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Introducing Operating Systems

1. 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 7 F Operating Systems Past and Present 7 Vista comes in five versions Windows Vista Home Basic Home Premium Business Enterprise and Ultimate Vista Starter is a sixth version available only to developing nations Also Vista comes in 32 bit versions and 64 bit versions an explanation of the differences between these versions is covered later in the chapter WINDOWS 7 With many frustrations over Windows Vista still not resolved some consumers have dubbed Windows 7 the ultimate Vista fix Windows 7 is the next generation of Microsoft operat ing systems and was due to be released not long after the printing of this book Now that technicians have taken a first look at Windows 7 and have compared it to Vista it appears that Windows 7 will perform better be more compatible with legacy hardware and soft ware and provide a leaner and simpler user interface It is expected that Windows 7 will run on netbooks that currently run only on Windows XP or Linux A netbook is a low end inexpensive laptop with a small 9 or 10 inch screen and no optical drive Netbooks are generally used for Web browsing e mail and word processing by users on the go MAC OS Currently the Mac OS which has its roots in the UNIX OS is availa puters from the Apple Corporation www apple com an duced in 1984 The latest OS is Mac OS X ten which he latest release is called Mac OS X Leopard Figur
2. 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 11 F How Windows 2000 XP Vista Works 11 User interface tools igure 1 he shell is made up of several subsystems that all operate in user mode which means these subsystems have only limited access to system information and can access hardware only through other OS services One of these subsystems the Win32 security subsystem provides logon to the system and other security functions including privileges for file access All applications relate to Windows by way of the Win32 subsystem THE WINDOWS KERNEL The kernel or core of the OS is responsible for interacting with hardware It has more power to communicate with hardware devices than the shell has and operates in kernel mode Therefore applications operating under the OS cannot get to hardware devices without the shell passing those requests to the kernel This module approach that says You do your job and I ll do mine and we won t mess with each other s work provides for a more stable system If you think of an OS as a restaurant the shell is like the hosts and waiters that serve customers and the kernel is like the chefs and kitchen staff Hosts and waiters are responsible for customer interaction but aren t allowed in the kitchen where the food is prepared The kernel has two main components The HAL hardware abstraction layer is the layer closest to the hard
3. The A 220 701 Essentials exam expects you to know the difference between Windows XP and Windows Vista 32 bit and 64 bit versions You are also expected to be familiar with the terms 32 bit 64 bit x86 and x64 Now that you have a general idea of how Windows manages applications hardware users and their data let s look at some of the tools for using Windows USING WINDOWS 2000 XP VISTA Every PC support technician needs to be a power user of Windows You need to know how the Windows desktop is organized and how it works You also need to know how to use Windows utilities such as My Computer Windows Explorer the Control Panel System Information and the Command Prompt window All these tools are covered in this part of the chapter 1435487370 ch01 CTP qgxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 17 F Using Windows 2000 XP Vista 17 THE WINDOWS VISTA DESKTOP The Windows desktop is the primary tool provided by the Windows shell In this section you will learn about the features of the desktop including the Start menu taskbar and Vista sidebar You will also learn how to manage shortcuts and icons on the desktop We ll use Vista as our primary OS for learning and then discuss what is different about the Windows XP and 2000 desktops LO0L 02z Y fi THE START MENU The Vista Start menu is shown in Figure 1 15 Notice in the figure that the username for the person currently logged on is shown at the top right of the Start m
4. ent Introducing the Mac OS which LINUX Linux is a variation of UNIX that was created by Linus Torvalds when he was a student at the University of Helsinki in Finland Versions of this OS are available for free and all the under lying programming instructions called source code are also freely distributed Like UNIX Linux is distributed by several different companies whose versions of Linux are sometimes called distributions Popular distributions of Linux include SuSE wtww novell com linux suse RedHat www redhat com TurboLinux www turbolinux com Slackware Linux www slackware com and Ubuntu www ubuntu com The A exams do not cover Linux the Mac OS or server operating systems Network services such as a Web server or e mail server often are provided by a computer running the Linux operating system Linux is well suited to support various types of server applications Because Linux is extremely reliable and does not require a lot of computing power it is sometimes used as a desktop OS It is not as popular for this purpose because it is not easy to install or use and fewer Linux applications exist as compared to those written for Windows or the Mac OS Linux is also used on netbooks because it requires less system resources than Windows A technician would say it has a small footprint Recently Linux has gained popularity as an embedded operating system on mobile devices such as smart phones Linux is an excellent t
5. 4 Windows Explorer the Vista Computer window and the XP 2000 My Computer window are used to manage files and folders in secondary storage A System Information gives much information about the computer including hardware device drivers the OS and applications 1435487370 ch01 CTP qgxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 41 F Reviewing the Basics 41 4 Control Panel holds a group of applets to manage the system 4 Multiple commands can be issued from a Command Prompt window For explanations of key terms see the Glossary near the end of the book administrator account filename service Aero user interface folders service pack backward compatible graphical user interface GUI shell Briefcase HAL hardware abstraction layer standard account child directory initialization files subdirectory command prompt window kernel system tray Compressed zipped Folder kernel mode systray desktop netbook taskbar device driver notification area thread distribution operating system OS User Account Control UAC dual boot original equipment manufacturer dialog box elevated command prompt OEM license user mode window patches virtual machine VM executive services path volume file attribute Registry file extension root directory Which Micfosoft operating system was the first to use all 32 bit processing What are the hardware requirements to use the Vista Aero user interface Whats the application mentioned in the chapter that creates a vi
6. I Derti aram ns hanmi E us aient Pc Dp Comptes O temm E opine LOL 02z Y fi y s By Coed Ey om mmis Led F hat k _ ae 1 Deskaops clare Dim hors citar ats miri rump Ach ento me be a init Eran peinp lap fd ree M dae ars iei hoo cm Figure 1 29 Windows XP Display Properties window lets you change settings for your ies Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning The right side of Figure 1 29 shows the dial g box that appears when you click Customize Desktop You cati accomplish about the same things using the Vista Personalization window and the XP Display Properties window but they are organized differently For Windows 2000 the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window and the Display Properties window are organized slightly differently than for Windows XP but bothyork about the same as in XP When you first install Windows XP only the Recycle Bin shows on the desktop by default You can add other shortcuts by using the Display Properties window In the win dow click the Desktop tab and then click Customize Desktop to display the Desktop Items window which is shown in Figure 1 29 You can check My Documents My Computer My Network Places and Internet Explorer to add these icons to the desktop Also notice on this window the option to have Windows clean up your desktop by moving any shortcuts that you have not used in the last 60 days to a separate folder VISTA USER ACCOUNT CONTROL BOX A ne
7. Windo Courtesy Cour nolog e Le AN Panel is a window containing several small utility programs called applets that used to manage hardware software users and the system For Windows Vista and XP to access the Control Panel click Start and then click Control Panel For Windows 2000 to open Control Panel click Start Settings and Control Panel Figure 1 40 shows the Windows Vista Control Panel and Figure 1 41 shows the Windows XP Control Panel in Category View Select a category to see the applets in that category or click Switch to Classic View to see the applets when you first open Control Panel as they are displayed in earlier versions of Windows Besides accessing the several applets in Control Panel from the Control Panel window each applet can be accessed directly You will learn how to do this as you learn to use these applets later in the book For all the applets if you know the name of the applet program file you can launch the applet by using the Vista Start dialog box called the Run dialog box in Windows 2000 XP For example to open the Mouse Properties applet type Main cpl in the Start box and then press Enter An applet has a cpl file extension The A 220 701 Essentials exam expects you to be familiar with the Control Panel and its applets 1435487370 chO01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 37 F Using Windows 2000 XP Vista 37 4 Get arbed vath Windoan Back up yow computer ein u
8. 1 21 Items displayed in the taskbar can be programs running or not running An open application displays its title in the taskbar see Figure 1 21 If you are using the Aero interface when you hover over the title a thumbnail of the open application appears Quick Launch icons on the left are displayed in the taskbar so you can quickly find and launch them Click the dou ble right arrow to the right of the Quick Launch area to reveal more icons To get a flip view of applications press Alt Tab and to minimize all applications click Show the Desktop in the Quick Launch area If you are using the Aero interface in the Quick Launch area click the Switch between windows icon to see the flip 3D view of open applications see Figure 1 22 Alternately you can press Win Tab the Windows key and the Tab key Then use the Tab key to move from one open application to another The notification area also called the system tray or systray is usually on the right side of the taskbar and displays open services A service is a program that runs in the background to 1435487370 chO01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 22 F 22 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems VEL AN Figure 1 21 The Windows Vista taskbar with a thumbnail of one open application Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning Figure 1 22 Press Win Tab to view open applications in a flip 3D view when using the Vista Aero interface Courtesy Course Technology
