13 understanding windows
- 2. Windows Interface User Interface – Login – Desktop – Taskbar and Start Menu – System Tray
- 3. Windows Interface My Computer – Folder Options Windows Explorer My Documents – My Pictures Recycle Bin My Network Places
- 4. Hot Keys Function Keys – F1 Help – F2 Rename – F3 Search menu – F4 Open the Address Bar options – F5 Refresh the current window – F6 Move among selections in current windows – F10 Activate menu bar options
- 5. Hot Keys Popular Hot Keys – CTRL-ESC Open Start menu – ALT-TAB Switch between open programs – ALT-F4 Quit program – CTRL-Z Undo the last command – CTRL-A Select all the items in the current window – SHIFT-DELETE Delete item permanently – SHIFT-F10 Open a shortcut menu for the selected item (this is the same as right-clicking an object) – SHIFT Bypass the automatic-run feature for optical media (by pressing and holding down the SHIFT key while you insert optical media – ALT-SPACE Display the main window’s System menu (from this menu you can restore, move, resize, minimize, maximize, or close the window) – ALT-ENTER Open the properties for the selected object
- 6. Hot Keys Working with Text – CTRL-C Copy – CTRL-X Cut – CTRL-V Paste – CTRL-Z Undo – CTRL-B Bold – CTRL-U Underline – CTRL-I Italic
- 7. Hot Keys Windows Key Shortcuts These shortcuts use the special Windows key: – Windows key Start menu – Windows key-C Open the Control Panel – Windows key-D Show desktop – Windows key-E Windows Explorer – Windows key-F Search menu – Windows key-L Log off Windows – Windows key-P Start Print Manager – Windows key-R Run dialog box – Windows key-S Toggle CAPS LOCK – Windows key-V Open the Clipboard – Windows key-CTRL-F Find computer – Windows key-TAB Cycle through taskbar buttons – Windows key-BREAK Open the System Properties dialog box
- 8. Tech Utilities Control Panel – AAdddd//RReemmoovvee HHaarrddwwaarree – UUsseerr AAccccoouunnttss Device Manager System Tools Backup Disk Cleanup Disk Defragmenter
- 9. Tech Utilities Files and Settings Transfer Wizard (XP Only) Task Scheduler Security Center (XP Only) System Information System Restore (XP Only) Command Line Microsoft Management Console
- 10. Tech Utilities Administrative Tools Computer Management Event Viewer Performance
- 11. OS Folders System Folder Other Important Folders – C:Program Files This is the default location for all of the installed programs – C:Documents and Settings This is where all of the personal settings for each user are stored. Every user has their own subfolder in Documents and Settings. In each user folder, you’ll find another level of folders with familiar names such as Desktop, My Documents, and Start Menu. These folders hold the actual contents of these items – C:WINNT The SystemRoot has a number of critical subfolders, but surprisingly holds no critical files in the folder itself. About the most interesting file found here is good old notepad.exe. Remember that this is C:WINDOWS on a Windows XP system! – C:WINNTFONTS All of the fonts installed in Windows live here – C:WINNTSYSTEM32 This is the real Windows! All of the most critical programs that make Windows run are stored here
- 12. Registry A huge database that stores everything about your PC, including information on all the hardware in the PC, network information, user preferences, file types, and virtually anything else you might run into with Windows Almost any form of configuration done to a Windows system involves editing the Registry Accessing the Registry – REGEDT32.EXE – older REGEDIT.EXE
- 13. Registry Components The Registry is organized in a tree structure similar to the folders in the PC. Once you open the Registry Editor in Windows, you will see five main subgroups, or root keys – HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT – HKEY_CURRENT_USER – HKEY_USERS – HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE – HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG
- 14. Swap File or Page File Windows uses a portion of the hard drive as an extension of system RAM – Called a RAM cache – A RAM cache is a block of cylinders on a hard drive set aside as what’s called a swap file, page file, or virtual memory When the PC starts running out of real RAM because you’ve loaded too many programs, the system swaps programs from RAM to the swap file, opening more space for programs currently active NOTE If you have a second hard drive installed in your PC, you can often get a nice performance boost by moving your page file from the C: drive (the default) to the second drive. To move your page file, go to the Control Panel | System applet and select the Advanced tab. In the Performance section, click the Settings button to open the Performance Options dialog box. Select the Advanced tab, and then click the Change button in the Virtual Memory section. Select a drive from the list and give it a size or range
- 15. Features and Characteristics of Windows 2000/XP
- 16. Features and Characteristics of Windows 2000/XP NT File System (NTFS) – Offers the following excellent features: Long filenames (LFNs) Redundancy Backward compatibility Recoverability Security
- 17. Security Accounts Groups NTFS Permissions – Full Control Enables you to do anything you want! – Modify Enables you to do anything except take ownership or change permissions on the file – Read & Execute If the file is a program, you can run it – Read If the file is data, you can read it – Write Enables you to write to the file
- 18. The Boot Process System Partition Files – Windows 2000 and XP require the three system files in the root directory of the system partition: NTLDR BOOT.INI NTDETECT.COM
- 19. Windows Versions Windows XP Professional – Offers a complete computing solution – Tuned for office environments that support multiple users – It provides full-blown data security – It is the only version of Windows with the capability of logging into a special Windows Server-controlled network called a domain
- 20. Windows Versions Windows XP Home – Is Designed for the home and small office user Windows XP Home does not have: – The ability to log on to a Windows domain – Encrypted File System – Support for multiple processors! – Support for Remote Desktop – Support for NTFS Access Control – Support for group policies
- 21. Windows XP Media Center A specialized XP version that includes the very handy Windows Media Center program A powerful Personal Video Recorder (PVR) program that enables you to watch and record television (you’ll need a TV tuner card) and organize all of your media, from photos to music