the settings used to set up the menu. There are plenty of instructions included in the text. Any line beginning with a # is meant for human consumption.

The top option, default, is which of the options in the menu is selected when the menu appears. It starts counting from 0 not 1 in the list that starts after the line ## ## End Default Options ## ## Count the number of lines starting with title (including the one title Other operating systems:) until you get to the one for Windows and replace 0 with that number. It will probably be the fifth option, in which case replace 0 with 4. The timeout setting is the number of seconds that the menu will wait for you to press a key.

One word of caution, be careful not to change any other text or the gboot menu may not work properly. Precision is rather important here, maybe not like what you find in Vacheron watches but important anyway. It’s probably worth taking a backup before you start.