9. E pasan ien Leased Fob baa Cancel deni kay abane this progiem be from or hat it por Allow T brait thi gregem krgs whin d a frem or Pos edad i bafon wl Danae Line Brecon Cored Paler mee unbueninid angi Dh your eemper Figure 1 31 This UAC box using a yellow bar indicates the program has not been approved by Microsoft Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning 1435487370 ch01 CTP gxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 29 F Using Windows 2000 XP Vista 29 4 If the top of the UAC box is green Vista is happy to accept one of its own Windows components to be installed A If the top of the UAC box is gray the program has signed in with Microsoft and Vista is happy to install it WINDOWS EXPLORER AND THE COMPUTER WINDOW The two most useful tools to explore files and folders on your computer are Windows Explorer and the Vista Computer window Windows 2000 XP calls the Computer window the My Computer window With Windows Vista and Windows XP these windows are really the same tools with different names Under Windows 2000 there are slight differences between the My Computer window and Windows Explorer Because all the windows work about the same way in this part of the chapter we ll cover them for all three operating systems together To access the Computer or My Computer window use one of these methods LOL 02z Y fi 4 For Windows Vista click Start and click Computer 4 For Windows XP click Start and click
10. Menu taskb ar and notification area also called the systray PERSONALIZE THE WINDOWS DESKTOP You can also personalize the desktop To use the Personalization window right click anywhere on the desktop and choose Personalize from the shortcut menu see Figure 1 24 Using this window you can personalize the way Windows appears including the desktop sounds mouse action color themes and display settings As a support technician you are often called on to solve prob lems with display settings DEFAULT PROGRAMS AND FILE ASSOCIATIONS The Default Programs entry in the right column of the Start menu accesses the Default Program window to change default programs associated with certain file extensions and activities For example look at the top left of the Start menu column in Figure 1 15 and you can see that the current default browser is Internet Explorer and the default e mail software is Windows Mail You can use the Default Programs window to change these applications to another browser or e mail software You can also use this window to change the way audio CDs DVD movies games pictures video files and audio files are handled and to change the default program asso ciated with a certain file extension A file extension is one or more characters following the last period in a filename such as exe txt or avi The file extension indicates how the file is organ ized or formatted the type content in the file and what program uses
11. Vista To make the file a read only file or to hide the file so that it does not appear in the directory list check the appropriate box and click Apply The archive attribute is used to determine if a file has changed since the last backup To change its value click Advanced in the Properties window see the right side of Figure 1 39 Make your change and click OK Also notice in the Advanced Attributes box in Figure 1 39 the option to Index this file for faster searching An index is a list of items that is used to speed up a search and Vista is the first Windows OS to use indexing for its searches By default it includes in the index only common user data files and folders that are normally searched for Program files and Windows files are not included by default Using the Advanced Attributes box you can include or exclude the file or folder from the index Incidentally to change the type of files that Vista indexes in the left pane of Control Panel click Change how Windows searches 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 36 p CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems T RD 17 Bi iye TUORE 20 S85 byn Vigiranielay Ara Di 2008 2 5 96 AM Sanday dune DIL HOL 7 14688 PAM Sanvimy Ana DE 20i 714080 PME Chasse thi stanga pou spot Tor res iiie did F e krbu E Pli needy Ear archie DF frdez than He fer Mater siird L Readenie Hiin Figure 1 39 Properties of a file in
12. an operating system as the middleman between applications and hardware between the user and hardware and between the user and applications see Figure 1 1 Ro a Figure 1 1 Users and applications depend on the OS to relate to all applications and hardware comp ts Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning e Several applications might be installed on a comput t e a com puter really needs only one operating system As a PC should be aware of the older and current operating systems d the g Systems have evolved n 1986 M n as DOS was introduced and quickly became the most op IBM computers and IBM compatible computers using the Intel 8086 o ig 2 shows a computer screen using the DOS operating system In those 5 omputer screens used text and no graphics DOS is outdated as a viable option r a desktop computer operating system today However you might occasionally encounter a diagnostic utility used to fix the most stubborn hardware or software problem that is booted from a floppy disk or CD that uses the DOS operating system C xsBIB GAME Unlume im drive C hag no label Ue lime Serial Humber ig GFS2 09FC Directory of C GAnE XDIB 2 18 93 4 584 TDIR 82 18 93 4 504 XDIRS 82 18 93 4 584 lt DIR gt Gi 18 73 43 51a lt DIR gt O2 10 33 4 2a DIRAY 2 18 933 4 54a BEYOND lt DIR gt 82 1H 93 4 544 7 filets B bytes 3273344 bytes free Figure 1 2 DOS provides a command line prompt to receive
13. click it and select Create Shortcut see Figure 1 19 11 2 2006 211 AM 139 208 135 aM pes Ester Run bi ederencitreter in Enter Pasi pe aem Maven ie Eier Add ta Quick Lianch Entar feed Te m Tapy Cria hsrt Die G Fanart Prepare Figure 1 19 Create a shortcut Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning 3 If a dialog box appears saying Windows cannot create a shortcut here Do you want the shortcut to be placed on the desktop instead click Yes If Windows creates a shortcut in the folder where the file is located drag the shortcut to the desktop 4 On the desktop to see the properties of the shortcut right click it and select Properties Figure 1 20 shows the properties of the Microsoft Paint shortcut icon which points to the program in the E Windows System32 folder 5 Use the shortcut to launch Microsoft Paint b 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 21 T Using Windows 2000 XP Vista 21 gt N N F n ar ollowing along at your computer while reading this chapter you might want to e the instances of Microsoft Paint open so you can practice managing open applications in the sections that follow THE TASKBAR AND NOTIFICATION AREA SYSTEM TRAY The taskbar is normally located at the bottom of the Windows desktop displaying information about open programs and providing quick access to others see Figure
14. each Vista OS can be purchased in 32 bit or 64 bit code Most modern desktop and laptop processors today can handle either a 32 bit or 64 bit OS which are sometimes referred to as an x86 or x64 OS Keep these discussion points in mind when deciding which to install LOL 02z Y k 4 Point 1 64 bit processing is faster than 32 bit processing because the CPU is handling more bits at once However a 64 bit OS requires more resources than a 32 bit OS A Point 2 A 64 bit OS requires that device drivers operating in kernel mode be 64 bit drivers These 64 bit drivers must be available from the device manufacturer A Point 3 An application is compiled to process 64 bits or 32 bits A 64 bit OS can run either 64 bit applications or 32 bit applications but 64 bit applications ar faster Also 64 bit applications cannot run on a 32 bit OS A Point 4 A 32 bit OS can only address up to 4 GBof memory More than that might be installed on the motherboard but the OS cannot usestibecaus it does not have enough memory addresses to assign to the physical memory A 64 bit OS theoretically can address up to 1 terabyte TB ofamemory although in practice most motherboards can only hold from 12 to 16 GB of memory A terabyte is roughly 1000 GB or 1 trillion bytes A Point 5 Af you open many applications at the same time and have high computing needs and enough hard drive space and memory you can benefit from 64 bit comput ing To get the most out of
15. it the processor motherboard operating system drivers and applications must all be 64 bit and you should have installed the maximum amount of memory the motherboard supports Often a manufacturer will install a 32 bit OS on a computer that could support a 64 bit OS In Vista to find out what type of processor and OS is installed click Start right click Computer and select Properties from the shortcut menu Figure 1 14 shows the results for one laptop It shows a 32 bit operating system installed with a Core2 Duo CPU This CPU could have handled a 64 bit OS Here s one more important tip you need to know about 64 bit computing When Microsoft publishes a patch or update for Windows on its Web site some patches are desig nated for specific processors and error messages use terminology that might be confusing if you don t understand the terms Follow these guidelines when reading error messages or documentation on the Microsoft site A The term x86 refers to 32 bit processors and to 32 bit operating systems For example you need to download a patch from Microsoft to fix a Vista problem you are having with USB devices The article on the Microsoft Web site that applies to your problem says to download the patch if you are using a Windows Vista x86 based version Take that to mean you can use this patch if you are using a 32 bit version of Vista A The term x86 64 refers to a 64 bit OS or to 32 bit processors that process 64 bit instruction
16. sidebar A window of gadgets appears see Figure 1 16 Drag a gadget from this window to the sidebar Figure 1 16 Windows Sidebar can be customized with installed and downloaded gadgets Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning HOW TO LAUNCH AN APPLICATION Let s open a few applications and then see how the Windows desktop can be used to man age these open applications Four options to open an application are A Use tbe Start menu Click the Start button select All Programs and then select the program from the list of installed software A Use the Search box Click the Start button and then enter the name of the program file or command in the Start Search box see Figure 1 17 In Windows 2000 XP use the Run dialog box Incidentally the Vista search box can also find data files and folders and will search text within document files 4 Use Windows Explorer or the Computer window Execute a program or launch an appli cation file by double clicking the filename in Windows Explorer or the Computer window 1435487370 ch01 CTP gxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 19 F Using Windows 2000 XP Vista 19 LO0L 02z Y i Figure 1 17 Use the Vista Search box to launch a program Courtesy Course Technology Cenga rning gale idow is called My Computer To use the Computer e Computer window shown in Figure 1 18 appears In Windows XP tk windo Start Fiert Type Tein Sane Fone Sewer Hed lek Drewes G1 Loca
