Windows XP

Explore Windows

Microsoft Windows


Microsoft Windows is the name of several families of software operating systems by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November addMS1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces (GUIs).

Windows


At the 2004 IDC (CONSTRUCTION industrial development ) Directions conference IDC Vice President Avneesh Saxena stated that Windows had approximately 90% of the client operating system market

Market share
Source http://en.wikipedia.org
Windows Version All versions Windows XP Windows Vista Windows 2000 Windows 98 Windows NT Windows ME Windows CE Windows 95 Market share 92.42% 78.37% 9.19% 2.97% 0.76% 0.63% 0.43% 0.06% 0.02%

        

HISTORY


In 1983 Microsoft announced its development of Windows, a graphical user interface (GUI) for its own operating system (MS-DOS) that had shipped (MSfor IBM PC and compatible computers since 1981. It was originally going to be called Interface Hanson, Manager, Manager, but Rowland Hanson, the head of marketing at Microsoft, convinced the company that Microsoft, the name Windows would be more appealing to consumers

HISTORY


The first version of Microsoft Windows, version 1.0, released in November 20, 1985, 1985, lacked a degree of functionality and achieved little popularity, and was to compete with Apple's own operating system. Windows 1.0 is not a complete operating MSsystem; rather, it extends MS-DOS

HISTORY


Microsoft Windows version 3.0, 3.0, 1990, released in 1990, was the first Microsoft Windows version to achieve broad commercial success, selling 2 million copies in the first six months

HISTORY

HISTORY
Date November 20, 1985 December 9, 1987 May 22, 1990 April 6, 1992 October 27, 1992 July 27, 1993 November 8, 1993 September 21, 1994 May 30, 1995 August 24, 1995 August 24, 1996 Windows for Workgroups 3.11 Windows NT 3.5 Windows NT 3.51 Windows 95 Windows NT 4.0 16-bit Windows 1.0 Windows 2.0 Windows 3.0 Windows 3.1 Windows for Workgroups 3.1 Windows NT 3.1 32-bit 64-bit

HISTORY
Date June 25, 1998 May 9, 1999 February 17, 2000 September 14, 2000 October 25, 2001 April 25, 2003 December 18, 2003 October 12, 2004 16-bit Windows 98 Windows 98 SE Windows 2000 Windows Me Windows XP Windows Server 2003 Windows XP Media Center Edition 2003 Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 32-bit 64-bit

HISTORY
Date April 25, 2005 June 8, 2006 November 30, 2006 January 30, 2007 Q4 2007 February 27, 2008 2010 Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs Windows Vista for Business use Windows Vista for Home use; released in fifty countries Windows Home Server Windows Server 2008 Windows 7 16-bit 32-bit 64-bit Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

MSMS-DOS product progression

  

MSMS-DOS and PC-DOS PCWindows 95 (MS-DOS 7.0) (MSWindows 95 OEM Service Release 2.x, Windows 98 (MS-DOS 7.1) (MSWindows Millennium Edition (MS-DOS (MS8.0)

Windows 1.0 product progression

   

  

Windows 1.0 Windows 2.0 Windows 2.1 (aka Windows/286 and Windows/386) Windows 3.0, Windows 3.1, Windows 3.1 for Workgroups, Windows 3.11, Windows 3.11 for Workgroups (WfW) Windows 95 (Windows 4.0) Windows 98 (Windows 4.1) Windows Millennium Edition (Windows 4.9)

Current NT line product progression

Windows NT 3.1, 3.5 Windows NT 4.0 Windows 2000 (Windows NT 5.0) Windows XP (Windows NT 5.1) Windows Server 2003, Windows XP 64-bit Edition 642003 (Windows NT 5.2) Windows XP Professional x64 Edition (Windows NT 5.2) Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs (Windows NT 5.1) Windows Vista (Windows NT 6.0)

       

Windows XP


 

Windows XP is a line of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on generalgeneralpurpose computer systems, including home and business desktops, notebook computers. The letters "XP" stand for eXPerience XPerience Windows XP is the successor to both Windows 2000 Professional and Windows Me

Windows XP


Development of Windows XP started in 1999 in the form of Windows Neptune. Windows XP was developed for 18 months, months, from December 1999 to August 2001, and was released on 2001, October 25, 2001.

Features
         

New user interface Ability for two users to be logged on simultaneously Windows Media Player for Windows XP Windows Messenger Expanded Help feature Advanced security features Integrates features of Windows 9x and 2000 Provides added support for multimedia and networking technologies Slightly different look and feel from its predecessors PlugPlug-in Play Support with new Driver database bank

Criticism


 

Require High space about 1 GB of Harddisk Require large memory Some time miss match drivers not valid by microsoft

Windows XP System Requirements

Lets learn Windows XP

Before Explore


Can you tell what is

Windows XP

Mouse
Pointer
Pointing to the position you want. "(POINT)" 1 click is "(CLICK)" 2 click continuously is " (DOUBLE CLICK) Hold the mouse pressing and move the pointer to another position, then release the button "(DRAG & DROP)"

Windows
1.
1. Desktop (workspace) 2. Icon

2.

