| Introduction The purpose for this module is to introduce the basic components of an operating system. We will be covering some of the more commonly used features to ensure familiarity Windows. The Windows Interface The Start Button The Start button provides access to many functions of the operating system. Shut Down (Win9x) Allows you to place the system in Stand by, Shut down, Restart the computer or Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode. Turn Off Computer (WinXP) Provides the options to place the system into Stand By, Turn Off or Restart the computer. Log off Logs off the current user so that another user can log on. In WinXP you can also Switch Users. This will keep both users active. Run Allows you to type in the name of a program, folder, document or web page to open or execute. Find (Win9x) Searches for Files or Folders, Computers on the network, On the Internet, People in the address book and Using Microsoft Outlook to search emails. Search (WinXP) Searches for Files or Folders, Computers on the network, the Internet, People in the address book and Help and Support. Help (Win9x) You can find help by looking in the Contents, looking through the Index or Searching Help. Help and Support (WinXP) You can find help by Picking a Help topic, Searching Help and Support and using the Technical Toolbox. Settings (Win9x) From Settings you can launch the Control Panel, Printers folder, customize the Taskbar & Start Menu, access Folder Options, change the Active Desktop settings and run Windows Update. Control Panel (WinXP) Launches the Control Panel. Documents (Win9x) Lists the most recently opened documents to provide faster access. My Documents (WinXP) Opens the My Documents folder. Programs (Win9x) Lists the programs installed on the computer so that they can be launched. Programs can be uninstalled from here as well. All Programs (WinXP) Lists the programs installed on the computer so that they can be launched. Programs can be uninstalled from here as well. Windows XP can also have several other items on the Start Menu like: My Computer Opens My Computer allowing you to access Hard Drives and Removable Storage Drives. My Music Opens the My Music folder, which is the default location for music to be stored and played from. My Pictures Accesses the My Pictures folder, which is the default location for storing and viewing image files. Internet Explorer Opens Internet Explorer so web sites can be displayed. Launches Outlook Express, which is used to send, receive and manage email. Windows Media Player Accesses Windows Media Player, which is used to play audio files, burn audio CDs, and watch videos such as DVDs. The System Tray The System Tray is normally located in the bottom right corner of the screen. The system time and applications that are running when Windows loads or are open can be displayed here. This provides fast access to these programs but they can cause the system to run slowly. The Taskbar When you launch an application like Internet Explorer it places itself on the Taskbar as a Taskbar button. The Taskbar helps users keep track of multiple applications that are running at the same time. When you fill the Taskbar in Windows 98 with applications, the buttons get smaller and smaller. Windows XP will group the application buttons together when the Taskbar fills up. Windows XP does this by grouping all open windows of the same type like Internet Explorer as one button instead of a separate button for each open window. The Quick Launch Toolbar Allows icons and shortcuts to be placed on the Taskbar. Clicking one of these icons opens the program. The icons are not labeled and are normally programs that are frequently accessed. The Show Desktop icon in the Quick Launch toolbar will minimize all open windows and display the desktop. The Desktop The desktop is the first thing the customer sees after Windows loads. The desktop for Win9x is where My Computer, My Documents, Internet Explorer and Recycle Bin icons are normally found. Microsoft changed this with Windows XP. The only icon on the desktop by default is the Recycle Bin. The rest of the icons have been moved to the Start Menu. The background image or wallpaper can be changed to most image files. Icons, Files and Shortcuts Icons are graphical representations of applications. My Computer is an icon. When it is opened it launches an application that displays the drives of the computer. Files are the individual components of an application. A file can also be a text or word document. A file is always a single entity where as an application is almost always made up of multiple files. Shortcuts are an icon that does nothing but direct itself to a target file or location. Shortcuts are primarily used as a time saver to provide quick access to a program or location that is difficult to access or is used frequently. The Cursor The flashing horizontal bar in the command line (Start>Run>CMD) is a text cursor. The text cursor is present to help the user know where the next text input will be displayed. Windows applications like Notepad generally have a vertical flashing cursor that serves the same purpose as the command line cursor. The Control Panel The Control Panel contains many of the icons used to customize the computer. Most settings for the hardware installed on the system can be found in Control Panel. Here are some of the icons normally found in Control Panel: Add/Remove Programs Allows you to install and uninstall programs from the computer. You can also add or remove Windows components. Date and Time This is where the date, time and time zone can be changed on the system. Display Accessing the Display icon provides access to change display related settings like theme, background, screen saver, screen size and color settings. Internet Options Provides access to settings for Internet Explorer without having to launch the Internet Explorer application. Keyboard Allows you to configure the functionality of the keyboard. Mouse Allows you to configure the functionality