17. system to the 64 bit version of Vista Business d A 32 bit OS cannot use more than 4 GB of memory Explain to Mary the problem and discuss with her the possible solutions 6 Jack needs to e mail two documents to a friend but the files are so large his e mail server bounced them back as undeliverable What is your advice a Tell Jack to open the documents and break each of them into two documents and then e mail the four documents separately b Tell Jack to put the two documents in a compressed folder and e mail the folder c Tell Jack to put each document in a different compressed folder and e mail each folder separately d Tell Jack to put the documents on a USB drive and snail mail the drive to his friend 1435487370 ch01 CTP qgxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 43 F Hands On Projects 43 PROJECT 1 1 Using the System Information Utility Do the following to run the System Information utility and gather information about your system 1 In the Vista Search box or the XP 2000 Run box type Msinfo32 exe and press Enter The System Information window opens Browse through the different levels of information in this window and answer the follow ing questions a What OS and OS version are you using b What is your CPU speed c What is your BIOS manufacturer and version d How much video RAM is available to your video adapter card Explain how you got this information e What is the name of the driver file
18. that manages your parallel port Your USB ports PROJECT 1 2 Using a Freeware Diagnostic Utility You can download many freeware diagnostic utilities from the Internet and use them to examine troubleshoot and benchmark a system Do the following to download and use one utility to examine your system 1 Go to the CNET Networks Web site at www download com and use the Web site search box to search for Fresh Diagnose Download the utility saving it to a folder on your hard drive named Downloads Double click the file to execute the program and install the software When given the opportunity choose to create a shortcut to the software on your desktop Double click the shortcut to run the Fresh Diagnose program Browse through the Fresh Diagnose menus and answer the same questions listed in Project 1 1 for the Windows 2000 XP Vista System Information utility Compare the two utilities Fresh Diagnose and System Information by answering the fol lowing questions a Which utility is easier to use and why b Which utility gives more information about your system c What is one advantage that System Information has over Fresh Diagnose d What is one advantage that Fresh Diagnose has over System Information e Which utility do you prefer and why 1435487370 ch01 CTP gxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 44 F 44 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems PROJECT 1 3 Using the Taskbar Using a Windows 2000 XP Vista compu
19. the file For example the avi file extension is a video file that is normally played by Windows Media Player LOL 02z Y fi 1435487370 ch01 CTP qgxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 24 F 24 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems Personalize appearance and sounds LY Window Coler and Appearance Forse tua P celer and stile ef uper sontes r Conktep Backgesurcd buie Tren eval backgrounds of Debet iu ubt ene you dum perbarti dp decode the ekba gy om Change yaur Hosen racer or dpt sius ak diaple sores rper ias paure ar Q COWES Dur DOSEN and appear when your commuter n sdie for a yet Jh immi emptrieg poor acyzhr Bin E 4 hirae Poannert Pick differarg maui parar You can aio changi Beo tha maus peantie kei dueng such acinar a checking amd uec snig the n 1 Click Start and then click Default Programs The Default Programs window opens see Figure 1 25 Choose the programs that Windows uses by default Set pour detauk pangrama Miske a program the default Fea ali file typet and protocols it can apan Ayyosiste p lie type or probeta with a prpgram alu a file type oe pratecol rch at mpl or https abays open in a specific program T Change fuatoPlay stinge Play Cs or ather media inbomaticall Eg Set picoram accen ad reespuber default Cengi scores te cerlen program snl cet defaults For they computar Figure 1 25 The Default Programs window is used to change file associations Cour
20. the steps to buy the 64 bit DVD version of Vista Home Premium What sources of information did you use 2 Your Vista system is slow and you decide to turn off the Aero user interface to save on resources List the steps to do that and the source of information you used 3 You have upgraded your Windows XP system to Vista but now the network connection will not work You realize you need to install Vista drivers for the network port that comes directly off your ASUS P4P800 motherboard What is the name of the driver file you need to download and how did you find it 4 Your friend has asked you if you know how to turn off the UAC box so it never appears on his Vista system List the steps to do that and the source of information you used 5 What was the first Intel processor to use the EM64T technology2 What is your source of information
21. 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 1 F CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems In this chapter ersonal computers are an essential part of how we work play and you will learn do business Everyone no matter how young or old or how he or VE she makes a living encounters a personal computer in some way ous operating almost daily No matter how experienced a computer user you are systems and this book can take you from the just a user stage to understanding the differences what happens behind the scenes when you click a Web site or install a between them new screen saver Not only will you understand what happened but About the you ll also be able to customize your operating system OS and components of de y Windows operat applications troubleshoot and solve problems with the OS and opti ing systems mize your system for best performance How operating The goals of this book are toshelp youamderstand troubleshoot cus systems interface tomize and_optimize a Windows operating system and to make wise buy with users files ing decisions about operating systems The only assumption made here is t that you are a computer user that is you can turn on your machine load and hardaffare a software package and use that software to accomplish a task In addition this book prepares you to pass the software related content on the A 220 701 Essentials exam and the A 220 702 Practical Application exam required by Co
22. A Processors that use underlying 32 bit processing with 64 bit instructions These hybrid processors are known as x86 64bit processors AMD was the first to produce one the Athlon 64 and called the technology AMD64 Intel followed with a version of its Pentium 4 processors and called the technology Extended Memory 64 Technology EM64T Because of their hybrid nature these processors can handle a 32 bit OS or a 64 bit OS All desktop or laptop processors made after 2007 are of this type A 64 bit processors Intel makes several 64 bit processors for workstations or servers that use fully implemented 64 bit processing including the Itanium and Xeon processors 1435487370 ch0l CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 15 F How Windows 2000 XP Vista Works 15 Intel calls the technology IA64 but they are also called x64 processors They are not compatible with 32 bit processing and require a 64 bit operating system Windows 2000 is a 32 bit OS Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is a 64 bit OS and all other Windows XP editions are 32 bit operating systems Vista Home Basic Home Premium Business Enterprise and Ultimate editions all come in either 32 bit or 64 bit ver sions When you purchase the retail version of the Ultimate Edition the 32 bit DVD and 64 bit DVD are included in the package For the other Vista editions you must request the 64 bit DVD from Microsoft after you have purchased the retail version of the OS The OEM version of
23. Cengage Learning support or serve Windows or an application The services in the notification area include the vol ume control and network connectivity Windows automatically hides these icons To display them click the left arrow on the right side of the taskbar If you have a sluggish Windows system one thing you can do is look at all the running services in the notification tray and try to disable the services that are taking up system resources Microsoft insists that using the term system tray or systray for the notification area is wrong although in some Microsoft documentation you ll find these terms used To control the Start menu taskbar notification area and open applications right click the taskbar and use the shortcut menu Using it you can turn the Quick Launch display on or off add items to the taskbar control the way open windows appear on the desktop and if you unlock the taskbar you can move it to other places on the screen When you choose 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 23 g Using Windows 2000 XP Vista 23 Properties from this shortcut menu the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box appears see Figure 1 23 Using it you can further control the Start menu and the taskbar o Abus Sup iS af Kup che bebar n m ef other werden show Gak Launch Mi hor ardos peves Pumba he A 220 701 Essentials exam expects you to know how to configure and use the st
24. My Computer 4 For Windows 2000 double click My Computer on the desktop Figure 1 32 Use Windows XP My Computer to manage system resources Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning Regardless of the OS Windows Explorer is easily opened in these two ways 4 Right click Computer or My Computer and select Explore from the menu 4 Right click Start and select Explore from the menu b 1435487370 ch01 CTP gxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 30 F 30 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems Let s now turn our attention to how to use the Computer My Computer and Explorer windows in all three OSs to manage files and folders and other system resources FILES AND DIRECTORIES Every OS manages a hard drive optical drive floppy disk or USB drive by using directories also called folders subdirectories and files The drive is organized with a single root direc tory at the top of the top down hierarchical structure of subdirectories as shown in Figure 1 33 The exception to this rule is a hard drive because it can be divided into parti tions that can have more than one volume such as drive C and drive D on the same physical hard drive For a volume such as drive C the root directory is written as C Each volume has its own root directory and hierarchical structure of subdirectories Hard drive Figure 1 33 Storage devices such as a USB drive CD or hard drive are organized into directories and subdirectories that cont
25. Windows Explorer 1 Open Windows Explorer 2 Create a folder under the root directory of the hard drive called Temp List the steps you took Add a subfolder to Temp called MyFiles List the steps you took Create a text file in the MyFiles folder named Text1 txt List the steps you took Create a shortcut to that folder on the Windows desktop List the steps you took Rename the file Text2 txt Double click the shortcut on the desktop What error did you get on oOo Ui A WwW To clean up after yourself delete the Temp folder and the shortcut 1435487370 ch01 CTP gxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 45 F Real Problems Real Solutions 45 REAL PROBLEM 1 1 Becoming a PC Support Technician Yov ve just been hired as a PC support technician in the IT department of your university At the job interview you were promised a two week training period but by noon on your first day on the job it dawns on you that training period means you gotta train yourself really quick Listed below are some problems you encounter that day How do you solve these problems and what Windows tools do you use 1 A history professor calls you into his office and tells you he thinks the memory on his Vista computer needs upgrading He wants you to tell him how much RAM is currently installed What do you do 2 A PE instructor discovers the history professor has Windows Vista on his desktop She thinks she has Windows XP on her des