Lets talk about the windows components

3. Start Button

4. Task Bar

How can we work on Windows?

Commands
It is easy... take a look!

1. Start Button 2. Icons on Desktop

3. Right click get shortcut menu

Shut down
Do not turn off the machine immediately
1. Click-Start 2. Choose-Turn Off Computer 3. Choose-Turn Off Option
(Some machines turn off automatically)

Date - Time
What time is it now?

Place your mouse at the time icon on task bar, here is the date.

Date - Time
Can we adjust the date and time the the actual one?

1. Double click here

2. Adjust date from the calendar, time from the clock and click OK

Desktop Properties
Can we have a new desktop color?
Of course, you can : 1. Right-click the mouse on Desktop 2. Choose: Properties you will get this window

Desktop Properties
3. Choose: Desktop tab 4. Choose: Wallpaper (backgroup) and display style 5. Click: OK to confirm the settings

Screen Saver
Save your screen: By using the screen saver.

1. Choose: Screen Saver tab and one style 2. Set: the idle wait time before the screen saver is activated. Click OK

Other Properties

Desktop Icons
My Computer

My Documents

Application Icon

Keeping deleted files Arranging the Icons

Working with Windows

Control Menu Title Bar Control Buttons

Menu Bar Tool Bar Scroll Bar

Status Bar

Working with Windows

They are similar.

Controlling your Window

Click Here

Moving your Window

Point & Click on Windows Bar and Hold It.

Window Control Buttons

3 magic buttons

Close Maximize Minimize to Task Bar

Window Control Buttons

Resizing your Windows

We can resize the window you are working on. Point your mouse at the window corner, click and drag the window frame to resize.

Administration NOTE

Sindh University paying special attention to attendance therefore your are informed to maintain it to avoid any trouble

Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler.

-Albert Einstein

But
Practice makes man perfect

Standard Applications on Windows

What else can we do on Windows?

a lot!!

We are all familiar with these.

Standard Applications on Windows XP

Calculator
There are 2 styles: Standard and Scientific Click on: View Menu

Calculator.. Just Do it!

5+3=?

3x5
Sin(45) = ?

15 = ?

256 equals to ?? in binary digit

Standard Applications on Windows

NotePad is a small text editor application, suitable for taking notes or memos.

Standard Applications on Windows

WordPad is a small wordprocessing application.

Standard Applications on Windows

Paint is a painting application with various tools i.e. brush, pen, etc.

Others Application Software

Windows is an operating system with some standard applications. We can also install the additional applications on Windows. For example, Microsoft Office Suite, etc.

Lab Work
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Write at least 3 input and 3 output units with their usage. Design a flag of Pakistan Design any image of your choice and color Copy all images from my document to desktop under a folder names assignment1 Make a folder in start menu and paint , notepad icons in that Open help file wordpad and search details on insert object copy text and past it in Wordpad then color red where ever object word is, replace microsoft word with MS.

Microsoft Windows components

       

Configuration and maintenance User interface Applications and utilities Windows Server components File systems Core components Services Games

Configuration and maintenance

Component Description Introduced

Control Panel
Control Panel Allows users to view and manipulate basic system settings and controls, such as adding hardware, adding and removing software, controlling user accounts, changing accessibility options, and so on. Allows the user to display and control the hardware attached to the computer, and control what device drivers are used. Centralizes the most relevant information related to mobile computing. Centralizes and reports on the status of antivirus, Automatic Updates, Windows Firewall, and other security-related components of the operating system.
Windows 1.0

Device Manager

Windows 95

Windows Mobility Center

Windows Vista

Windows Security Center

Windows XP SP2

List of Control Panel applets



 

In recent versions of Windows, the Control Panel has two views, Classic View and Category View, and it is possible to switch between these through an option that appears on the left side of the window.IL Applications we see in control panel are called applets. The control panel then uses these lists to locate the applets and load them into the control panel program (control.exe) when started by the user. In addition to using the control panel a user can also invoke the applets manually via the command processor, for instance the following syntax in XP processor, and Vista respectively will run the internet properties applet Control.exe inetcpl.cpl control.exe /name Microsoft. InternetOptions

Accessibility Options (Access.cpl)



   

Allows users to configure the accessibility of their PC. It comprises various settings primarily aimed at users with disabilities or hardware problems. The behaviour of the keyboard can be modified, this is aimed at people who have difficulty pressing keykeycombinations, or pressing a key just once. (StickyKeys, (StickyKeys, FilterKeys and ToggleKeys) ToggleKeys) Behaviour of sounds can be modified. (SoundSentry (SoundSentry and ShowSounds) ShowSounds) High contrast mode can be activated. The keyboard cursor can be customized. The mouse pointer can be controlled using the keyboard. (MouseKeys) (MouseKeys)

Add New Hardware (hdwwiz.cpl)



Launches a wizard which allows users to add new hardware devices to the system. This can be done by selecting from a list of devices or by specifying the location of the driver installation files.

