Neon-komputadór

MS-Windows98

MS-Windows98 is a multi-tasking graphic user interface that operates on top of MS-DOS. It supports 32-bit applications, a FAT32 directory structure and the integration of Microsoft's Web browser (Internet Explorer) in the operating system. Logging in to a MS-Windows 98 client computer on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation local area network requires a user name and a password. A system administrator should have already set a user name for you and an initial, default password. Because we are the Ministry of a nation-state data security is important. Users must use complex passwords (at least 8 characters and must include numbers and upper-case characters), must change their passwords regularly, they have unique passwords and they cannot repeat passwords. Never give out your password to anyone. That is a breach of national security. If a user is having any problems with there passwords, please see a systems administrator.

Assuming the login procedure is successful, the first thing that confronts the user is the Desktop. This is conceptually the same as a real desktop, it is the work area. Files that are currently been worked on should always be saved to the desktop. By default, on the bottom edge of the desktop is the taskbar. This includes the Start button, icons for commonly used programs, active programs and the time, Also on the desktop are some commonly used shortcuts, including 'My Computer', which provides access to the control panel, disk drives and other peripherals, 'Internet Explorer', which executes the web browser of the same name, 'Network Neighbourhood', which displays all the computers on the network, a 'Recycle Bin' where deleted objects are temporarily stored, 'My Briefcase' which is supposed used to be used for coordinate file transfers between computers and a variety of user (or automatically installed) and a variety of shortcuts, which can be distinguished by the arrow on the lower-left hand corner of the icon.

The Start button provides options to shutdown, restart, logoff or put the computer on standby mode. It also provides access to a menu of other programs which are accessed by simply highlighting and activating (either with the left mouse button or by pressing the enter key). Programs on the desktop can be moved to this menu by using a left mouse click and dragging it to the desired submenu, or by using Start -> Settings -> Taskbar and Start Menu. This can also be used to remove items from the program menu. Highlighting and clicking on the right mouse button on the Start or Program menus also gives a range of options: from here, one can copy the item, rename an item, delete an item, and (mostly) resort the menu.

The Favorites option on the Start menu allows one to move immediately to files, programs or websites. To add a file or program to the menu, create a shortcut and move the shortcut to the menu. The Start menu also provides the facility to find Files and Folders (Start -> Find -> Files or Folders). The dialogue box that appears that conducts full-searches from just a few characters and accepts the '*' and '?' wildcards. The Find utility also allows the user to specify the drive that they are searching in and whether or not subfolders should be searched as well. It is fairly sensible to always select this latter option. Further, the Start menu also provides a list of recently accessed documents for easy access. If you want to clear this list go to Start -> Settings -> Taskbar and Start Menu -> Start Menu -> Clear.

Wildcards

A common feature that is used in both Microsoft and Linux operating systems, and with many others, is the wildcard. Consisting of the '*' character and the '?' character, this is commonly used for listing or searching for files. The '*' character represents any number of characters and of any time following the '*'. The '?' character represents any single character.

For example, I have a directory with the following contents:

1-1.doc	1-2.doc	1-3.html	3-3.doc	bordieu	jameson
1-1.html	1-2.html	2-1.doc	3-3notes	derrida	levi-strauss
1-1_a.gif	1-2.txt	3-1.doc	3-4.doc	geertz	mumford
1-1_b.gif	1-3.doc	3-2.doc	3-5.doc	innis

If I type (using the Linux BASH prompt in this example)

ls 1-*.*

I will get the following output:

1-1.doc	1-1_a.gif	1-2.doc	1-2.txt	1-3.html
1-1.html	1-1_b.gif	1-2.html	1-3.doc

If however, I type:

ls 1-?.*

I will get the following instead.

1-1.doc	1-1.html	1-2.doc	1-2.html	1-2.txt	1-3.doc
1-3.html

In the first example, I am looking for a list of all files that start with "1-" and I don't care about how many characters or what file suffix they use (e.g., .html, .doc, .gif, .txt etc). In the second example, I am just looking for those files with a single character after '1-' in the file prefix.

