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CHAPTER 2 WINDOWS

2.1 Windows Features Versions: Release date Product name May 22, 1990 Windows 3.xxx July 27, 1993 Windows NT August 24, 1995 November 17, 1996 Windows CE February 17, 2000 September 14, 2000 Windows Me October 25, 2001 Windows XP November 30, 2006 (volume licensing) January 30, 2007 (retail) July 2007 Windows Home Server20xx February 2008 Windows 2008 October 22, 2009 October 26, 2012 .x August 26, 2012 Windows RT 8.x September 4, 2012 2012 July 29, 2015 November 2015 Windows 10, version 1511 August 2016 Windows 10, version 1607 April 2017 Windows 10, version 1703

Interface between the user and the hardware: An OS provides an interface between user and machine. This interface can be a (GUI) in which users click onscreen elements to interact with the OS or a command‐line interface (CLI) in which users type commands at the command‐line interface (CLI) to tell the OS to do things. Coordinate hardware components: An OS enables coordination of hardware components. Each hardware device speaks a different language, but the can talk to them through the specific translational software’s called device drivers. Every hardware component has different drivers for Operating systems. These drivers make the communication successful between the other software and the hardware. Provide environment for software to function: An OS provides an environment for software applications to function. An application software is a specific software which is used to perform specific task. In GUI operating systems such as Windows and Mac OS, applications run within a consistent, graphical desktop environment. Provide structure for data management: An OS displays structure/directories for data management. We can view file and folder listings and manipulate on those files and folders like (move, copy, rename, delete, and many others). Monitor system health and functionality: OS monitors the health of our system’s hardware; giving us an idea of how well (or not) it’s performing. We can see how busy our CPU is, or how quickly our hard drives retrieve data, or how much data our network card is sending etc. and it also monitors system activity for malware.

Promotes multitasking by allowing the user to do several things on the computer at once – for example, watch a video while writing a letter.

Windows' key benefits:  Allows the user to interact with the computer, (through the keyboard, mouse, microphone, etc)  Controls the storage of data (images, files, music)  Controls hardware attached to the computer such as webcams, scanners and printers.  Helps to open and close programs (word processors, games, photo editors, etc.), and gives them part of the computer’s memory to allow them to work.  Controls access to a computer for different users with ’s security.  Deals with errors & user instructions and issues simple error messages

2.2 Terminologies ‐ Desktop, Desktop Properties (Popup ), Windows, Wallpaper, Icons, File, Folder Windows: When referring to an operating system, Windows or win is an operating environment created by Microsoft that provides an interface, known as a Graphical User Interface (GUI), for computers. Windows eliminates the need to memorize commands for the command line (MS‐ DOS) by using a mouse to navigate through menus, dialog boxes, buttons, tabs, and icons. If you are using a PC (IBM) computer you are most likely using a version of Windows. Before the release of , Microsoft users were used to the single‐task command line operating system MS‐DOS. Because Microsoft names most of its products with one word, it needed a word that best described its new GUI operating system. Microsoft chose "Windows" because of the multiple windows that allow different tasks and programs to be run at the same time. Because you cannot trademark a common name like "Windows" it is officially known as "Microsoft Windows". The term window is also used to describe the visual square area of a program. Desktop: The desktop is the primary user interface of a computer. When you boot up your computer, the desktop is displayed once the startup process is complete. It includes the desktop background (or wallpaper) and icons of files and folders you may have saved to the desktop. In Windows, the desktop includes a task bar, which is located at the bottom of the screen by default. The desktop is visible as long as an application or window is not filling up the entire screen. You can drag items to and from the desktop, just like a folder. Since the desktop is always present, items on the desktop can be accessed quickly, rather than requiring you to navigate through several directories. Therefore, it may be helpful to store commonly used files, folders, and application shortcuts on your desktop. Pop‐up menu: Alternatively referred to as a and shortcut menu, a pop‐up menu is a menu that is a hidden menu that doesn't appear until you right‐click. This menu is often referred to as a context menu because the options in the menu often relate to what has been right‐clicked. For example, in Microsoft Word, if text was highlighted and then right‐clicked then a shortcut menu similar to the example given below would appear. As can be seen, this shortcut menu gives you quick access to all the most common features that relate to text such as cut, copy, font properties, etc.