Add or Remove Programs (appwiz.cpl)

 

 

The Add/Remove Programs dialog allows the user to manipulate software installed on the system in a number of ways; Allows users to uninstall and change existing software packages, as well as indicating how much space individual programs take and how frequently they are used. Allows users to manually install software from a CD-ROM or Floppy CDDisk, Disk, and install add-ons from Windows Update. addAllows users to change which Windows components are installed, via the Windows setup Wizard, which includes Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer, Media Player and Windows Messenger Finally, it allows users to specify the default applications for certain tasks, via the 'set program access and defaults' wizard, such as internet browsers, media players and email programs and whether access to these programs is available

Administrative Tools


Contains tools for system administration, including security, performance and service configuration. These are links to various configurations of the Microsoft Management Console such as the local services list and the Event Viewer. Viewer.

Automatic Updates (wuaucpl.cpl)



This is used to specify how the Automatic Updates client (wuauclt.exe) should download Website, updates from the Microsoft Update Website, by default this is set to download and install daily, however this can be changed to a more suitable frequency. This also allows the user to specify whether to ask permission before downloading and/or installing updates or to simply switch of Automatic Updates all together.

Date and Time (timedate.cpl)



Allows user to change the date and BIOS, time stored in the machines BIOS, change the time zone and specify whether to synchronize the date and time with an Internet Time Server and which server to use.

Display (desk.cpl)
  

Allows the user to change the display characteristics of their computer; Allows users to change the desktop background (wallpaper) to a picture of their choice and specifies how it should be shown. Allows the user to change or disable the screensaver, and specify screensaver, how long it takes to activate and whether to ask for a password on resume Allows the user to specify the colour styles of all elements within the system, primarily whether to use the Windows XP / Vista styles (blue by default in XP) or to use the classic Windows 98 / Me styles, this also allows the user to change the My Computer and Recycle Bin icons. Allows the user to change the screen resolution and colour quality, and provides trouble shooting advice for displays.

Folder Options (Shell32.dll -RUNDLL 0)



This item allows for configuration of how folders and files are presented in Windows Explorer. Explorer. More specifically it allows the user to specify general settings like whether folders open in a new window or the existing window and whether the common tasks pane is shown, as well as more advanced tasks such as whether windows should hide critical system files and whether to show file extensions. It is also used to modify file type associations in Windows ie., which program opens which type of file and other settings like actions for each file type and the file extension

Fonts


Displays all fonts installed on the computer. Users can remove fonts, install new fonts or search for fonts using font characteristics.

Internet Options (inetcpl.cpl)



 

 

Allows the user to change the way the computer manages internet Explorer, connections and browser settings for Internet Explorer, it has several tags specifying different attributes; General - This specifies the homepage and colour schemes and allows the user to delete internet usage history. Security & Privacy - These specify whether the computer should allow websites to undertake certain processes and download cookies, this panel cookies, also gives access to the inbuilt popup blocker (Windows XP SP2 and later) (Windows (Internet 7). and the phishing controls (Internet Explorer 7). Content - Allows the parental controls and auto-complete to be configured autoand also specifies how to deal with certificates. certificates. Connections, Programs and Advanced - These give access to other aspects of internet settings such as the default modem connection and email client, proxy settings and other advanced configurations.

Keyboard (main.cpl keyboard)



Lets the user change and test keyboard settings, including cursor blink rate and key repeat rate.

Mail (mlcfg32.cpl)


Mail allows for configuration of the mail client in Windows, usually Microsoft Outlook. Microsoft Outlook Outlook. Express cannot be configured with this item; it is configured through its own interface.

Mouse (main.cpl)


Mouse allows the configuration of pointer options, such as the double click and scroll speed, and includes visibility options such as whether to leave trails behind the mouse pointer and whether the pointer should disappear when typing. This also allows the user to specify the pointer appearance for each task, such as resize and busy.

Network Connections (ncpa.cpl)



Displays and allows the user to edit or create network connections such as Local Area Networks (LAN) and internet connections. It also offers troubleshooting functions in case the computer has to be reconnected to the network.

Phone and Modem Options (telephon.cpl)



Manages telephone and modem connections.

Power Options (powercfg.cpl)



Includes options to manage energy consumption such as;

Specify how long it takes to switch off the display and hard drives and how long it takes for the system to enter standby, if at all. standby, To decide what to do when the computer's on/off button is pressed, such as whether to shut down or to enter standby. Whether to allow Hibernation (some systems become unstable when restarting). Allows the user to configure UPS (if available).

Printers and Faxes

 

Displays all the printers and faxes currently installed on the computer, and has two main uses; Firstly, it shows the all the jobs queued for each printer, the file size and status of each job and which user they belong to, it also allows each job to be paused, canceled or moved up or down the list. Secondly, it allows the user to set the printing or faxing preferences, such as paper size and quality via the manufacturers own preferences pane and also specifies how to share the printer across a network , the device drivers, ports etc. drivers,

Regional and Language Settings (intl.cpl)

     

Various regional settings can be altered, for instance: The way numbers are displayed (e.g. decimal separator). separator). How Currency values are displayed, including the Currency sign. sign. Time and date notations, such as the date separator and whether the clock should be in 12 or 24 hours. Cultural location of the user's computer (The time zone is set in Date and Time). Time). Language;
Input language. Keyboard layout (mapping between key strokes and characters). Boxes. Display language for Menus and Dialog Boxes.

 

Whether files necessary for Asiatic language support must be installed. Installed code pages. pages.

Security Center (Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Newer) (wscui.cpl)



The security center gives the user access to the inbuilt Windows security components, as well as providing information about any existing antivirus Alarm. software such as McAfee or Zone Alarm. It includes access to Windows Update, where users can specify Update, whether the computer should check for updates regularly (also available through the Windows Update panel), and options for managing internet security settings. It also includes links to internet articles about PC security and current virus threats and notifies the user when the PCs security is compromised.

Sounds and Audio Devices (mmsys.cpl)

  

  

This panel contains various audio-related functions; audioChange the speaker volume and type and specify whether to show the volume icon in the notification area. Change the sounds played for the system or specific programs when a certain event occurs, i.e Windows Startup or Critical Stop. Change default devices for music playback, recording, voice recognition, MIDI etc. Change the Sound card settings and whether to use Hardware acceleration. acceleration. Display the audio devices installed on the computer, and allows them to be configured.

Speech (Sapi.cpl)


This applet has two main functions, the first is specify settings synthesis, for Speech synthesis, allowing the user to select the voice the computer should use to narrate text and how fast it should read. The second is to specify settings forSpeech recognition, forSpeech recognition, allowing the user to set up different profiles detailing how the computer should deal with an individuals dialect, for instance;
The amount of grammatical errors in a persons voice (punctuality sensitivity). The speed at which the person speaks, and the time delay between words.

This also allows the user to access the voice recognition training wizard, in which an individual 'teaches' the computer to recognize a person voice interactively using the microphone.

System (Sysdm.cpl)
 

 

 

This is used to view and change core system settings, a user can for instance: Display general information on the user's machine such as the amount of RAM, CPU speed and type, the version of Windows RAM, the system is using and the manufacturer. Edit the computer name in a network workgroup. workgroup. Manage and Configure hardware devices, and view information such as the manufacturer, user access and driver version of any hardware device installed on the system via Device Manager. Manager. Enable/Disable system features such as automatic updates and System restore monitoring. Specify advanced features such as performance logs, virtual memory settings and roaming profiles.

Taskbar and Start Menu (Shell32.dll -RUNDLL 1)

     

Allows the user to change the behavior and appearance of the task bar and Start Menu; Menu; Specifies whether to use Windows XP/Vista or XP/ 9x/ Classic 9x/Me styles on the taskbar and start menu. Whether the taskbar should Auto-Hide. AutoWhether to show the clock in the notification area. area. Allows the user to manage the tray icons. Advanced options such as whether to show Printers & Faxes in the start menu and whether to display My Documents as a menu or as a link to a new window.

User Accounts (nusrmgr.cpl)



This allows the user to configure their account and other accounts used in the system, should they have sufficient privileges. They can change their username and password, their picture (if enabled) password, and their .net passport. If the current user has an passport. administrators account they can also add, delete and modify other user accounts as well as make changes to core system settings. This panel also specifies whether the guest account should be active and whether to use the Welcome screen while Windows loads.

Peripheral Devices


   

These are options in the control panel that show devices connected to the computer. They do not actually offer a direct interface to control these devices, but rather offer basic tasks such as removal procedures and links to wizards (Printers & faxes is the exception). Such Applets include; Scanners and Cameras Game Controllers Portable Media Devices

Other Microsoft distributed applets

Bluetooth Devices (bthprops.cpl)  Available with bluetooth enabled systems running XP SP2 or later, this enables users to configure a Bluetooth connection, showing a list of all bluetooth devices interacting with the system, an addition to the following items;  Allowing users to create incoming and outgoing 'virtual' COM Ports, which allow devices to have dedicated connections to the system.  Allowing users to specify general bluetooth characteristics such as whether the computer is discoverable and the computers name which is broadcast.

Color (color.cpl)
Enables a more advanced control of colour settings within Windows than is available in 'display', suitable for developers and visual specialists it allows users to create and load ICC compliant colour profiles, associate screen colour with printers and cameras and view a 3D graphics plot of the colour gamut. By default this applet is not installed, however it can be installed for free from the Microsoft Website

Infrared (irprops.cpl)
Similar to the Bluetooth applet, this is used to configure how the computer manages any wireless infrared ports installed, including options such as connectivity and security.

CSNW (nwc.cpl)
The Client Service for NetWare applet is used to select a default tree and context in a Novell Directory Services (NDS) environment, or the NetWare server used most frequently in a non-NDS environment. Requirement: Installing the Client Service for NetWare.

Software Explorers
Part of Windows Defender, allows users to view detailed information about software that is currently running on the computer that can affect the users' privacy or the security of the computer.

Third Party Applets

ThirdThird-party software vendors have released many applets and it is impossible to mention all of them; some of the more common ones are:  Adobe Gamma (Adobe Gamma.cpl), for altering the screen (Adobe Gamma.cpl), display with Adobe Imaging Software such as Photoshop  Java (jpicpl32.cpl), for changing settings with Java Runtime (jpicpl32.cpl), Console  Nero Burnrights (NeroBurnRights.cpl), for specifying who is (NeroBurnRights.cpl), allowed to use the CD burner with Nero  nVIDIA Control panel, for changing advanced settings on systems using nVIDIA GPUs y Quicktime (quicktime.cpl), for specifying settings of the Apple (quicktime.cpl), Quicktime Player


CONTROL PANEL END

Administrative Tools
Microsoft Management Console
Provides system administrators and advanced users with a flexible interface through which they may configure and monitor the system. A built-in benchmarking tool that analyzes the different subsystems (graphics, memory, etc), and uses the results to allow for comparison to other Windows Vista systems, and for software optimizations. It rates the computer's performance using the Windows Experience Index. Allows for the rolling back of system files, registry keys, installed programs, etc., to a previous state in the event of a system failure. Helps diagnose and recover from serious errors which may be preventing Windows from booting successfully, or restore the computer to a previous state using System Restore or a backup image. Rearranges files stored on a hard disk to occupy contiguous storage locations in order to optimize computer performance. Lets administrators and users view the event logs on a local or remote machine. Lets administrators view current system reliability and performance trends over time. A logical volume manager developed by Microsoft in conjunction with Veritas Software. Edits the Windows registry. Allows users to script tasks for running during scheduled intervals Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack

Windows System Assessment Tool

Windows Vista

System Restore

Windows Me

Windows Recovery Environment Windows Disk Defragmenter Event Viewer Reliability and Performance Monitor Logical Disk Manager Registry Editor Task Scheduler

Windows Vista

Windows 95, Windows 2000

Windows NT 3.1 Windows Vista Windows NT 4.0 (as a separate Tool) 2000 (integrated in the Management Console) Windows 3.1 Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95

Administrative Tools Microsoft Management Console Windows System Assessment Tool System Restore Windows Recovery Environment Windows Disk Defragmenter Event Viewer Reliability and Performance Monitor Logical Disk Manager Registry Editor Task Scheduler
Provides system administrators and advanced users with a flexible interface through which they may configure and monitor the system. A built-in benchmarking tool that analyzes the different subsystems (graphics, memory, etc), and uses the results to allow for comparison to other Windows Vista systems, and for software optimizations. It rates the computer's performance using the Windows Experience Index. Allows for the rolling back of system files, registry keys, installed programs, etc., to a previous state in the event of a system failure. Helps diagnose and recover from serious errors which may be preventing Windows from booting successfully, or restore the computer to a previous state using System Restore or a backup image. Rearranges files stored on a hard disk to occupy contiguous storage locations in order to optimize computer performance. Lets administrators and users view the event logs on a local or remote machine. Lets administrators view current system reliability and performance trends over time. A logical volume manager developed by Microsoft in conjunction with Veritas Software. Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack

Windows Vista

Windows Me

Windows Vista

Windows 95, Windows 2000 Windows NT 3.1

Windows Vista Windows NT 4.0 (as a separate Tool) 2000 (integrated in the Management Console) Windows 3.1 Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95

Edits the Windows registry. Allows users to script tasks for running during scheduled intervals

Software installation and deployment

An online service which provides critical updates, service packs, device drivers, and other updates. A variation called Microsoft Update also provides software updates for several Microsoft products.

Windows Update

Windows 98

Windows Installer

A packaging format and engine for the installation, maintenance, and removal of software. Includes a GUI framework, automatic generation of the uninstallation sequence and deployment capabilities for corporate networks.

Windows 2000

ClickOnce

Technology for deploying .NET Framework-based software via web pages, with automatic update capabilities. Intended for peruser only applications.

.NET Framework 2.0

User interface
Component Description The most visible and recognizable aspect of Microsoft Windows. The shell is the container inside of which the entire graphical user interface is presented, including the taskbar, the desktop, Windows Explorer, as well as many of the dialog boxes and interface controls. In Windows Vista, a new compositing glass-like user interface called Windows Aero has been introduced. Provides an interface for accessing the file systems, launching applications, and performing common tasks such as viewing and printing pictures. Starting with Windows Vista, search is a tightly shell-integrated component of Windows. A downloadable Windows Desktop Search software is available for Windows XP and older versions. Folders which are presented to the user through an interface as an abstract concept, instead of an absolute path. This makes it possible for an application to locate where certain kinds of files can be found, regardless of what version or language of operating system is being used. See also, Windows Shell namespace. Serves as the central launching point for applications. It provides a customizable, nested list of programs for the user to launch, as well as a list of most recently opened documents, a way to find files and get help, and access to the system settings. By default, the Start Button is visible at all times in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. The application desktop bar which is used to launch and monitor applications. A new panel on the side of the screen to place gadgets. Used to open a file with the correct program. File associations can be uniquely assigned to specific actions, known as verbs. Introduced Windows Shell Windows 1.0

Windows Explorer

Windows 95 Windows Vista, downloadable for older versions

Windows Search

Special Folders

Windows 95

Start menu

Windows 95

Taskbar Windows Sidebar File associations

Windows 95 Windows Vista Windows 3.0

Applications and utilities

Component Description Introduced

Accessories
Windows Calendar Windows Contacts Calculator Character Map Paint Notepad Narrator Sound Recorder
Calendaring and task tracking application. Windows Vista

Keeps a single list of contacts that can be shared by multiple programs.

Windows Vista

A calculation application. Utility to view and search characters in a font, copy them to the clipboard and view their Windows Alt keycodes and Unicode names A simple graphics painting program. A simple text editor. A screen reader utility that reads dialog boxes and window controls in a number of the more basic applications for Windows. A simple audio recording program that can record from a microphone or headset, and save the results in WAVE format and Windows Media Audio format in some Windows versions.

Windows 1.0 Windows 3.1 Windows 1.0 Windows 1.0 Windows 2000

Windows 3.1

COMMAND.COM and Cmd.exe WordPad Private Character Editor

A text-based shell (command line interpreter) that provides a command line interface to the operating system. A simple word processor that is more advanced than Notepad. It has facilities to format and print text, but lacks intermediate features such as a spell checker and thesaurus. Utility to create private use characters as defined under Unicode and various East Asian encoding schemes. A client implementation of the Remote Desktop Protocol; allows a user to securely connect to a computer running Terminal Services (Remote Desktop on Windows XP and Server 2003) and interact with a full desktop environment on that machine, including support for remoting of printers, audio, and drives. Allows a user to temporarily take over a remote computer over a network or the internet to offer help with and resolve issues. A graphical web browser and FTP client. See also: Features, History, Criticism, Removal, Browser Helper Objects An e-mail and news client.

MS-DOS 1.0

Windows 95

Remote Desktop Connection

Windows XP, downloadable for previous Windows versions

Remote Assistance Internet Explorer

Windows XP Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 Windows Vista, Outlook Express was introduced in Windows 98 Windows Vista, older faxing and scanning applications were present in previous Windows versions

Windows Mail

Windows Fax and Scan

An integrated faxing and image scanning application.

Windows Media Player

A digital media player and media library application that is used for playing audio, playing video and viewing images. In addition to being a media player, Windows Media Player includes the ability to rip music from, and copy music to compact discs, synchronize content with a digital audio player (MP3 player) or other mobile devices, and let users purchase or rent music from a number of online music stores.

Windows Me, downloadable for previous Windows versions

Windows Photo Gallery

A photo management application. Lets users organize their digital photo collection in its Gallery view, by adding titles, rating, captions, and custom metadata tags to photos. Photos can be edited for exposure, color correction, resizing, cropping, red-eye reduction, etc. and also allows printing photos via the Photo Printing Wizard. A video editing software that is intended for use in editing home movies. Source footage can be split into clips, and the final movie created by combining multiple clips along with effects such as transitions, titles/credits, separate audio track, timeline narration etc. A DVD movie encoding and authoring software. Designed to serve as a home-entertainment hub, to be viewed from a distance up to 3 meters (~10 feet) and controlled by specially designed remote controls. Lets users browse and view pictures, videos, and music from local hard drives, optical drives, and network locations, along with viewing, recording and deferred-playing live TV. Features an interactive TV guide with scheduled recording capabilites. Can also be used for visualization of other information (like sports scores) within the interface. A peer-to-peer collaboration program which lets multiple users start collaboration sessions. Supports desktop sharing , distribution and collaborative editing of documents, and passing notes to other participants. Provides information about computer performance and displays details about running applications, processes, network activity, logged-in users, and system services. A utility for compacting rarely used files and removing files that are no longer required. A graphical front end for the Shadow Copy service that lets users choose from multiple versions of a file. The shadow copy service creates multiple copies of a file as they are changed over time, so that users can revert to previous versions. A screen-capture tool that allows for taking screen shots (called snips).

