Flow My Thoughts, The IT Professor Said

Don't Get BIOSed Around

http://www.arstechnica.com/guide/building/bios/bios-1.html

Most computers today come with just an explanation of where the off-on switch is, a guide to the switch positions ["Off" if you do not want to use the computer for anything other than an ornament; "On" if you really want to mess things up!] plus a picture showing how it all gets put together. Ah for the days of the little IBM ring-binders full of documentation, most of which made no sense to anyone except the author, his mother, and the occasional goat.

Still, there are lots of settings and issues relating to the BIOS, and for many computer users, this is a forbidding and mysterious territory. But you do not need to abandon all hope, if you are armed with the trusty guide to which the above link leads you.