ICON: In computing, an is a pictogram or ideogram displayed on a computer screen in order to help the user navigate a computer system or mobile device. The icon itself is a quickly comprehensible symbol of a software tool, function, or a data file, accessible on the system and is more like a traffic sign than a detailed illustration of the actual entity it represents. It can serve as an electronic or file shortcut to access the program or data. The user can activate an icon using a mouse, pointer, finger, or recently voice commands. Their placement on the screen, also in relation to other icons, may provide further information to the user about their usage. In activating an icon, the user can move directly into and out of the identified function without knowing anything further about the location or requirements of the file or code. Wallpaper: A wallpaper or background (also known as a desktop wallpaper, desktop background, desktop picture or desktop image on computers) is a digital image (photo, drawing etc.) used as a decorative background of a graphical user interface on the screen of a computer, mobile communications device or other electronic device. On a computer it is usually for the desktop, while on a mobile phone it is usually the background for the 'home' or 'idle' screen. Though most devices come with a default picture, users can usually change it to custom files of their choosing. File: A file is the common storage unit in a computer, and all programs and data are "written" into a file and "read" from a file. Files are always stored in folders. In fact, even the computer desktop is a folder; a special kind of folder that displays its contents across the entire screen. Files are identified by a short "extension" following a period at the end of their name. For example, ABC.JPG is a JPEG image, ABC.DOC is a Microsoft Word document file, and ABC.EXE is an executable application in Windows. Although extensions can be added to folder names, extensions are primarily a file convention. Folder: A folder holds one or more files, and a folder can be empty until it is filled. A folder can also contain other folders (subfolders). Folders provide a method for organizing files much like a manila file folder contains paper documents in a file cabinet. Folders are also called "directories," and they are created on the hard drive (HD) or solid state drive (SSD) when the operating system and applications are installed. While this list is based upon Windows, other operating systems like Mac and use a lot of the same terminology.

2.3 Windows Explorer‐ Assignment with files, folders

 The Navigation Pane provides quick links to various folders and locations on your computer.  The Title Bar contains no text although it still provides the method for moving the folder.  My Documents contains most of your user documents and files (except for music, pictures and videos).  The has a bread crumb menu. Clicking on any of the listed items (shown here as “ • Russ • ”) takes you to that folder. Clicking behind the address transforms it into the C:\Users\Russ\ format.  A longer address example would be “ • Russ • Pictures • Family • ”which would transforms into C:\Users\Russ\Pictures\Family.  Clicking on Pictures would take you back to the Pictures folder.  Clicking on Russ would take you to the folder shown in the diagram above.

2.4 Accessories – Paint, Notepad, , Remote Desktop Connection The Accessories folder, accessible through the Windows , is home to multiple useful programs, like the Calculator, Notepad, Paint, Remote Desktop Connection, and various System utilities. Where the Accessories folder is located, and the programs found in that folder, depends on your version of Windows. Older versions of Windows include the Accessories folder, while newer versions of Windows do not, but the programs previously in that folder are still available. To proceed, select your version of Windows from the list below and follow the instructions to learn where the Accessories folder or its previously included programs are located.

Windows 10 In Windows 10, the Accessories folder is not included in the Windows Start Menu. To access the Accessories folder programs, follow these steps:  Open the Windows Start Menu.  Click the All apps option.  View the list of program displayed in the apps list  Then click the one you want to open. If you do not see the program you want to open, search for it in the Search the web and Windows , located in the Windows , next to the Start .

Windows 8 In Windows 8, the Accessories folder is not included in the Windows Start Menu. To access the Accessories folder programs, follow these steps:  Check the Windows Start screen to see if the program you want to open is listed.  If you do not find the program on the Windows Start screen, start typing the name of the program to search for the program in Windows.  In the search results, select the program you want to open.

Windows 7 and earlier versions The Accessories folder is available in Windows 7 and earlier versions of Windows. To access the Accessories folder, follow these steps:  Open the Windows Start Menu.  Click the All Programs option.  Find and click the Accessories folder.  Select the program you want to open. Windows operating system ships with some handy applications known as Windows accessories. Calculator, Notepad, Paint, Explorer, WordPad are some of the most frequently used accessories. Apart from above mentioned applications, Windows has a few tools for Ease of Access and some System Tools. We’ll be briefly talking about them here. Calculator is a calculating application included in all the versions of Windows. It can be used to perform simple calculation, scientific calculation and Programming calculation. Choose Start >> Programs >> Accessories >> Calculator to start Calculator application, or Alternately you can open Run (Start >> Run) dialog box then type calc and hit enter. From View menu choose the required type of calculator – Standard, Scientific, , Statistical Edit >> Copy and Paste commands can be used to input the numbers into calculator or paste the result to other applications Calculator was first included with Windows 1.0 as a simple arithmetic calculator. In Windows 3.0, a scientific was added, which included exponents and roots, , ‐based functions, trigonometry (supports radian, degree and gradians angles), base conversions (2, 8, 10, 16), logic operations, Statistic functions such as single variable statistics and linear regression. In Windows 7, separate Programmer, Statistics, Unit Conversion, Date Calculation, and Worksheets modes were added. Calculator’s interface was revamped for the first time since its introduction.

Paint Paint (formerly Paintbrush for Windows) is a simple graphics painting program that has been included with all versions of Microsoft Windows. It is often referred to as MS Paint or . The program opens and saves files as Windows bitmap (24‐bit, 256 color, 16 color, and monochrome) .BMP, JPEG, GIF. Paintbrush supports GIF without animation or transparency. Since Paint supports GIF with transparency. It also supports PNG (without alpha channel), and TIFF (without multiple page support). The program can be in color mode or two‐color black‐and‐white, but there is no grayscale mode. For its simplicity, it rapidly became one of the most used applications in the early versions of Windows—introducing many to painting on a computer for the first time—and still has strong associations with the immediate usability of the old Windows .

Notepad Notepad is a common text‐only (plain text) editor. The resulting files—typically saved with the .txt extension—have no format tags or styles, making the program suitable for editing system files that are to be used in a DOS environment. Notepad supports both left‐to‐ right and right‐to‐left based languages, and one can alternate between these viewing formats by using the right or left Ctrl+Shift keys to go to right‐to‐left format or left‐to‐right format, respectively.

Remote Desktop Connection Remote Desktop Connection is a technology that allows you to sit at a computer (sometimes called the client computer) and connect to a remote computer (sometimes called the host computer) in a different location. For example, you can connect to your work computer from your home computer and have access to all of your programs, files, and network resources as though you were in front of your computer at work. You can leave programs running at work and then, when you get home, you can see your work computer's desktop displayed on your home computer, with the same programs running. If the computer you want to connect to is using Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, or Windows 7 Enterprise, follow these steps:  Click to open System.  In the left pane, click Remote . If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.  In the System Properties dialog box, under Remote Desktop, select one of the three options, and then click Select Users.  If you are an administrator on the computer, your current user account will automatically be added to the list of remote users and you can skip the next two steps.  In the Remote Desktop Users dialog box, click Add.  In the Select Users or Groups dialog box, do the following:  To specify the search location, click Locations, and then select the location you want to search.  In Enter the object names to select, type the name of the user that you want to add, and then click OK.  The name will be displayed in the list of users in the Remote Desktop Users dialog box.