26. XP Run box enter cmd exe and press Enter Alternately you can click Start All Programs Accessories and Command Prompt The Vista Command Prompt window is shown in Figure 1 43 LOL 02z Y a r r T a SS II I C Wndowrayitemiziemd exe Lr i Lal Figure 1 43 Use the Exit command to close the Command Prompt window Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning When you re workingan the window to clear the text in the window type cls and press Enter To close the window type exit and press Enter as shown in the figure Alternately you can click the X close window icon in the upper right corner of the window Throughout this book you will learn many commands that work from this window and you can also launch a program from this window For example when you enter the msinfo32 exe pro gram name the System Information window is launched Windows Vista has two levels of command prompt windows a standard window and an elevated window The standard window is shown in Figure 1 43 Notice in the figure that the default directory is the currently logged on user s folder Commands that require administrative privileges will not work from this standard command prompt window To get an elevated command prompt window click Start All Programs Accessories and right click Command Prompt Then select Run as administrator from the shortcut window and respond to the UAC box The resulting command prompt window is shown
27. ain files Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning As shown in Figure 1 33 the root directory can hold files or other directories which can have names such as C Data These directories called subdirectories child directories or folders can in turn have other directories listed in them Any directory can have files and other subdirectories listed in it for example Figure 1 33 shows C Data Business Letter docx In this path to the file the C identifies the volume If a directory is on a floppy disk then either A or B identifies it If a directory is on a volume on a hard drive or on a CD USB drive or DVD a letter such as C D or F identifies it When you refer to a drive and directories that are pointing to the location of a file as in C Data Business Letter docx the drive and directories are called the path to the file see Figure 1 34 As you learned earlier in the chapter when naming a file the first part of the name before the period is called the filename Letter and the part after the period is called the file extension docx which has one or more characters to identify the type file The docx file extension identifies the file type as a Microsoft Word 2007 document file 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 31 F Using Windows 2000 XP Vista 31 Oo a 9 9 eg EX S sS RO 9 eo e S a a E e qo sw o X X P P EE E a A IC Data Business Letter docx Figure 1 34 The compl
28. ation If you don t want it deleted hold down the Ctrl key while you drag and drop To delete a file or folder using Explorer right click the file or folder and select Delete from the shortcut menu A confirmation dialog box asks if you are sure you want to delete the item If you click Yes you send the file or folder and all its contents including subfolders to the Recycle Bin You can also hold down the Shift or Ctrl key as you click to Select multiple items to delete copy or move at the same time Emptying the Recycle Bin will fre yip your disk space Files and folders sent to the Recycle Bin are not really deleted until you empty the bin To do that right click the bin and select Empty Recycle Bin from the shortcut menu In Chapter 4 you will learn that you can also copy and delete files and folders using commands from a command prompt CHANGE FILE ATTRIBUTES Using Explorer or the Computer window you can view and change the properties assigned to a file these properties are called the file attributes Using these attributes you can do such things as hide a file make it a read only file or flag a file to be backed up From Explorer or the Computer window right click a file and select Properties from the shortcut menu The Properties window shown on the left side of Figure 1 39 opens From the Properties window you can change the read only hidden archive and indexing attributes of the file Indexing is used only in Windows
29. copied from the hard drive into memory and there it is called a process A process is a program that is sunnin ther with the system resources assigned to it System resources might include oth s it has started and memory addresses to hold its data W e p resources to be used this request is made to the Wi s is called a thread A thread is a single task such as the task of printing a file ss requests from the kernel Figure 1 11 shows two threads in whi ed multithreading Sometimes a process is called an in a ou say to a user Open two instances of Internet Explo E to open two Internet Explorer processes Thread Figure 1 11 A process with two threads Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning oo 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 13 g How Windows 2000 XP Vista Works 13 HOW WINDOWS MANAGES HARDWARE The kernel uses device drivers to communicate with a hardware device Device drivers are small programs stored on the hard drive that tell the computer how to communicate with a specific hardware device such as a printer network card or modem These drivers are installed on the hard drive when the OS is first installed or when new hardware is added to the system The OS provides some device drivers and the manufacturer of the hardware device pro vides others You also need to know that when a computer is first turned on it uses some devices such as the keyboard monitor and hard drive before
30. e 1 8 shows ac OS d desktop with a browser open i Q SL Me TO raisin Tenor bei Pel TE Fiery Buy Disa cn hera TH wha ee im Poe ad hei fie eb ba sbra pom pe Cen Paper Piece Pagi neigt Bor Poi ad tihi e etas iwek w me m EAT Agile m desi el id am Raid andy a M CHOR i B dd b a ie a CY aged Lb Ca oed TA App TRS FUR al Die Aiii maur Felis HI 2208 Was M Hu Pe a Lkw LIMNI KI Dona cu ribi gd Ba wil y meneg Bai gun cart riag narii prs ri Fur a rarr pram Lean meum ieee menie Te m Es hash lism baa a tt bira brian mi umaing hi rural ad hsm Re hrby arpapi aita char bandi hiag Herbert Br hath Tip p she Bimi Loir ieu Finder Paih Bar Prise id TCR een vem pid eo dee ar nbi io fear cinta drag rune em ha Dueh co per penas ier rigen com oper Ce H1 Dime Cae vine Cee Vrisraum 11 008 leor dere nexa inan ae Dreier Cael mde Di hea Bu USE E OLIM HEN ROREM ee Dur Figure 1 8 The Mac OS X Leopard desktop and browser window Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 8 p 8 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems At one time all Macintosh computers were built using PowerPC processors by IBM or Motorola Macs now use Intel processors which make it possible for Windows to run on a Mac Boot Camp software by Apple can be used to install Windows on a Mac computer as a dual boot with Mac OS X A dual boot makes it possible to boo
31. e and interpreting hardware needs _tosapplicati6n software A Function 4 Manage applications Installing and uninstalling applications Running applications and managing the interface to the hardware on behalf of an application COMPONENTS OF WINDOWS Every operating system has three main internal components the shell the kernel and con figuration data Recall that a shell is the portion of an OS that relates to the user and to applications the kernel is responsible for interacting with hardware Configuration data is information the OS keeps about hardware applications data and users As a support tech nician you don t need to understand all of how they work but it does help to know some basic concepts Figure 1 10 shows how the shell and kernel relate to users applications and hardware Use the diagram as a reference for this discussion of how the components of Windows work THE WINDOWS SHELL The shell provides a way for the user to do such things as select music to burn to a CD install an application or change the wallpaper on the Windows desktop The shell does this using various interface tools such as Windows Explorer the Control Panel or My Computer which can have command menu or icon driven interfaces for the user For applications the shell provides commands and procedures that applications can call on to do such things as print a spreadsheet read from a database or display a photograph on screen
32. eate and rename a folder using commands from a command prompt The A 220 701 Essentials exam expects you to know how to create folders navigate the directory structure create files and change file attributes 1435487370 ch01 CTP gxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 35 F Using Windows 2000 XP Vista 35 It s also interesting to know that the Windows desktop is itself a folder The Desktop of the currently logged in user is always listed as the first entry at the top of the Folders list in the Explorer or Computer window However the Desktop folder is located at SystemDrive Users username Desktop for Windows Vista For example if the user Anne wants to create a folder named Presentations on the Vista desktop she can right click anywhere on the desktop and select New Folder from the shortcut menu The folder is created and she can then rename it Presentations The folder appears on the desktop each time she logs onto the system The actual location of this folder is at C Users Anne Desktop Presentations LOL 02z Y fi COPY OR DELETE FILES OR FOLDERS To copy a file or folder right click it and select Copy from the shortcut menu Then click in the white area of the folder where the copied item is to go and select Paste from the shortcut menu You can also drag and drop the item to its new location If the location is on the same drive as the original location the file or folder will be automatically deleted from its original loc
33. ec hapi dip uniutierispd chirii I yom Corer W Desis tein Cimas User Stepan Contes hiipi Bop unufferispd chari be yom tipui Figure 1 30 The User Account Control box appears each time a user attempts to perform an action requiring administrative privileges a the current account has administrative privileges b the current account does not have administrative privileges Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning UAC box but for security purposes that is not recommended For exa ome one is logged on as an administrator with the UAC box turned off s ious s edge o ard user and the he user s knowledge but with link on a Web site Malware can download and inst i and might get admin privileges on the computer If h UAC box is turned off the malware might still install with a lesser privileges The UA stan ekeeper ware installing behind your back because someone o clic ie Y x before the installation can proceed It s interesting to kno ol s that the UAC box uses to help you decide if software bei talled is safe e UAC box is red Vista does not trust this program one bit and is not y with you installing it In fact it refuses to allow the installation to continue A If the top of the UAC box is yellow see Figure 1 31 Vista doesn t know or trust the publisher It will allow you to continue but with a serious warning Dial res the gengruen A yu le ione A4 gen qe poet aed d afore
