A+ Core 1 study notes on Operating System

A+ Certification : 220-1001

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Operating System

Windows 2000

Windows 2000 Operating systems support 5 different volume types:

Note that Windows 2000 Professional doesn’t support Disk Mirroring, RAID-5 volumes, where as other Windows 2000 Operating Systems (2000 Server, Advanced Server) support.

Windows XP

In Windows XP computer, you can use Start -> Windows Update to connect to the Microsoft site. Windows Update is a catalog of items such as drivers, patches, the latest help files, and Internet products that you can download to keep your computer up to date. You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administators group in order to access the Product Updates section of Windows Update for downloading help files.

XP Professional supports multiple processors, multiple monitors (up to 9), Group Policy, Encrypting File System, Dynamic Disks, IIS, a built in backup program, and advanced networking capabilities (such as IPSec.) All of these features are missing from XP Home Edition. Another important distinction between the two versions is that XP Home Edition cannot join a Windows NT/2000/2003 domain.

Windows XP Operating System comes in the following flavours:

Boot process (F8) in Windows XP desk top bring up the following options:

You can configure support for multiple displays on your Windows XP computer. This is done through the use of Control Panel -> Display -> Settings. A Windows XP computer can support up to ten display monitors at the same time. Use additional video cards as required.

The Device Manager (It can be accessed using Add/Remove Hardware in XP) lists all the hardware devices installed on your system. You can also update any existing drivers, as well as change the hardware settings. You use Add/Remove Hardware to install new hardware. Accessibility options are primarily used to configure the keyboard, display, and mouse options on a computer to accommodate the users who are physically handicapped. The Add/ Remove Programs is used to install/uninstall 3rd party software. This is also used for installing/uninstalling Windows XP optional components.

Features supported by XP:

On readable/writable disks, Microsoft Windows XP Professional supports the NTFS file system and three file allocation table (FAT) file systems: FAT12, FAT16, and FAT32. On CDROM and DVD media, Windows XP Professional supports two file systems: Compact Disc File System (CDFS) and Universal Disk Format (UDF).

While installing XP, if you have a standard desktop PC that uses integrated drive electronics (IDE) disk drives, then these will be detected during setup. If, however, you use SCSI disks or have Redundant Array of Independent Disk (RAID) storage systems, you will see, shortly after the reboot, the following line of text displayed at the bottom of the screen:“Press F6 if you need to install a third party SCSI or RAID driver...”

Pressing F6 will start a dialog that allows you to configure and install the drivers for your SCSI or other disk subsystem controllers. This option is usually used on server platforms that use large-capacity, high-speed, fault-tolerant disk subsystems. For most PCs, however, you won't need to use this option.

Windows Vista

Certain versions of Windows Vista uses BitLocker Drive Encription. BitLocker Drive Encryption is a full disk encryption feature included with the Ultimate and Enterprise editions of Microsoft's Windows Vista and Windows 7 desktop operating systems

In order for BitLocker to operate, the hard disk requires at least two NTFS-formatted volumes: one for the operating system (usually C:) and another with a minimum size of 100MB from which the operating system boots. BitLocker requires the boot volume to remain unencrypted, so the boot should not be used to store confidential information.

Windows Sidebar is a pane on the side of the Microsoft Windows Vista desktop where you can keep your gadgets organized and always available. Gadgets are mini programs that give you information at a glance and provide access to frequently used tools. Windows Sidebar helps you to organize your gadgets. The Windows sidebar is also available in Windows 7 Operating System.

Aero Interface

Windows Vista and Windows 7 feature a user interface termed as Aero by Microsoft. This is the default interface used by Vista. Aero interface is characterized by the following features:

Windows Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, and Vista Starter provide only limited support for EFS (Encrypted File System), whereas Vista Business, and Vista Ultimate provide full support for EFS.

Upgrade to Windows Vista Ultimate

You can upgrade to Windows Vista Ultimate from Windows XP Home, XP Professional, XP Media Center, and XP Tablet PC, Windows 2000 Professional can't be upgraded to Windows Vista directly.

The following reserved characters can't be used in Windows file names:

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