Understanding Windows

Chapter 13

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 Overview

• In this chapter, you will learn to

– Explain the Windows interface

– Identify the features and characteristics of

Windows 2000 and Windows XP

– Describe the current versions of Windows

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 CompTIA A+
Essentials

Essentials

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 Windows Interface

• All versions share common look and feel

– Utilities same or similar

– GUI works the same

– Command-line interface has similar commands

– Master one, and you’re well on your way to mastering

them all

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 User Interface

• Login
– Every version of Windows supports multiple users
– Requiring a user login increases security

• Desktop
– Primary interface to the computer

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 User Interface

• Taskbar and Start menu

– Runs along the bottom of the desktop and
includes up to four sections
• Start menu allows access to the installed programs
• System tray shows programs running in the background
• Quick Launch enables you to launch often-used programs
with a single click

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 User Interface

• My Computer
– Provides access to drives, folders, and files

– Customizable: Can display different views, show

hidden files, hide file extensions, and more

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 User Interface

• Windows Explorer
– Another utility for accessing drives, folders,
and files
• My Documents
– My Pictures, My Music, My Videos

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 User Interface

• Recycle Bin
– Deleted files sent to Recycle Bin
– Can retrieve them if desired
– Size can be adjusted

• My Network Places
– Shows the current network
connections available

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 Hot Keys

• Working with text

F1 Help
F2 Rename
F3 Search Menu
CTRL-C Copy
F4 Open the Address
CTRL-X Cut Bar
CTRL-V Paste F5 Refresh current
CTRL-Z Undo window
CTRL-B Bold F10 Activate menu bar
CTRL-U Underline options
CTRL-I Italic
• Function keys

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 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 shortcut menu
SHIFT Bypass Autorun for CDs
ALT-SPACE Display system menu
ALT-ENTER Open properties
CTRL-SHIFT- Launch Task Manager
ESC

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 Hot Keys

• Windows key shortcuts

 Open Start menu

-R Open Run command
-BREAK Open system properties
-D Show desktop
-M Minimize all windows
-E Open My Computer
-L Lock computer
-F Search for file or menu

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 Tech Utilities: Right-Click

• Also called:
– Alt menu
– Context menu

• Works almost everywhere

• Properties selection very common

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 Tech Utilities: Control Panel

• Handles maintenance, upgrade, and

configuration aspects of Windows

– Start | Settings | Control Panel

– Contains many mini-programs, called applets

– Any icon in the Control Panel is a file with a

CPL extension
• If Control Panel won’t start, one of these is probably
corrupt—rename each one until you find the bad one

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 Tech Utilities: Control Panel

• Category view • Classic view

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 Tech Utilities: Device Manager

• Device Manager
– Used to configure hardware and drivers

– Devices are organized in special groups

called types

– Access through
• System applet in Control Panel
• Properties of My Computer
• -Break
• Computer Management

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 Tech Utilities: Device Manager

• Device Manager
– Used to configure hardware and drivers

– Access through
• System applet in Control Panel
• Properties of My Computer
• -Break
• Computer Management

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 Tech Utilities: Device Manager

• Device Manager
– Devices are organized in special
groups called types

– Problems identified with red “X”

or a yellow exclamation point

– Can also update drivers

here

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 Tech Utilities: System Tools

• System Tools is a collection of tech

utilities found on the Start menu
– Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools

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 Tech Utilities: Command Line

• Command line
– Start | Run | cmd
– Not DOS
– DOS is dead, but CLI thrives

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 IT Technician

CompTIA A+
Technician

IT Technician
Microsoft Management Console

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 Tech Utilities: MMC

• Microsoft Management Console (MMC)

– Shell program - holds utilities called snap-ins
– Start | Run | mmc
– Starts with blank console
• Add snap-ins: File | Add/Remove Snap-ins | Add
• Save the new customized console you created

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 Tech Utilities: Administrative
Tools

• Administrative Tools
– A folder that holds many predefined MMC consoles
built by Microsoft
– Control Panel | Administrative Tools
– The three most used
Administrative Tools are
• Computer Management
• Event Viewer
• Performance

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 Tech Utilities: Computer
Management
• Computer Management
– A predefined MMC that pulls together snap-ins
related to many computer management options