34. enu gy memi iene kapice fy Emma tirer Pyle g heime iu Neth Foto alien e Widen hinia Cam o Werdiow1 Rande Paper Weulews Live Leiame Deeerdaad a Amie Dv ble EN Wenden C aler Figure 1 15 The Vista desktop and Start menu Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning Applications at the top left of the Start menu are said to be pinned to the menu in other words permanently listed there until you change them in a Start menu setting Applications that are used often are listed below the pinned applications and can change from time to time The programs in the white column on the left side of the Start menu are user oriented applications Entries in the black column on the right side of the menu give access to user files and OS utilities THE VISTA SIDEBAR AND GADGETS The Windows Sidebar and gadgets for the Vista desktop are new with Windows Vista If the sidebar is not installed you can use the Control Panel to install it Click Start and click Control Panel In the Control Panel window click Appearances and Personalization and then click 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 18 g CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems Windows Sidebar Properties From the properties box you can choose to start the sidebar each time Windows starts decide where on the desktop the sidebar appears and remove the gadgets currently in the sidebar To add new gadgets click the sign at the top left of the
35. ete path to a file includes the volume letter directories filename and file extension the colon backslashes and period are required to separate items in the path Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning NAVIGATE THE DIRECTORY STRUCTURE When working with the Windows Explorer or Computer window these tips can make your work easier 4 Tip 1 Drill down to subfolders inside folders by double clicking the folder to cause files and subdirectories also called subfolders to appear in the right pane When you click the white arrow to the left of a folder in Vista or click the plus sign to the left of a folder in 2000 XP its subfolders appear underneath it in the left pane 4 Tip 2 To control what information appears about files and subfol pane right click the heading bar in the pane see e to appear as columns in the right pane A Tip 3 Often used folders are listed at area Click an entry t i Ex A Tip 4 For Vista of the Tip 5 t want the Favorite Links a indow ista u backw e forward and back arrows in the upper left corner to move to previous views Figure 1 35 Right click the column heading to select columns to display Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning a gt N N t x eo rer 1435487370 ch01 CTP qgxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 32 F 32 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems As a PC support technician you need to understand where Window
36. g ppanmial canticis fos amy user Aubl oat reves isa era enit Security Chace las epaetns Appearance and heck thi cerrqpulter d baptuinty iibri ptr pes ee es Personalization Netvork and Bnbennet Vipa repheeprit vatum arid tani Sut up ibo harina Hardware and Sound Plan CD ix other mecha automatic aly Fraribes Figure 1 40 The Windows Vista Control Panel is organized by Classic View Courtesy Course c View items rather than categories Jamai amd Deni erm Figure 1 41 The Windows XP Control Panel Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning 1435487370 ch01 CTP gxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 38 F 38 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems SYSTEM INFORMATION UTILITY The System Information utility see Figure 1 42 gives a wealth of information about installed hardware and software the current system configuration and currently running programs For example you can use it to find out what processor or BIOS version is installed on the motherboard how much RAM is installed the directory where the OS is installed the size of the hard drive the names of currently running drivers and much more The System Information window is a composite of information available from several other windows and is especially useful when talking with a technical support person on the phone because it provides a broad technical view of information about the system Figure 1 42 Use
37. he Windows XP desktop see Figure 1 6 has a e desktops for ear lier Windows Windows XP is the first Wi sOSt ultiple users to log on simul taneously to the OS each with thei D ications Windows Messenger and Windows Media Playe i indows XP And XP includes several new security feat includ Although ows X s first released with some bugs the second service pack Service ac v st of these problems A service pack is a major update or fix to an OS released by Microsoft Minor updates or fixes that are released more frequently patches Windows XP has undergone three service packs making it an extremely TETIETIENIIT NTETE bE aa Figure 1 6 The Windows XP desktop and Start menu Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning b 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 6 F 6 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems stable OS and is popular in both the home and corporate markets Because it does not require as much hardware resources as Windows Vista and most compatibility issues and bugs have been resolved many people and corporations still prefer it over Windows Vista Because of consumers demands Microsoft has been forced to extend support for XP long past their initial timeframe Currently manufacturers can still purchase a license for a new PC called an original equipment manufacturer OEM license However these OEM licenses are about to become available only for low end PCs that cannot supp
38. in Figure 1 44 Notice the word E Adone comes za rut I ro ior A he Fa TT i righ EN TETTE Figure 1 44 An elevated command prompt window Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning 1435487370 ch01 CTP gxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 40 F 40 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems Administrator in the title bar which indicates the elevated window and the default directory which is the systemdrive Windows system32 folder 4 Operating systems that have been or are being used for desktop computers include DOS Windows 9x Me Windows NT 2000 XP Vista UNIX a version of UNIX called Linux and the Mac OS Windows 7 is the next Microsoft operating system 4 A dual boot makes it possible to boot a computer from one of two installed operating systems 4 A virtual machine is software that creates one or more logical computers on a physical computer 4 An operating system manages hardware runs applications provides an interface for users and stores retrieves and manipulates files A Every OS is composed of two main internal components a shell portion to interact with users and applications and a kernel portion to interact with hardware In addition an OS needs a place to store configuration information which is normally stored im a database such as the Windows Registry or in text files called initializationsfiles 4 An application is launched as a Windows
39. ktop and wants you to tell her exactly which OS she has installed What do you do 3 Your boss asks you to go down the hall to the Windows XP computer in the break room and find out the path and name of the device driver for the optical drive CD drive or DVD drive that is installed What steps do you use What is the path and name of the optical drive device driver on your Windows XP or Vista system 4 The Office Administrator for Career Education uses MSWordsOften and wants you to place a shortcut on her desktop to launch this application List the steps to do that 5 A student in a computef lab is ttying to answer a question in the lab about the Windows Vista sidebar She needs tosadd a gadget to the sidebar to show the current temperature in Seattle What steps do you give her to find the answer Print the screen showing the gadget List the steps you took to print the screen REAL PROBLEM 1 2 Becoming a PC Technician Researcher Windows Help might provide useful information when you try to resolve a problem To access Windows Help click Start and then click Help and Support Also the Microsoft Web site bttp support microsoft com has lots of information on troubleshooting Search for the device an error message a Windows utility a symptom a software application an update version number or keywords that lead you to articles about problems and solutions You can also go to www microsoft com to browse for links on hardware a
40. l Dk iC Dea Teueh HE 0 0 e XE GH ree of 14 GB EH Gives ed I GR Decet wet Beorerscaltla Dicrsge T1 ee S MERC E Wietesprk Lomi 1 Figure 1 18 If you know the location of a program file you can drill down to it and launch it from the Computer window Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning b 1435487370 ch01 CTP gxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 20 F 20 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems m 4 Use a shortcut icon A quick way to open an application you use often is to place a 220 701 shortcut icon to the program on the desktop A shortcut icon is a clickable item on the desktop that points to a program you can execute or to a file or folder One way to create a shortcut for a program is to right click the program file in the Computer or Windows Explorer window and select Create Shortcut from the menu that appears 3 1 B32 A P P LYI N G CO N C E PTS Follow these steps to launch three instances of Microsoft Paint From the Start menu launch the Paint program which is in the Accessories folder N The program file is mspaint exe Use the Search box to launch the program Ww The program file is normally located at C Windows System32 Use the Computer window to drill down to and launch the program To create and use a shortcut to the Microsoft Paint program follow these steps 1 In the Computer window drill down to the mspaint exe file in the C Windows System32 folder Right
41. ll have the necessary software to control the device 1435487370 ch01 CTP gxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 14 F 14 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems Gaming software CD containing device drivers Video card User manual Figure 1 13 A device such as this video card comes packaged with its device drivers stored on a CD alternately you can use device drivers built into the OS Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning operating system some come with hardware de for downloading over the In fron So now y u have been introduced to four types of software the operating system appli cations device drivers and BIOS Every software program is considered to be one of these four types of software HOW MANY BITS AT A TIME The CPU Central Processing Unit also called a processor partly determines which operat ing system can be installed One major consideration is the number of bits a CPU processes at a time All desktop and laptop processors sold today from either Intel or AMD can process 64 bits at a time but older processors handled only 32 bits To know which type of operating system to install you need to be aware of three categories of processors currently used on desktop and laptop computers A 32 bit processors These are known as x86 processors because Intel used the number 86 in the model number of these earlier processors These processors must use a 32 bit operating system