Another means to provide easy access to files or programs is the use of a desktop shortcut. Whilst usually it is best to keep one's desktop free from clutter - like a real desk - it is sometimes useful to have a shortcut, especially if you are accessing files or folders which are difficult to get to from the normal procedure (e.g., a shared folder on a network). A shortcut can be created from the Start menus by highlighting the item, clicking with the right mouse button and dragging the item to the desktop. If a shortcut is being created via Windows Explorer (e.g., a shared folder on a network), after locating the item, the right mouse button can be used to 'Create Shortcut' or to drag the item to the desktop. Likewise, with a website link: by clicking on the link on the browser window and dragging it to the desktop a shortcut will be created. Shortcuts can be renamed and deleted by clicking on the right mouse button and choosing the appropriate option.

As discussed in the first chapter, computer files and folders are stored in a storage medium, such as a floppy disk, a hard-disk or a CD-ROM. In Windows 98 terms, these are called drives. Typically a floppy disk is the a:\ drive, the primary hard disk the c\: drive and any additional disks are consecutively marked d:\, e:\, f:\ and so forth. The b:\ drive rarely appears on machines in more, It comes from the days when 3.5" and 5.25" disks were both in use. Drives are logically dived into directories (also known as folders) that are used to organize the data and programs stored a drive, for example the c:\windows directory will contain many of the files necessary for the functions of the operating system.

The key program for viewing, moving and otherwise manipulating files and directories is Windows Explorer (not to be confused with Internet Explorer). Windows Explorer can be accessed through the Programs menu, or by with the keyboard shortcut, (Windows Symbol+e), Windows Explorer displayed two panes, one for directories and one for the files and directories within the currently selected directory or drive. Directories and drives are selected with either the mouse and clicking on desired location or with the cursor keys and pressing 'enter'.

Basic file and directory actions are carried out either through clicking the right mouse button and then clicking the left mouse button to adopt a selection or by using the keyboard to access the drop-down menu (Alt+File -> option or Alt+Edit -> option). Through these actions on can create new directories, delete files or directories, copy files or directories or move (cut and paste) files and directories, rename files and directories and delete files and directories, Multiple files and directories can be selected by the cursor and shift keys (with specific selections confirmed or rejected with the ctrl key). Further, various options exist for the way that Windows Explorer displays files and directories. These options likewise are available from clicking the rightmouse then the left mouse button after making a selection or by the (Alt+View -> option). They include 'large icons', 'small icons', 'list', 'details'). In general the 'list' option is the most efficient for most purposes; however the 'details' option can be very useful, as it includes the name, size, type and date of last modification. This can be very useful if you wish, for example, to compare two files that have the same name in different directories!

Apart from accessing programs through the start and programs menu, manipulating files and directories using Windows Explorer, there are also a large number of utilities that can be found in the Control Panel, which is accessed from the Start menu (Start -> Settings -> Control Panel). The Control Panel provides a variety of minor optional settings such as desktop theme (which controls the appearance of your desktop), what Fonts you have installed (the typeface style displayed by an application), screen Display options (including how much screen area you use and whether or not your screen saver is activated) and the time and date. More importantly, the Control Panel also determines what programs you have on your system (Add/Remove Programs), your email settings (Mail and News), which printers your computer can use, and the network and modem connections, the profiles of users and their passwords and System information.

Matters like adopting a desktop theme and changing the date are fairly trivial. You simple choose the settings that you want. Obviously one should set their date/time to what the date and time actually is. Choosing a desktop theme is entirely a matter of personal taste - however a word of warning. High contrast between text and background is easier to use and causes less eye strain. Keep this is mind when choosing your style. It is far preferable to have a desktop style that is easy to read rather than having one which suits your taste. On a related topic, setting a screen saver of some sort is also recommended to increase the lifespan of monitors. A screen saver can be selected by going to Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Display and select and execute the Screen Saver tab. Adopting a password for the screen saver is an additional recommended security measure.

