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Introduction To Operating System by millerm(m): 6:33pm On Jul 13, 2014 |
Introduction To Windows Operating Systems The most important piece of software on any computer is the operating system. The operating system gives the framework upon which all other services and applications run. The majority of home users use a Windows based machine. Most of today’s applications and games are designed to run solely on Microsoft systems. Microsoft Windows is extremely popular in schools and colleges, many businesses also use Windows. Introduction to Microsoft Windows The oldest of all Microsoft’s operating systems is MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System). MS-DOS is a text-based operating system. Users have to type commands rather than use the more friendly graphical user interfaces (GUI’s) available today. Despite its very basic appearance, MS-DOS is a very powerful operating system. There are many advanced applications and games available for MS-DOS. A version of MS-DOS underpins Windows. Many advanced administration tasks in Windows can only be performed using MS-DOS. The history of Microsoft Windows dates back to 1985, when Microsoft released Microsoft Windows Version 1.01. Microsoft’s aim was to provide a friendly user-interface known as a GUI (graphical user interface) which allowed for easier navigation of the system features. Windows 1.01 never really caught on. (The amazing thing about Windows 1.01 is that it fitted on a single floppy disk!). In 1987 Microsoft revamped the operating system and released Windows 2.03. The GUI was very slightly improved but still looked too similar to Windows 1.01. The operating system again failed to capture a wide audience. Microsoft made an enormous impression with Windows 3.0 and 3.1. Graphics and functionality were drastically improved. The Windows 3.x family provided multimedia capabilities as well as vastly improved graphics and application support. Building on the success of Windows 3.x, Microsoft released Microsoft Windows For Workgroups 3.11. This gave Windows the ability to function on a network. It is not uncommon to find companies still using Windows 3.11. In 1993 Microsoft divided the operating system into two categories; Business and home user. Windows NT (New Technology) was a lot more reliable than Windows 3.x. Windows NT provided advanced network features. On the business front, Windows NT continued to develop with the release of version 3.51. Different versions were provided which offered different functionality. Server provided the higher network functions and Workstation was mainly for the client machines. In 1995 Windows went through a major revamp and Microsoft Windows 95 was released. This provided greatly improved multimedia and a much more polished user interface. The now familiar desktop and Start Menu appeared. Internet and networking support was built in Although Windows 95 was a home user operating system, it proved to be very popular in schools and businesses. After the success of Windows 95, Microsoft improved the GUI interface of Windows NT and released Windows NT 4.0. NT4 could be tailored to the size of the business, NT4 Server for small to medium sized businesses and Enterprise Server for larger networks. Microsoft continued to improve the Windows format. Although Microsoft Windows 98 was very similar to Windows 95, it offered a much tidier display and enhanced multimedia support. Breaking with its own naming conventions, Microsoft released Windows 2000 (initially called NT 5.0) for the business market. It appeared in 4 models: Professional -which replaced Workstation, Server, Advanced Server and Datacenter Server catered for differing business requirements. Although Windows 2000 had a greatly improved user interface, the best of the enhancements appeared on the server side. Active Directory was introduced which allowed much greater control of security and organisation. Improvements to the overall operating system allowed for easier configuration and installation. One big advantage of Windows 2000 was that operating system settings could be modified easily without the need to restart the machine. Windows 2000 proved to be a very stable operating system that offered enhanced security and ease of administration. The last incarnation of the Windows 9x family was Windows Millennium Edition (ME). There were many different versions of Windows floating around at this stage that Microsoft decided the next release of Windows would consolidate both the business and home versions. Although Windows ME was visually similar to Windows 2000. Windows ME was based on the Windows 9x line. Windows 9x/ME systems are not as secure and stable as Windows NT and 2000 systems. Because of the stability of Windows NT/2000, Microsoft decided to end the development of the Windows 9x line, and merge both the consumer and business products. Microsoft Windows XP comes as the Home Edition and Professional, each is based on Windows 2000. Windows 2000 Server has been upgraded to Windows 2003. This appears in four variants: Web Server, Standard Server, Enterprise Server and Datacenter Server, each fulfilling a different business role. Windows XP has a very polished look, but the overall functionality is very similar to Windows 2000.
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Re: Introduction To Operating System by millerm(m): 6:38pm On Jul 13, 2014 |
Managing Files And Folders A file is a collection of numbers which have been written to your computer’s hard drive. These numbers can be converted into a picture, a sound, text, or a set of instructions for a program to perform certain actions. A clue to a file’s type is given by its Icon or by its file extension. Folders are containers for anything on a computer including files and other folders. A path lists the folders that have to be opened to get to the required file. Folders were called directories on older Microsoft systems.
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Re: Introduction To Operating System by millerm(m): 6:39pm On Jul 13, 2014 |
These are some typical file icons. They help the user to identify the file type. There are innumerable file types, some of the common ones are represented here: 1. .bmp – a bitmap image 2. .doc – a Word document 3. .wav – a sound file 4. .ppt – animated slides 5. .txt – plain text 6. .xls – a spreadsheet 7. .dbf – a database file 8. A shortcut (note the arrow) 9. .exe – an application (a program) Windows allows you to view information about files in different ways. the icon view – the default used by Windows XP. To change the icon view, click on View on the menu bar. Select the required view from the available list. By default if a file type is a known one, such as a Microsoft Word Document, Windows won’t display its file extension. To view all file extensions click on Tools on the menu bar. Various options can be configured. e.g. Display compressed files and folders with alternate colours. To display all file extensions, untick the Hide file extensions for known file types box. File extensions are best left alone. Opening a file with the wrong application can sometimes damage the file. However you may at some stage need to change a file’s extension. |
Re: Introduction To Operating System by millerm(m): 6:41pm On Jul 13, 2014 |
Folders Each of these is a folder. They may contain files or other folders (called subfolders) or both. There may be many “nestings” of folders within folders. Files and folders are located on the computer by using a file path. The “James” folder is located inside a folder called “Home”, which is located inside a folder called “es-net”, which is located on the “C:” drive. The file path will be “C:\es- net\Home\James”. Moving and Copying To move a file or folder, either right click on its icon OR left click on the Edit option on the toolbar. Choose cut to move or copy to copy! At this point the item has been placed onto a clipboard – an area of memory accessible from nearly any application in Windows. Right click (or open Edit in the toolbar) in an open destination folder and choose “Paste” (or use drag and drop) . When an attempt is made to move an item between volumes, it is effectively copied, and the original remains. Creating Files and Folders This is mercifully easy. Simply right-click on some empty space in any suitable folder or the desktop and choose to create a new object from the choices offered. Be careful not to alter the file extension, as this can render the file unreadable. File extensions are usually hidden for this reason.
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Re: Introduction To Operating System by paranorman(m): 1:46pm On Jul 14, 2014 |
Great.. Good to know the foundations you know. Can you write something here on networkin..? I what to know the foundations too. I want to know what the 'server', 'router', e.t.c means.. Just do something like this on computer network and definition of its basic terms used innit. Thanks. |
Re: Introduction To Operating System by tvreporter: 3:06pm On Jul 01, 2015 |
Operating system is a written program that can be seen as both categories both disk operating system and window operating system. |
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