42. mpTIA www comptia org for A Certification Its companion book A Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting Hardware Course Technology ISBN 1435487389 prepares you for the hardware related content on the A 220 701 Essentials exam and the A 220 702 Practical Application exam In this chapter you ll learn about the different operating systems how they are designed and work and what they do You ll also learn about the different components of an OS and see how an OS provides the interface that users and applications need to command and use hardware devices Finally you ll learn to use several Windows tools and utilities that are useful to examine a system change desktop settings and view and manage some hardware devices As you work through this chapter you ll learn that computer systems contain both hardware and software and that it s important for you as a computer technician to understand how they work together Although the physical hardware is the visible part of a computer system the software is the intelligence of the system that makes it possible for hardware components to work 1435487370 ch01 CTP gxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 2 F 2 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems OPERATING SYSTEMS PAST AND PRESENT An operating system OS is software that controls a computer It manages hardware runs applications provides an interface for users and stores retrieves and manipulates files In general you can think of
43. nd software compatibility Other sources of help are user and installation manuals for applications and hardware devices training materials and the Web sites of application and device manufacturers You can also use a search engine such as Google www google com Enter the error message software application symptom or Windows utility in the search box to search the Web for answers suggestions and comments If you are serious about learning to provide professional support for Windows each OS has a resource kit including support software and a huge reference book containing inside information about the OS Check out Microsoft Windows Vista Resource Kit Microsoft Windows XP Professional Resource Kit or Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Resource Kit All three are put out by Microsoft Press 1435487370 ch01 CTP gxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 46 F 46 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems Beware however that you don t bump into a site that does more harm than good Some sites are simply guessing offering incomplete and possibly wrong solutions and even offer ing a utility the site claims will solve your problem but really contains only pop up ads or spyware Use only reputable sites you can trust You ll learn about several of these excellent sites in this book Answer the following questions using any of the resources mentioned previously 1 You have just purchased Vista Home Premium edition which comes on a 32 bit DVD List
44. ndows hides the file extension of a file if it knows which application to use to open or execute the file For examplesjust after installation it hides exe com sys and txt file extensions but does not hide doc ppt or xls file extensions until the software to open these files has been installed Also Windows really doesn t want you to see its own system files and it hides these files from view until you force it to show them To view hidden files and file extensions do the following 1 Select the folder where system files are located 2 Click Tools and then click Folder Options The Folder Options window opens 3 Click the View tab see Figure 1 36 Select Show hidden files and folders Uncheck Hide extensions for known file types Uncheck Hide protected operating system files Windows complains it doesn t want to show you these files Click Yes to confirm that you really want to see them 4 Click Apply Click OK to close the Folder Options window CREATE A FILE You can create a file using a particular application or you can create a file using Windows Explorer or the Computer window In Explorer and the Computer window to create a file right click in the unused white area in the right pane of the window and select New from the shortcut menu Alternately in the menu bar you can click File and then click New The menu lists applications you can use to create the file in the current folder see Figure 1 37 Click the a
45. ng nt support for Plug and Play Device Manager better network support and features specifically targeting dows 2000 Professional desktop is shown in Figure 1 5 Figure 1 5 The Windows 2000 Professional desktop Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 5 F Operating Systems Past and Present 5 Microsoft didn t target Windows 2000 to the home computer and game computer market because Windows 9x Me was still serving those markets Also Microsoft did not make a commitment for Windows 2000 to be backward compatible with older software and hardware Therefore many hardware devices and applications that worked under Windows 9x Me did not work under Windows 2000 Windows 2000 is considered a dying OS although as a PC support technician you still need to know how to support it because it is still in use However you cannot buy a new license for it and Microsoft no longer supports it The only operating systems covered on the A exams are Windows 2000 Windows XP and Windows Vista WINDOWS XP Windows XP is an upgrade of Windows 2000 and attempts to integrate Windows 9x Me and 2000 while providing added support for multimedia and networking technologies The two main versions are Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professi ugh other less significant editions include Windows XP Media Center Editi i Tablet PC Edition and Windows XP Professional x T
46. nicians sometimes used a DOS startup disk to troubleshoot Windows 9x To learn more about Windows 9x Me see the content Supporting Windows 9x Me and the content Windows 9x Me Commands and Startup Disk on the CD that accompanies this book WINDOWS NT Windows NT New Technology came in two versions Windows NT Workstation and Windows NT Server The workstation version was used on high end corporate or engineering desktop computers and the server version was used to control a network Windows NT corrected many problems with Windows 9x Me because it completely rewrote the OS core totally eliminating the DOS core and introduced many new problems of its own that were later solved by Windows 2000 and Windows XP Windows NT was the first Windows OS that did all its processing using 32 bits at a time as compared to DOS which processed 16 bits at a time and Windows 9x Me which used a combination of 16 bit and 32 bit processing 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 4 F 4 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems Figure 1 4 Windows 98 SE desktop Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning WINDOWS 2000 e Windows 2000 was an upgrade of Windows NT and e ex ns some S designed for the desktop and others designed for high 2000 Professional was popular as an OS for the corporate de Wind Server Advanced Server and Datacenter Server are ows 2000 offered several improvements over Windows NT includi
47. ort Windows Vista Microsoft still publishes services packs and patches for XP WINDOWS VISTA Windows Vista an upgrade to Windows XD is the latest Windows desktop operating system by Microsoft Vista has a new 3D user interface called the Aero user interface which is not avail able for all versions of Vista and requires 1 GB of RAM and a video card or on board video that supports the DirectX 9 graphics standard and has at least 128 MB of graphics memory The Windows Vista desktop and Start menu are shown in Figure 1 7 Notice the Windows XP Start button has been replaced by the Vista sphere with a Windows flag Figure 1 7 Windows Vista desktop and Start menu Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning Vista was better tested than XP was before its release therefore Vista did not present as many initial problems as did XP However the greatest complaints against Vista are the lack of compatibility with older hardware and software called legacy hardware and software the large amount of computer resources that Vista requires and its slow performance The first problem is partly caused by hardware manufacturers not providing Vista drivers for their devices that were originally sold with XP drivers The second problem means that many low end desktop and laptop computers can t run Vista And the slow performance of Vista is partly due to the many unnecessary features fluff it offers these features weigh heavy on system resources
48. part of the chapter we ll look under the hood of these OSs to see how they are built what are the main components and how the OS interfaces with users applications data and hardware We begin our discussion by looking at the four main functions of any OS and then we ll look at how Windows accomplishes these four functions 1435487370 ch01 CTP gxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 10 F 10 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems WHAT AN OPERATING SYSTEM DOES Although there are important differences among them all operating systems share the following four main functions 4 Function 1 Provide a user interface Performing housekeeping procedures requested by the user often concerning secondary storage devices such as reorganizing a hard drive deleting files copying files and changing the system date Providing a way for the user to manage the desktop hardware applications and data A Function 2 Manage files Managing files on hard drives DVD drives CD drives floppy drives and other drives Creating storing retrieving deleting and moving files A Function 3 Manage hardware Managing the BIOS programs permanently stored on hardware devices e Managing memory which is a temporary place to stor datasand instructions as they are being processed e Diagnosing problems with software and hardware e Interfacing between hardware and software that is interpreting application software needs to the hardwar
49. pplication and the file is created You can then rename the filename However to keep the proper file association don t change the file extension 1435487370 ch01 CTP qgxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 33 p Using Windows 2000 XP Vista 33 foa can apply the wies juch ae Decade or icona fat you are using for thes folder bo all folders of thes type Achvancue mangar oF Daplay fla sica information in fodder ties 4 Dap n papia flee vem n Hag patur 7 Daphny thee Full path in tive tte ar Case folders only o Faden Fen and cider D Dereat astro Feci Fia mare odes d Shaw Fordern fies med Hotes ide aerea For kr fie Eyes 0 Hide Bestia coaegess teen Fan Papeete muc dokoa windows n a taparabe process F Remember mech folderi vim betimga Ron prin boih ipe ad kor 4 ben seve Enea LOL O022 V hidde ch e Te rning i TAL Figure 1 37 Create a new file using Windows Explorer Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning 1435487370 ch01 CTP gxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 34 F 34 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems CREATE A FOLDER To create a folder first select the folder you want to be the parent folder Remember that a parent folder is the folder that contains the child folder Right click in the white area of the right pane and select New from the shortcut menu or click File New in the menu bar The menu in Figure 1 37 appears Notice in the menu that fo