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 Tech Utilities: Event Viewer

• Event Viewer
– Keeps track of events that happen with
your computer

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 Tech Utilities: Performance

• Performance
– System Monitor shows real-time data
– Performance Logs and Alerts—captured data

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 Services

• Services
– Separate programs that handle functions in
Windows

– Double-click any service to examine its properties

and settings

– Services start
• Automatically
• Manually
• May be disabled

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 OS Folders

• System folder
– Folder where the OS files were installed
– %systemroot%

– Typically C:\Windows in XP, C:\Winnt in 2000

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 Other Important Folders

• C:\Program Files

• C:\Documents and Settings

• C:\WINNT

• C:\WINNT\FONTS

• C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32

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 What Is the Registry?

• Registry
– A unified database

•Stores all hardware and

software configuration info
for the local computer

•Data stored in Registry files called hives

•In %SystemRoot%\System32\Config folder

•Rarely modify directly

•Instead modify via Control Panel or other administrative tools

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 Registry Editors

• Regedit
– Older version—Allowed easy searches
• Regedt32
– Newer version—better for modifying Registry

• Combined version in XP and Vista

• When using the Registry Editors, be

very careful!
– Does not recognize syntax or semantic errors
– May prevent your operating system from loading

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 REGEDIT

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 Registry Editors

• REGEDIT in
Windows 2000

• Regedt32 in
Windows 2000

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 Combined in XP

• Typing Regedit or Regedt32 launches

same program in XP

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 Registry Components

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT Defines standard

class objects

HKEY_CURRENT_USER Personalized
information for
current user
HKEY_USERS Generalized
information for all
users
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE General hardware
configuration info

HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG Hardware information

for this boot

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 Swap File or Page File

• All versions of Windows use virtual

memory

• Also known as RAM cache

• Windows swap files are used to

implement virtual memory

• Allows the system to work as though it

has more memory than it does
– Uses drive for extra memory

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 Virtual Memory

• More programs
More RAM

• At some point
no more physical
RAM available

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 Virtual Memory

• Programs swapped out

of RAM to hard drive

• New programs can now

be run in physical RAM

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 Features and Characteristics of
Windows NT/2000/XP

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 OS Organization

• Windows operating system separated

into different components

• The subsystems

• The NT Executive

• The drivers

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 Robust, scalable, cross-platform

• Robust
– Separates processes and runs them in
different subsystems
– One program bug doesn’t affect others
• Cross-platform
– Uses object-oriented approach
– Designed to support multiple platforms by
using HAL
– Abstracts (separates) differences in hardware
• Scalable
– Supports symmetric multiprocessing (SMP)
– Allows support for up to 32 CPUs

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 NT File System (NTFS)

• Robust and powerful

– Long filenames containing up to 255 characters

– Redundancy
• Advanced FAT called the master file table (MFT)

– Backward-compatible with DOS and Windows 9x

– Recoverability
• Uses transaction logging to survive accidental shutdowns

– Security
• Allows file and folder security

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 NTFS Security Overview

• Implemented with
– Users, groups, permissions

• Files and folders can be restricted

– Permissions granted to user or group
– User can gain access based on own user account
– User can gain access based on group membership

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 NTFS Security

• Accounts
– Every user has an account
– Without an account, can’t log on

– Every Windows NT/2000 PC has an Administrator

account that has full access to everything

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 NTFS Security

• Groups
– A group is a collection of user accounts that share
the same access capabilities

– Assign access to a group and then put users into

the group

– Users will inherit the access assigned to the group

– Windows provides several built-in groups

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 Built-in Groups

• Administrators • Power Users

– May perform all – May create and modify
administrative tasks on local user accounts and
the computer share resources on the
local computer
• Backup Operators • Replicator
– May use Windows – Supports file replication
Backup in a domain
• Guests • Users
– May perform only – May perform only tasks
specific tasks that specifically assigned
are granted – Local user accounts
– Guest account is a that are created
become members
member
• Everyone

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 NTFS Permissions

• NTFS permissions in 2000/XP

– Lists users and groups granted access to a file
or folder

– Lists the specific level of access allowed

– Available only on volumes

formatted as NTFS (Security tab)

