The two methods were the ones I use on a regular basis. Safe Mode is crucial and a great way to start. To even see if it is your OS causing issues or a third party application. Usually when I get an error that crashes or forces a hard restart on my PC such as a freeze. Launching into safe mode then using that time to tweak some settings I think could be an issue is great. Then relaunch normally and see if that fixed the issue. SFC is another tool I use regularly it helps with a lot of my streaming software and checking to make sure everything is where it needs to be and not corrupted or anything crazy like that.
I really like both of your summaries of each of these. Well done, and God bless!