3.2+Proper+use+of+Operating+Systems

Section 3.0 - Operating Systems and Software

toc

 include component="pageList" hideInternal="true" homeAtTop="on" limit="50"

SubSection 3.2 Proper use of user interfaces = Windows Explorer =  It is the basic File Manager that you use without even knowing. When you open up "My Computer" you're using Windows Explorer. When opening a folder on the desktop, you're opening Windows Explorer. In basic terms, it's a File Viewing program. It looks different depending on what Operating system you have. The 3 most common are Windows XP, Vista, and 7. All versions of Windows is navigable by clicking icons or typing them in a Search Bar.
 * Page Created By: J.J. **
 * Edited By: J.J. **

Using Windows explorer also means you're using a Graphical User Interface (GUI)

--Windows 98
 Ok. If you are using Windows 98, you are using a fossil. It is a very basic File Viewing program to use. Windows 98 Windows Explorer has a Title Bar (telling the user where he/she is) and a Tool bar with the usual File, Edit, View, etc... It also has a "Back" and "Forward" button to switch back and forth from recently viewed files and folders. It even has its own button to Copy, Paste, Cut, and Delete. I suggest upgrading to either Windows XP or Vista. Mainly for the reason that stuff like Printers and other USB devices and other Input devices do not have the drivers for that Operating System.

--Windows 2000
 Windows 2000 is another Operating system that isn't as old as Windows 98. Not a lot of changes have happened between 98 and 2000. Still has the Tool Bar, and everything else 98 had, except made them smaller. Like Windows 98, Manufacturers don't include software for this system anymore. If you were to upgrade, I'd suggest Windows XP because it's most like 2000 in the File Viewing aspect. It even has the Space at the bottom where it tells you the File the cursor is over, the size of said file. And where it's located.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">They added the "Search" button, "Folders" button, and the "History" button, and moved the "Go" button from the Tool Bar to the Address Bar since (Windows) 98.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">--Windows XP
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Windows XP (one of the more common ones than 98 and 2000) as you can see in the picture above, has added, moved, and completely removed things from Windows 2000's Windows Explorer. This version has gotten rid of the bottom where it told you before of what the file was, how much data it had, and where the file is located. The Title Bar and the Tool Bar are from before. In the video below, it will explain how to use Windows Explorer XP. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">media type="youtube" key="Hdfv7SvQeXs?version=3" height="360" width="640"

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">--Windows Vista
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Windows Explorer includes significant changes from previous versions of Windows such as improved filtering, sorting, grouping and stacking. All-in-all, it's not that much different from the previous Windows Explorer XP. It's gotten rid of the Tool Bar, and the Open folder button as well as the folders button. It kept the "Back" and "Forward" buttons next to the address bar. They also made the Search Button into a Search Bar next to the Address Bar.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">--Windows 7
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Now, with Windows Explorer 7, it has __almost everything__ a normal user could want. It has shortcuts to the following under the address bar and the search bar while viewing "Computer": <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">System Properties <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Uninstall or Change a Program <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Map Network Drive <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Open Control Panel

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The shortcuts vary depending what you're viewing. If you were in "My Documents", you would see a "Open", "Print", and other shortcuts for a document.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">--Windows 8
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Windows 8 is still in the beta phase, meaning that there's not a lot known about it. But as you can see, it has a ribbon view, the same as the view you would see in Microsoft Office 2007, so it has that familiar view to XP and vista users.

= = = = = = = = <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">|

=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">My Computer =

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> = =

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This system holds the "Local Disk" (aka, the C: drive) "DVD" or "CD" Drive (the D:) and whatever Network you're connected to. This would also recognize any outside Storage Devices

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Local Disk is just your Hard Drive, where all your data is stored.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The DVD/CD drive is for whenever you put a disk in to either install something or watch a movie to everything in between.

=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Control Panel = <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Now, with this, there are 2 views to it:

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**-Category View--Classic View** <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">| <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">|-Classic view is more of the view for people who want to <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Category View is where all of the options are in categories.---|-get somewhere quicker. Every option is out there in the <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">organization is the main key in category view.|-open so you can see where everything is in alphabetical ---|-order.

=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Command Prompt Utilities =

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Command Prompt Utilities are what users type into the command prompt to find what their looking for. The Command Prompt is the application that's a little black rectangular text box with white text as seen in the picture on the left.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">--Telnet
<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Verdana,Arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The **telnet** commands allow you to communicate with a remote computer that is using the Telnet protocol. You can run **telnet** without parameters in order to enter the telnet context, indicated by the Telnet prompt (**telnet>**). From the Telnet prompt, use the following commands to manage a computer running Telnet Client. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Segoe UI',Verdana,Arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">(Info From: @http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb491013.aspx )

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">--Ping
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Ping Command Is for IP-level connectivity. Basically, if you Ping another computer, it will tell you if you could possible connect to it. Ping would show you information like the time it took to get to that computer, how much data was sent, sent back, and lost (if any)

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">--Ipconfig
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This command is as simple as just showing you data on the computer like the before mentioned IP address, the Mac address (basically for media), and other things.

=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Run Line Utilities = <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The following utilities are more troubleshooting tools then anything. They show you about the system and files in the registry.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">--Msconfig
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">MSConfig helps with troubleshooting. It allows the user to disable and re-enable software, hardware, and Windows services that run on start-up

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">--Msinfo32
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Compares a comprehensive view of everything in your computer, such as Hardware, Software, and system components.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">--Dxdiag
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This utility helps troubleshooting with video and audio hardware problems. It can also tell you how much memory your computer holds.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">--Cmd
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">To view the command prompt, either go into accessories and click "Command Prompt" or type "CMD" on the run line.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">--REGEDIT
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Is a hierarchical database that stores configuration settings and options on Microsoft Windows Operating Systems.

=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Network Places /Homegroup = This shows you the shared Printers, Computers, and other resources on the network. @http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/webfoldr_overview.mspx?mfr=true Homegroup is like the Windows 7 version of Network Places =<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Task Bar/Systray = This part is in the lower right part of your computer, where it tells you what system operations and applications that are running again; Windows 7 calls it the Systray =<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Administrative Tools = <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">These help the Administrative users of the computer help control and regulate the computer.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">--Performance Monitor
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This tool helps view performance from memory and CPU in real time and log time. You can view this visualization in a graph, histograph, or a report.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">--Event Viewer
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Maintains logs about programs, security, and system events on your computer. You can use Event Viewer to view and manage the event logs, gather information about hardware and software problems, and monitor Windows security events. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">(Info found on: @http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/snap_event_viewer.mspx?mfr=true )

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">--Services
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">They're applications and software that runs in the background of the computer.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">--Computer Management
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">A collection of administrative tools to control local and remote computers.

=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">MMC = <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">(Microsoft Management Condole) Another Behind the Scene program. This program provides the system administrators and advance users to interface for configuring and monitoring the system.

=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Task Manager = <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">** Windows Task Manager ** is a [|task manager] application included with the [|Microsoft Windows] NT family of [|operating systems] that provides detailed information about computer performance and running applications, [|processes] and [|CPU] usage, [|commit charge] and memory information, network activity and statistics, logged-in users, and [|system services]. The Task Manager can also be used to set process priorities, [|processor affinity], forcibly terminate processes, and shut down, restart, hibernate or log off from Windows. Windows Task Manager was introduced with [|Windows NT 4.0]. Previous versions of Windows NT included the Task List application, which had far fewer features. The task list was capable of listing currently running processes and killing them, or creating a new process. In Windows XP only, a Shutdown menu is also present that allows access to Standby, Hibernate, Turn off, Restart, Log Off and [|Switch User].

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> (Info found from: @http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Task_Manager)

=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Start Menu =



The start menu is in almost every windows operating system. As you can see, no matter what, when on the lower left corner of the main screen. It shows important programs, recent programs, a search/run. Important files and folders, and important network folders and applications.