– NTFS security is effective

whether a user
• Gains access at the computer
• Gains access over the network

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 NTFS Special Permissions

• Ownership
– When you create a new file or folder you become
the owner
– Owners have full control
– Owners can change permissions

• Take Ownership permission

– Enables a user to take ownership of a file or folder
– Administrator account can take ownership of any
files

• Change Permission
– Can give or take away permissions for other
accounts
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 NTFS Standard Permissions

• Folder permissions
– Apply to folders

• File permissions
– Apply to files

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 NTFS Folder Permissions

• Full Control
– Enables you to do anything you want
– To deny all access, deny Full Control

• Modify
– Cannot delete files or subfolders but may
modify them

• Read & Execute

– Enables read files and run programs

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 NTFS Folder Permissions

• List Folder Contents

– Enables you to see the contents of the folder
and subfolders

• Read
– Enables you to read any files in the folder

• Write
– Enables you to write to files and create new files
and folders

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 NTFS Folder Permissions

• By default,
permissions are
inherited from
parent folders

– This may be
prevented by
removing the check
mark at the bottom

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 NTFS File Permissions

• Full Control
– Enables you to do anything
• Modify
– Enables you to do anything except take ownership
or change permissions
• 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

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 Combining Permissions

• User’s effective permissions are the cumulative

permissions resulting from a combination of user
and group permissions.

– Sally is in Administrator group

– Sally has Read permission on a folder

– Administrator has Full Control on the folder

– Sally’s effective permission is Full Control

Cumulative from Full Control and Read

– Deny permission overrides all other permissions. Deny

always becomes the effective permission.

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 The Boot Process

• NT Loader manages the booting process

– Windows 2000/XP boot files that must be in the
root directory of the system partition are
• NTLDR (NT Loader)
• BOOT.INI
• NTDETECT.COM
• NTBOOTDD.SYS (only needed for SCSI controllers that
don’t have their own ROM BIOS)

– System Partition
• Active partition (typically C: drive)

– Boot Partition
• Where OS files located (X:\Windows on XP)

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 The Boot Process

– After POST, BIOS looks for valid OS in the

boot sector

– MFT (on boot sector) points to system files

– NTOSKRNL loads device drivers and loads

system files

– System files (NTLODR, NTDETECT, BOOT.INI)

start the PC and point to boot files

– GUI starts to load

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 Boot Files: NTLDR

• NTLDR (NT Loader) manages the boot-up

process until control is handed over to
NTOSKRL (NT kernel)

– To find available operating systems, NTLDR reads

the boot.ini file

– If multiple OSs are available, a menu shows up

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 Boot Files: BOOT.INI

• BOOT.INI is a text file that lists the

available OSs and where to find the
boot partition

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 More Boot Files

• BOOTSEC.DOS is read by NTLDR if it finds

a different OS to load

• NTDETECT.COM detects the hardware if

you choose to boot to NT/2000/XP

• NTBOOTDD.SYS is used if NTLDR detects

that the boot partition resides on a SCSI
drive that lacks a ROM chip for BIOS
support

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 Windows Versions

• Windows comes in families

– Different versions targeted at different
market segments

• Windows 2000 family

– Windows 2000 Professional (desktop)
– Windows 2000 Server

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 Windows XP Family

• XP Professional
– Fully functional version
– Intended for corporate users

• XP Home
– Designed for home and small office use
– Many unneeded features not available

• XP Media Center
– Same as XP Home with additional media features

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 Windows 64-Bit Versions

• Windows XP 64-bit Edition

– Runs only on Intel Itanium processors

• Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

– Runs on any AMD or Intel processor that supports
both 32 bits and 64 bits

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 Windows Vista

• Windows Vista Home Basic

– Similar to XP Home
• Windows Vista Home Premium
– Similar to XP Media Center
• Windows Business
– Basic Business version similar to XP Professional
• Windows Vista Enterprise
– Available only to large corporate buyers
• Windows Vista Ultimate
– Includes all features of any version
– Adds some features such as game performance
“tweaker” and DVD ripping

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 Other Windows

• Windows Mobile
– PDAs and phones

• Windows XP Tablet PC
– Laptop with a touch screen

• Windows Embedded
– OS embedded into devices

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© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved