IT Essentials 1 Chapter 5

Windows 9x OperatingSystems

Windows 9x Systems

• Windows 95 • Windows 98 • Windows Millennium Edition (ME)

9x File Structure

• Directories and folders are used interchangeably to describe a place to store information.

• Files are stored utilizing a "tree" structure

• Windows 3.1 and DOS file names are limited to eight letters plus a three-letter suffix called an extension ( 8.3 convention)

• Windows 98 and later allow filenames of up to 255 characters.

• The characters / \ ; : * ? " < > should not be used.

• Uppercase characters are treated the same as lowercase in Windows

• Drive letters use the 26 letters of the alphabet followed by a colon.

• Each drive can also be assigned a name called a drive label which can be up to 11 characters long.

Directories and folders

• The trunk or main starting place is the root directory or root folder.

• Branches of the tree are folders and connect to the trunk.

• Minor branches attach to these major branches as sub-folders which are inside folders.

• Files are like leaves attached to the major and minor branches

Windows Explorer

• Windows Explorer displays the hierarchical structure of files, folders, and drives on a computer. ( Not Internet explorer!!!)

• Can access Explorer by right clicking My Computer and the clicking Explore.

• Click on the plus sign to view all the files and folders in it

• Clicking on the minus sign will cause the sub-folders to collapse.

• File management is done to organize or clean up a computer.

• New folders can be made by right clicking, then selecting NEW and the FOLDER.

• Renaming can be done by clicking once on the folder to highlight it and pressing the F2 key.

Recycle Bin

• The Recycle Bin can be used to temporarily delete or permanently delete files from the computer.

• Until the recycle bin is emptied, the files remain on the hard drive

• Right-clicking the file and selecting Restore restores it to its original folder.

System Properties Applet • The default tab is the

General tab which lists information relating to the system.

• Includes operating system version, licensing information, and system specifics such as processor type and the amount of memory.

System Properties Applet

• Device Manager provides the user with a list of all of the hardware within the system and allows the user to view which system resources are being used.

System Properties Applet• Hardware

profiles allow the user to have different hardware configurations for the same operating system.

System Properties Applet • Performance tab• Displays

information about the performance statistics of the current system and allows access to the virtual memory and file system settings.

Add/Remove Programs

• Use this program to remove programs that have been installed, to install Windows specific components that were not installed initially, and to create a Windows startup disk.

Display

• This allows the user to set a screensaver, change the background color, change the look and feel of windows, as well as change display resolution settings.

Sounds

• The Sounds utility allows the user to choose which sounds are played for different system events, such as when the computer is booted up or shut down.

The Registry

• The Registry is a hierarchical database that is an efficient management system for all of the information needed by the Windows operating system.

• The Registry is made up of the System.dat and User.dat files.

• The system.dat file contains information about the hardware in the system

• The user.dat file contains user specific information.

REGEDIT

• The Registry includes 6 H-keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE• This key contains

computer-specific information about the type of hardware, software settings, and other information. This information is used for all users who log on to this computer

HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG

• This key points to a branch of Hkey_Local_Machine\config that contains information about the current configuration of hardware attached to the computer

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT

•This key points to a branch of Hkey_Local_Machine that describes certain software settings

HKEY_DYN_DATA

• Points to a branch of Hkey_Local_Machine that contains the dynamic status information for various devices as part of the PnP information.

HKEY_USERS

• Contains information about all the users who log on to the computer, including both generic and user-specific information.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER

•Points to a branch of Hkey_Users for the user who is currently logged on.

•Well Done!!!

•Half way through!!!