Abstract: A computer system is adapted to display commercial messages during a user waiting time. Display of the commercial messages is controlled by Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) code during boot-up time and is controlled by a commercial messaging application once the computer system may be under control of the operating system. A non-volatile memory containing the commercial messages may be updated securely through the Internet. Examples of user waiting times include software installation time, screen saver time, download time for a large set of files, virus scanning time, entry time for a lower power mode and wake-up time from the low power mode.