Windows Vista

Windows Movie Maker Windows DVD Maker

Windows Me

Windows Vista

Windows Media Center

Windows XP Media Center Edition

Windows Meeting Space Windows Task Manager Disk Cleanup

Windows Vista

Windows 3.0

Windows 98 Windows Vista. Windows Server 2003 included Previous Versions support only for client computers. Experience Pack for Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005

Shadow Copy

Snipping Tool

Windows Server components

Component Description A logical group of computers that share a central directory and user database. Supported by All Windows NTbased versions

Windows Server domain

Active Directory

A set of technologies introduced with Windows 2000 that allows administrators to assign enterprise-wide policies, deploy programs to many computers, and apply critical updates to an entire organization. Active Directory stores information and settings relating to an organization in a central, organized, accessible database. Networks can vary from a small installation with a few objects, to global-scale directories with millions of objects. Related topics: Active Directory Service Interfaces, Flexible single master operation, IntelliMirror, Active Directory Application Mode

Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003

Domain controller

A server that responds to security authentication requests (logging in, checking permissions, etc.) within a Windows Server domain. Prior to Windows 2000, a domain controller was either a Primary Domain Controller (PDC), of which there could only be one with this role; or a Backup Domain Controller (BDC). In Windows 2000 and later the concept of primary and secondary domain controllers were eliminated, partially to emphasize the multi-master replication technology available in Windows. Provides centralized management of user and computer settings in an Active Directory environment. Group policy can control a target object's registry, NTFS security, audit and security policy, software installation, logon/logoff scripts, folder redirection, and Internet Explorer settings. Policy settings are stored in Group Policy Objects (GPOs), and may be linked to one or more sites, domains or organizational units. Related topics: Administrative Templates

All Windows NTbased versions

Group Policy

Windows 2000 and later

Internet Information Services

Web server

Windows NT family

File systems
Component File Allocation Table Acronym FAT, FAT12, FAT16 Description The original file systems used with MS-DOS. The standard file systems used with Windows 1.0 through Windows 95. Supported by All versions Windows 95 OSR2, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista

FAT32

FAT32

Extensions to FAT supporting larger disk sizes. The standard file system for Windows 98 and Me.

NTFS

NTFS

Standard file system of Windows NT; supports security via access control lists, as well as file system journaling and filesystem metadata. Windows 2000 added support for reparse points (making NTFS junction points and Single instance storage possible), Hard links, file compression, and Sparse files. Encryption of data is provided by Encrypting File System. Symbolic links and transactioning of file operations via Transactional NTFS are features new to Windows Vista. Windows 95 also supports reading NTFS partitions, over a network.

Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista

ISO 9660

ISO 9660 ("CDFS")

The predominant file system for CD-ROM and DVD-ROM media. Windows includes support for Joliet extensions and the ISO 9660:1999 standard. ISO 9660:1999 is supported since Windows XP.

MS-DOS and Windows 9x via extensions, such as MSCDEX.EXE (Microsoft CDROM Extension), natively in Windows NT

Universal Disk Format

UDF

A file system for storing files on optical media. It is an implementation of the ISO/IEC 13346 standard (also known as ECMA-167). It is considered to be a replacement of ISO 9660. Successive versions of Windows have supported newer versions of UDF.

Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista

HPFS

HPFS

High-Performance File system, used on OS/2 computers. Read and write capability in Windows 95 (where it also listed network computer NTFS-formatted drives as "HPFS", even though it had no direct NTFS capabilities). HPFS write support was dropped in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 98, and dropped altogether shortly before the release of Windows 2000.

Windows 95 (Read/write), Windows 98, Windows NT (read), 3.1/3.51 (read/write/boot)

Core components
Component Acronym Description

Windows kernel (Windows NT)

The Windows kernel image. Provides the kernel and executive layers of the kernel architecture, and is responsible for services such as hardware virtualization, process and memory management, etc. Provides and handles the interaction between software and hardware via the Hardware Abstraction Layer.

Ntoskrnl.exe

hal.dll

HAL

Core processes (Windows NT)

System idle process
SIP A counter which measures how much idle capacity the CPU has at any given time. The process runs in the background and monitors processing bandwidth, occupied memory and the Windows virtual paging file. Performs several critical boot-time operations, such as the creation of environment variables, starting CSRSS, and performs file-copy operations that were queued up from before the system was booted (pending file rename operations). During system operation, it handles the creation of logon sessions via Winlogon and handles Windows File Protection. User-mode side of the Win32 subsystem. Provides the capability for applications to use the Windows API. Responsible for enforcing the security policy on the system. Verifies users logging on to the computer and creates security tokens. Responsible for handling the secure attention key, loading the user profile on logon, and optionally locking the computer when a screensaver is running. On Windows NT systems prior to Windows Vista, Winlogon is also responsible for loading GINA libraries which are responsible collecting logon credentials from the user. A generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries (DLLs). Several Svchost processes are typically present on a Windows machine, each running in a different security context, depending on what privileges the contained services require. WoW An abstraction layer that allows legacy code to operate on more modern versions of Windows; typically this means running 16-bit Windows applications on 32-bit Windows, and 32-bit applications on 64-bit Windows. Allows MS-DOS programs to run on Intel 80386 or higher computers when there is already another operating system running and controlling the hardware. Introduced in Windows 2.1; not available in any 64-bit edition of Windows.