of the mouse. Network Connections This is where you can create, change or delete dial up, LAN and high-speed connections. Phone and Modem Options Allows you to configure the functionality of the modem. Power Options The Power Options icon provides access to change the power saving settings for the computer. These settings include Stand By, Suspend (Sleep) and Hibernate modes. Printers and Faxes Provides access to the installed printer driver(s) and any installed fax driver(s). From here you can clear a print queue or change the default print driver. Sounds and Audio Devices Allows you to modify almost any software control for sound. You can adjust the volume, mute the sound and set sounds to play for specific events on the computer. The start Windows and shutdown Windows are the most often changed sound events. System Provides the ability to change system specific settings like reinstalling drivers, changes to virtual memory, Computer Name and if the system should restart automatically when a blue screen error message occurs. User Accounts Accessing User Accounts allows users to be added and deleted. You can also change a users access level and even what icon appears for a user at the Welcome screen. Useful Folders There are a couple of folders that are commonly used for troubleshooting. C:\windows\inf Is often used to reinstall windows components such as Internet Explorer in Windows XP. C:\windows\I386 Contains the cabinet files for Windows XP. A cabinet file contains several files that are compressed. Microsoft operating systems normally use cabinet files to install and setup from. Iexplorer.exe is also present in the I386 folder and is used during the reinstallation of Internet Explorer. C:\windows\options\cabs Contains the cabinet files for Win9x. C:\windows\system32 Winsock.dll is located in the system32 folder. A common step that is taken when troubleshooting communication devices and Internet Explorer is reinstalling the winsock.dll file. Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer Windows Explorer was designed to explore the directory and file structure of the drives attached to the computer. Internet Explorer was designed to explore the Internet. 
Note: Windows Explorer can be used to access the Internet should
Internet Explorer become corrupted.The Address Bar The Address Bar can be found in almost any window that is part of the operating system. This allows the user to enter a path to a folder, file or web site. For example, if you open My Computer and type in www.google.com into the Address Bar it will bring up the Google web site. Open Applications There are a few applications and websites that should be open and running when at work. These include Helix, eMacInfo2, Realpopup, Google and Notepad. There may be other resources that you use frequently enough to keep them running throughout the course of your day, but these five will be your core resources. The rest of the applications you use will normally be opened when you need to use them and then closed. Outlook email should be checked every day, but if you are not going to respond to email messages constantly all day there is not need to run Outlook all the time. Managing Open Applications There are several ways of managing open and running application windows using mouse control. You can manage these by right clicking on the taskbar. From this menu you can Tile Windows Vertically or Horizontally. This automatically sizes all the open windows to fit on the screen at the same time. You can also Minimize All Windows if you need quick access to the desktop. Minimizing All Windows performs the same function as the Show Desktop icon in the Quick Launch toolbar. Another way to manage multiple open and running applications is by clicking on the button in the taskbar for the application you want to use. Then when you are ready to use another application, simply click on the Taskbar button for the application you want to use. The Links Toolbar A very handy feature of Internet Explorer is the Links Toolbar. If you add web sites that you use frequently like Helix, eMacInfo2 and Google to the Favorites in the Links folder and choose to display the Links Toolbar, they are displayed at the top of all Internet Explorer windows. Windows Hotkeys Hotkeys are keyboard commands that allow you to perform simple windows actions. These can drastically decrease the time needed to perform basic windows functions. When used in conjunction with the mouse you are able to maximize input to the computer. Alt-Tab Holding the Alt key and pressing Tab allows you to cycle through open and running application windows. By Holding the Shift and Alt keys and pressing Tab you can cycle through applications backwards. If you press Alt and Tab once and release them both, it will bring up the previously active application you where in. Ctrl-C Copies highlighted text to the clipboard. Ctrl-V Pastes copied text from the clipboard to where the cursor is on the screen. Ctrl-X Cuts highlighted text to the clipboard. This is the same function as Ctrl-C with the exception that the highlight text disappears when you cut it. Ctrl-N In Internet Explorer Ctrl-N opens a new browser window so that you do not loose the page you are currently viewing (HELIX). In Outlook it opens a new mail message. Windows Key-Pause/Break Opens the System Properties. Home Takes you to the start of the line in the document you are working with. End Takes you to the end of the line in the document you are working with. Page Up Scrolls the document or web page up a page. Page Down Scrolls the document or web page down a page. Arrow Keys Allow you to move the cursor on the screen. It is often times easier to use the arrow keys than clicking in just the right spot with the mouse to place the cursor where you want it. Backspace Removes the character to the left of the cursor. Windows + D Minimizes all applications and displays the desktop. Windows + R Opens the RUN dialog box Delete Removes the character to the right of the cursor. |