To install a printer, first goto to Start -> Settings -> Printers. This will bring up the Printer section of the Control Panel. By executing the Add Printer program (double click or tab, select and enter) a "printer wizard" will start. The first dialog box asks whether the printer is local (connected directly to the system) or networked (a shared resource on someone else's system). Following this, the specific printer (or something very close to it) must be chosen from the list of printer manufacturers and models. Following this you might be asked to install the Windows CD so that the drivers can be installed. Following this a printer port has to be selected - this is almost always LPT1, however if some other printer port must be chosen (e.g., COM1) then execute the Configure Port button and check the printer documentation for the correct settings. The next dialog box presents a default name for the printer, which is a matter of choice, the following dialog asks whether you want to use this as the default printer for Windows programs, which is usually the case and the final dialog is whether or not you wish to print a test page, which is common sense to ensure that the printer is connected and working properly.

With the printer now installed an icon representing that printer will appear in the printer control panel (Start -> Settings -> Printers). Selecting and executing this icon allows for control of the tasks, or jobs, currently allocated to that printer. If, for example, a user wish to cancel a job or jobs sent to a printer they simply have to select the job with the mouse or tab keys (or use the control key to select multiple jobs), select Document from the menu bar and execute Cancel. The same applies to temporarily pause selected jobs from printing and to start jobs that have been paused. To cancel, stop or restart all jobs, simply select Printer and execute the appropriate option from the Menu bar.

A common interface used by Windows98 across all applications is the window (hence the name). The window is framed by a border that separates the window from the rest of the desktop. A window can be resized by dragging the borders inwards and outwards to resize according to the user's needs. The window's control box provides a menu to restore, move, resize, minimize, maximize or close a window. There is also minimize and maximize and close buttons. The title bar displays the name of the current file and program. The menu bar displays the menu of the program and allows the use to send commands to the program. If there are any toolbars selected these will normally appear below the menu bar, although they can be dragged to any window border. Toolbars utilize icons for the use to send commands to the program. Finally there is a status bar that provides information about the status of the program. In many programs, where the contents of the workbar do not fit in the window, vertical and horizontal scrollbars appear on the rights side and bottom the window respectively.

Commands to selections - defined as an area highlighted by the mouse or shift+cursor keys - between applications can be made with universal shortcut keys, mouse actions or use of the application menu and that apply to all applications, files and even disks. These particular universals are part of the operating system as they are temporarily stored in a clipboard utility rather than remaining, for example, within the application itself. These commands include Cut, Copy and Paste which are three functions that are performed universally. To Cut a selection, with the application menu use Edit->Cut, with a keyboard short cut, Ctrl+X, when using icons, rightmouse click on the icon and select Cut. To copy with the application menu, with Edit->Copy, with a keyboard shortcut Ctrl+C, when using icons right mouse click and select Copy, To paste with the application menu, use Edit->Cut. With a keyboard shortcut Ctrl+V, when using icons right mouse click and select Paste. When a selection is cut, it is deleted from the current location and saved in the Clipboard, where it remains until a new selection takes its place. Copy is similar except the original selection remains. And paste copies the current contents of the clipboard to the desired location. The current contents of the Clipboard can be viewed by Start-> Programs-> Accessories-> System Tools-> Clipboard Viewer.

Multiple windows can open at the same time. Rather than using the mouse to switch between windows (they are all displayed on the Windows taskbar) it is far quicker to use the alt+tab combination keys. Windows can also be arranged as a cascade, which means they are arranged with the title bar of each displayed or tiled where no window overlaps another. To cascade windows, use a right-mouse click on the taskbar and click on Cascade Windows. To tile windows, use the same method except choose Tile Windows Horizontally or Tile Windows Vertically.