Session Manager Subsystem Client/Server Runtime Subsystem Local Security Authority Subsystem Service

SMSS

CSRSS

LSASS

Winlogon

Svchost.exe

Windows on Windows and WOW64 Virtual DOS machine

NTVDM

System startup (Windows NT)

NTLDR, IA64ldr, Winload
The boot loader; performs basic system initialization options such as loading the hardware abstraction layer and boot-time device drivers, prior to passing control to the Windows kernel. In versions prior to Vista, NTLDR and IA64ldr also display menus to the user if multiple operating systems are defined in boot.ini, or if F8 is pressed. Provides the means for administrators to perform a limited range of tasks using a command line interface, primarily to aid in recovering from situations where Windows does not boot successfully. Used during the boot process to detect basic hardware components that may be required during the boot process. In Windows Vista and later operating systems, displays boot menus to the user if multiple operating systems are configured in the system's Boot Configuration Data.

Recovery Console

ntdetect.com Windows Boot Manager

Graphical subsystem
Graphics Device Interface GDI/GDI+ The kernel graphics component for representing graphical objects and transmitting them to output devices such as monitors and printers. The compositing manager introduced in Windows Vista that handles compositing and manages special effects on screen objects in a graphical user interface.

Desktop Window Manager

DWM

Services
Display name
Alerter service Application Layer Gateway service

Service name
Alerter

Description
Sends administrative alerts over the network to client computers, administrators and users. Provides support for plugins that allow network protocols to pass through Windows Firewall and work behind Internet Connection Sharing. Processes requests to enumerate, install, and remove applications that are installed on the computer or deployed through an organizations network. Transfers files between machines using idle network bandwidth. Used by Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services, and Systems Management Server to deliver software updates to clients, as well as by Windows Messenger. Allows transactional components to be configured through COM+ by coordinating transactions that are distributed across multiple computers and/or resource managers, such as databases, message queues, file systems, and other transaction based resource managers. Manages network configurations and information, and notifies applications of changes.

Introduced
Windows NT

ALG

Windows 2000

Application Management

Windows 2000

Background Intelligent Transfer Service

BITS

Windows XP

Distributed Transaction Coordinator

MSDTC

Windows 2000 and later NTbased

Network Location Awareness

NLA

Windows XP

NT LM Security Support Provider

NTLMSSP

Uses the NTLM MS-CHAP protocol to encapsulate and negotiate options in order to provide signed and sealed communication. Deprecated now in favor of Kerberos authentication. Manages printer devices and moves files into memory for printing.

Windows NT

Print Spooler

Spooler

Windows 95, Windows NT Windows NT family Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 Windows Me Windows NT family Windows XP, Server 2003 only Windows NT family Windows NT family Windows XP, ability to store persistent snapshots in Windows Server 2003 Windows XP

Security Account Manager Task Scheduler Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) Windows Time Wireless Zero Configuration Messenger service MSRPC

SamSs

Manages user account security information.

Schedule

Lets users setup and schedule automated tasks.

STISvc W32Time

Handles scanner and camera inputs. Synchronizes the system time with external time servers.

WZCSvc

Configures and manages 802.11 wireless adapters Allows users to send pop-up messages to other computers over the network. Provides Remote Procedure Call(RPC) technique via remotely accessible Named Pipes.

Messenger RPCSs

Volume Shadow Copy Service

VSS

Create multiple versions of files that change.

Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing

SharedAccess

Games
Component Chess Titans FreeCell Hearts Hold 'Em A version of Chess. A version of FreeCell. A version of Hearts using Black Lady scoring. A version of Texas hold 'em. A game employing the use of a stylus or mouse to draw lines to direct balls into holes of corresponding colors. A version of Mahjong solitaire. A version of Minesweeper. An educational game for children, teaching pattern recognition, shapes, and colors. A version of Klondike Solitaire. A version of Spider Solitaire. Description Introduced Windows Vista Win32s Windows for Workgroups 3.11 Windows Ultimate Extras Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 Windows Vista Windows 3.1 Windows Vista Windows 3.0 Microsoft Plus! 98

InkBall Mahjong Titans Minesweeper Purble Place Solitaire Spider Solitaire

Questions