50. process which can then create multiple threads to the OS requesting tasks to be done 4 An OS manages hardware by way of device drivers or by using system BIOS firmware Sometimes device drivers are considered part of the OS 4 Current processors can process 32 bits or 64 bits at a time Most processors used with desktop or laptop systems are hybrid processors They use a 32 bit core and can work using either a 32 bit instruction set or a 64 bit instruction set 4 Operating systems process either 32 bits or 64 bits Microsoft calls 32 bit operating systems x86 based OSs The term x64 applies to 64 bit OSs A 64 bit operating systems require 64 bit drivers A Each edition of Vista comes in 32 bit and 64 bit versions Windows XP Professional comes in a 64 bit version A The Vista desktop differs from the Windows 2000 XP desktop in that Vista offers the Aero user interface and the sidebar with gadgets Also the Start menu is reorganized 4 Four ways to launch an application are to use the Start menu the Search box Windows 2000 XP Run box Windows Explorer similar to the Vista Computer or Windows 2000 XP My Computer window or a shortcut icon A The right side of the taskbar is called the notification area which some call the system tray 4 Windows uses the file extension to know which application to open to manage the file which is called the file association 4 The Vista UAC box is used to protect the system against malware
51. r Vista you have three choices for folder types These choices are explained here 4 Folder creates a regular folder 4 Compressed zipped Folder creates a compressed folder with a zip extension Any file or folder that you put in this folder will be compressed to a smaller size than normal A compressed folder is often used to compress files to a smaller size so they can more easily be sent by e mail When you remove a file or folder from a compressed folder the file or folder is uncompressed back to its original size 4 Briefcase creates a Briefcase folder which is a folder that can be used to sync up files in this folder with its corresponding Briefcase folder on another computer Windows offers two ways to sync files Briefcase and Offline Files Make your selection and the folder is created and highlighted so that you can rename it see Figure 1 38 Fo Tyee Ti 303 PM Tetons LTA T34 PAM Te Decem 10 18 2007 10 33 Cirp ig ALR Feeder e i 104 AM Fala Feld UI 537 Pa File Felder LRT 3 32 PIA MOT 32 PIA IAAT 4 39 PRA IO 436 PII Misco Bae Pa Lika 338 Pl 1005 67 538 PIA Figure 1 38 Edit the new folder s name Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning You can create folders within folders within folders but there is a limitation as to the maximum depth of folders under folders how deep you can nest folders depends on the length of the folder names themselves In Chapter 4 you will learn that you can also cr
52. raining tool for learning UNIX 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 9 F How Windows 2000 XP Vista Works 9 A shell is the portion of an OS that relates to the user and to applications The first Linux and UNIX shells consisted of commands entered at a command prompt Two popular command line shells for UNIX and Linux are the older Bourne shell and the newer Bourne Again shell BASH But many users prefer a Windows style GUI desktop These GUI shells are built using a technology called X Windows The most popular GUI shells are GNOME KDE and Xfce A typical Linux desktop is shown in Figure 1 9 TECCET A IU Q m E ropa it aie dep inei m drrbl bg pk cw Anet adr poll oiha we LGDA Peiper T a ih mairig l WU pecite hI arrore E droppe dub pereit framer TA pachrti M errori Arapi dik perrea carrier Figure 1 9 A desktop using the Ubuntu distribution of Linux Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning You can find out more about Linux by reading the content Introducing Linux on the CD that accompanies this book or by visiting the Web site www linux org Now that you know a little about operating systems in general let s turn our attention to learning about the Windows 2000 XP Vista operating system HOW WINDOWS 2000 XP VISTA WORKS Windows 2000 XP and Vista are three evolutions of the same basic operating system Therefore they have many things in common In this
53. rtual machine on a computer List four major functions of an OS What is the next Microsoft operating system for desktop computers to be released in 2010 The Windows shell operates in mode and the kernel operates in mode How many bits does an x86 based operating system process at one time on Oo vu B5 ww nm What term does Intel use to describe a processor technology that uses all 64 bit processing 9 What term does AMD use to describe the processor technology that uses a 64 bit instruc tion set with 32 bit internal core processing 10 In question 9 above what term does Intel use to describe the same technology 11 Which Windows XP operating system is a 64 bit OS 12 Which edition of Vista comes packaged with a 32 bit DVD as well as a 64 bit DVD 13 What is the memory limitation for a 32 bit operating system 14 On the Vista Start menu where might you expect to be able to access user files 15 How can you add the sidebar to the Vista desktop 16 When is the Vista flip 3D view available to Vista 1435487370 ch01 CTP qgxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 42 F 42 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems 17 What is the keyboard shortcut to the flip 3D view 18 The taskbar notification area includes icons for currently running services What is another term for this area 19 What part of a filename does Windows use to know which application to open to manage the file 20 When does a user need to enter a pass
54. s puts important user files and folders Here s the default layout although later in the book you will learn how to change these locations 4 In Windows Vista user data and settings are stored in a user folder and its subfolders The folder name is the user account name and the folder is created under the SystemDrive Users folder for example C Users Jean Andrews 4 In Windows 2000 XP the user folder is also named after the user account name The folder is created under the SystemDrive Documents and Settings folder for exam ple C Documents and Settings Jean Andrews The subfolders under the user folder are organized differently under Windows 2000 XP than under Windows Vista In Microsoft documentation the SystemDnve folder means the volume on which Windows is installed Most often this drive is C although in a dual boot environment one OS might be installed on C and another on a different drive For example Windows XP can be installed on C and Windows Vista installed on E You will learn how to set up these dual boot installations in Chapter 3 CHANGING FOLDER OPTIONS You can also view and change options assigned to folders these options control how users view the files in the folder and what they can do with th s files Windows identifies file types primarily bythe file extension In Windows Explorer and the Computer window Windowsthas ansannoying habit of hiding the extensions of certain files By default Wi
55. s such as the Intel Core2 Duo or 64 bit AMD processors AMD64 refers specifically to these AMD processors For example a Windows error message might be You are attempting to load an x86 64 operating system Take that to mean you 1435487370 chO01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 16 F 16 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems View basic information about yenr imputer aiian pia eiger Vega Hipag Pagerunamn Capra 2001 Wires Corpossteon A rights resect Teresa Perk Upgnecn Weren Vah Tons Mertens Inc hihi WAO Compute Pawg ER bit Cond TMEE Dus CPU VIDES QLNUME LEO GG Figure 1 14 A 32 bit version of Vista is installed with a 64 bit es Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning i onto a compu at has a hybrid 32 bit 64 bit are attempting to 4 processor installe s or Intel Core2 Duo 4 The te 64 re eci 64 bit Intel processors such as the Xeon or Itaniu r exam ou are selecting a utility to download from the Microsoft ite choice for the utility specifies an IA64 platform Only select this choice ave installed an Itanium or Xeon processor By the way a techie uses the platform to mean the hardware and software on which other software is run ning In this context the operating system s platform is the processor A The term x64 refers to 64 bit operating systems For example Microsoft offers two versions of Vista Home Premium the x86 version and the x64 version
56. t a computer into one of two installed OSs Also an application called VMWare Fusion can be installed on a Mac the application creates a virtual machine on the Mac A virtual machine VM is an envi ronment created by software that works as though it is a standalone computer system A VM is a logical computer within a physical computer Software testers often use multiple VMs on a single PC to test software under different OSs Windows is then installed on this virtual machine making it possible to run both Mac OS X and Windows at the same time without having to reboot the system Applications written for Windows can then be installed in the virtual machine environment You will learn to use a virtual machine in a project at the end of Chapter 3 Because it is stable and easy to use the Mac OS has been popular in educational environ ments from elementary school through the university level It also provides excellent sup port for graphics and multimedia applications and is popular in the graphics and musical markets Currently about 10 percent of personal computers sold today are Macs In the past a Mac was more expensive than a comparable Windows computer and applications for the Mac were limited But now costs are about the same and tons of Mac applications exist many of them free Macs are beginning to gain ground in both the corp rate and home markets because Macs are stable and fun to use costs are down and softwares more available
57. t possible to open Internet Explorer in its bare bones state with no add ons running this state is useful when troubleshooting Windows 2000 menus are organized similar to those of Windows XP LOL 022 Y fi 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 26 F 26 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems This line divides pinned programs from recently used programs Current user Pinned programs Recently used folders Programs recently used Utilities recently used Default utilities Used to access list of programs Figure 1 27 The Windows XP desktop and Start menu Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning Figure 1 28 Click Start All Programs to view the list of currently installed software Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning You can control the Start menu and taskbar in Windows XP 2000 in a similar way as in Vista However Windows XP 2000 uses the Display Properties window rather than the Personalization window of Vista to control the appearance of Windows You access the window the same way as the Personalization window of Vista Right click the desk top and select Properties from the shortcut menu see Figure 1 29 The left side of Figure 1 29 shows the Desktop tab of the Display Properties window for Windows XP 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 27 T Using Windows 2000 XP Vista 27 ie CARIES Somin em Acpaeance Sela
58. ter do the following and answer the following ques tions about the taskbar 1 List the items in the Quick Launch area of the taskbar What is the program name and path to each item 2 List the items in the notification area system tray of the taskbar Don t forget to list the items hidden in this area Investigate and describe the purpose of each program 3 Move the taskbar from the bottom of the screen to the left side List the steps you took to do that 4 If you are using a Vista computer press Win Tab and describe the results Are you using the Vista Aero user interface PROJECT 1 4 Practicing Keystrokes Refer to Appendix B Keystroke Shortcuts in Windows for help with thissprojects Disconnect your mouse and then practice using the keyboard in case you must troubleshoot a system when the mouse does not work Do the following 1 Open Explorer and display the files in the root directory of drive C List the steps and keystrokes you used to do this 2 Unhide all the files in this folder From the Tools menu select Folder Options select the View tab and then select Show hidden files and folders Also uncheck Hide extensions for known file types and uncheck Hide protected operating system files List the steps and keystrokes you used 3 What is the exact size of the file Pagefile sys in bytes and the date and time the file was last modified PROJECT 1 5 Using Windows Explorer Do the following to practice using
59. tesy Course Technology Cengage Learning 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 25 F Using Windows 2000 XP Vista 25 2 Click Associate a file type or protocol with a program The list of current associations appears 3 Select the file extension you want to change and click Change program The Open With dialog box appears see Figure 1 26 4 The box displays installed programs that can handle avi files Make your selection and click OK and then click Close Close the Default Programs window Abain a br hype or protoegl with a aprcilic program D ln Dh raja aah pje ha erry a a iep a To dat Lo qam isa semans si EU ILTL S ot H ie Figure 1 26 Select the default program to play an avi video file Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning DIFFERENCES IN THE WINDOWS XP 2000 DESKTOP AND THE VISTA DESKTOP Comparing the Windows XP desktop shown in Figure 1 27 to the Vista desktop you can see many similarities When you point to All Programs in Figure 1 27 the list of currently installed software appears Figure 1 28 shows the default entries that appear when you point to Accessories and then System Tools You can use these tools to back up data clean up a hard drive schedule tasks restore Windows settings and do various other things when solving problems with Windows In Vista the System Tools group includes all the XP tools plus a new one Internet Explorer No Add ons This tool makes i
60. the OS starts up In this sit uation the system BIOS provides the instructions to the CPU to communicate with these devices Note that the system BIOS uses settings stored in the CMOS RAM chip on the motherboard to know how to start the system Later during the boot process the OS is started and it then uses device drivers to commu nicate with these same devices although there still might be limited use of the system BIOS Figure 1 12 shows that the kernel communicates with hardware by way of its own drivers manufacturer drivers or system BIOS 1 Floppy disk drive Figure 1 12 An OS relates to hardware by way of device drivers and possibly system BIOS Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning A device driver is written to work for a specific OS such as Windows XP or Windows Vista Therefore when you upgrade a computer from Windows XP to Windows Vista it is necessary to obtain Vista drivers for each installed device Manufacturers usually publish the latest device drivers on their Web sites When you purchase a printer DVD drive Zip drive digital camera scanner or other hardware device bundled with the device might be a CD that contains the device drivers see Figure 1 13 Sometimes the device also comes bundled with a user manual and applications software that interfaces with the device You use the operating system to install the device drivers so it wi
61. the Windows System Information utility to examine your system Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning To run System Information in Windows Vista click Start and enter Msinfo32 exe in the Start box and press Enter The System Information window opens For Windows 2000 XP click Start click Run enter Msinfo32 exe in the Run dialog box and press Enter System Information can be useful when strange error messages appear during startup Use it to get a list of drivers that loaded successfully If you have saved the System Information report when the system was starting successfully comparing the two reports can help iden tify the problem device The A 220 701 Essentials exam expects you to be familiar with and know how to use the Windows 2000 XP Vista desktop Computer My Computer Windows Explorer Control Panel System Information and the Command Prompt windows All these tools are discussed in this section If the utility can be accessed by more than one method you are expected to know all of the methods 1435487370 ch01 CTP gxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 39 F Using Windows 2000 XP Vista 39 COMMAND PROMPT WINDOW As you have already seen in this chapter individual commands can be entered in the Vista Search box or the Windows 2000 XP Run box However you can also open a command prompt window and use it to enter multiple commands to perform a variety of tasks To open the window in the Vista Start box or the Windows 2000
62. user commands Courtesy Course Technology Cengage Learning oo 1435487370 chO01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 3 F Operating Systems Past and Present 3 DOS WITH WINDOWS 3 X Early versions of Windows including Windows 3 1 and Windows 3 11 collectively referred to as Windows 3 x used DOS as the operating system Windows 3 x had to use DOS because Windows 3 x didn t perform OS functions but simply served as a user friendly intermediate program between DOS applications and the user see Figure 1 3 Windows 3 x offered a graphical user interface the Windows desktop the windows con cept and the ability to keep more than one application open at the same time A graphi cal user interface GUI pronounced GOO ee is an interface that uses graphics as compared to a command driven interface A desktop is the initial screen that is displayed when an OS has a GUI interface loaded All these concepts are still with us today yered between DOS and the user and applications to provide interface for the user and a multitasking environment for applications Course Technology Cengage Learning WINDOWS 9X ME Windows 95 Windows 98 and Windows Me collectively called Windows 9x Me used some DOS programs as part of the underlying OS called a DOS core and therefore had some DOS characteristics However these were true operating systems that provided a user friendly interface shown in Figure 1 4 Because of the DOS core tech
63. w security feature introduced with Windows Vista is the User Account Control UAC dialog box shown in Figure 1 30 This box appears each time a user attempts to perform an action that can be done only with administrative privileges In Vista there are two types of user accounts n administrator account and a standard account An administrator account has more privileges than a standard account and is used by those responsible for maintaining and securing the system When the UAC box appears if a user is logged on as an administrator all she has to do is click Continue to close the box and move on as shown in Figure 1 30 a If the user account does not have administrative privileges the user has the opportunity to enter a password of an administrative account to continue as shown in Figure 1 30 b The purposes of the UAC box are 1 to prevent malicious background tasks from doing harm when the administrator is logged on and 2 to make it easier for an administrator to log in using a less powerful user account for normal desktop activities but still be able to perform administrative tasks while logged in as a regular user It is possible to disable the 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 28 F 28 CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems b Bi r pheri ni annes riim Manor pag Jap ag Cen Lirias Bidaai TE teeinuok toe Ba erre her catered d a cith QE he Mary Walters wi Bak om emm User Sextus Cont
64. ware and the executive services interface between the subsystems in user mode and the HAL Executive services components manage hardware resources by way of the HAL and device drivers When Windows is first installed it builds the 1435487370 ch01 CTP qxd 7 20 09 7 23 PM Page 12 F CHAPTER 1 Introducing Operating Systems HAL based on the type of CPU installed The HAL cannot be moved from one computer to another which is one reason you cannot copy a Windows installation from one com puter to another CONFIGURATION DATA An operating system needs a place to keep hardware and software configuration information user preferences and application settings This information is used when the OS is first loaded and when needed by hardware applications and users Windows uses a database called the Registry for most of this information In addition Windows keeps some data in text files called initialization files which often have an ini or inf file extension For example an application might store in a text file or in the Registry the settings preferred by the last user such as background color font and text size When the application is launched the first thing it does is read the Registry or text file and then loads the user s preferred settings HOW WINDOWS MANAGES APPLICATIONS When an application is first installed its program files are normally stored on the hard drive When the application is launched the program is
65. word into the UAC box in order to continue 21 What extension is used to name a compressed folder 22 What is the path and folder name to the desktop folder for the user Jane when Windows Vista is installed on drive C 23 List five file attributes Which attribute applies only to Vista 24 How do you access the Properties box for a file to change an attribute 25 What is the program name for the System Information utility 1 If your printer is giving you trouble what is the best vay to obtain an update for the device driver 2 What Windows tool can you use to knowhow muchsRAM is installed on your system 3 Why is 16 bit Windows software considered to be legacy software 4 Can you install Vista Ultimate 32 bit version or 64 bit version on an Intel Quad Core system manufactured in 2008 5 Mary wants her x86 based version of Windows Vista Business edition to run faster She has 4 GB of memory installed on the motherboard She decides more memory will help She installs an additional 2 GB of memory for a total of 6 GB but does not see any performance improvement What is the problem and what should you tell Mary a She should use Device Manager to install the memory in Vista After it is installed performance should improve Tell Mary how to open Device Manager b A 32 bit OS cannot use more than 4 GB of memory Tell Mary she has wasted her money c A 32 bit OS cannot use more than 4 GB of memory Tell Mary to upgrade her

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