Railways Computers Science Introduction to Windows Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Category : Railways

 

Microsoft Windows

 

Microsoft Windows stands for 'Microsoft- Wide Interactive Network Development for Office Work Solution.' Microsoft Windows is a series of graphical interface operating system developed, marked and sold by Microsoft. It enables you to work with a wide variety of programs on your computer, often simultaneously.

 

Versions of MS-Windows

Some important versions of MS-Windows are as follows

 

Windows NT (New Technology)

A version of Windows introduced in July, 1993 and made specifically for businesses offering better control over workstation capabilities to help network administrators.

 

Features

  • It is based on High Level Language.
  • It is able to run on DOS, Windows 3 and Win 32 applications.
  • It has a 32-bit Windows applications.
  • It uses preemptive multitasking.
  • It provides higher stability and security.

 

Windows 95

It is a graphical user interface based operating system. It was released on 24th August, 1995 by Microsoft.

 

Features

  • It is a mixed of 16-bit/3 2-bit Windows operating system.
  • It is consumer-oriented.
  • It supports graphical user interface operating system.
  • It supports FAT32 file system, multi-display, Web TV and the Internet Explorer.

 

Windows 98

It was developed in 1998. This was produced in two main versions. The first Windows 98 version was plagued with programming errors but the Windows 98 second edition came out later was much better with many errors resolved.

 

Features

  • It supports Internet Explorer 4.0.1.
  • It has Intel 80486DX2/66 MHz or a compatible CPU with a Math coprocessor (Pentium processor recommended).
  • Windows 98 was the first operating system to use the Windows Driver Model (WDM).
  • It includes a FAT32 converter utility for converting FAT16 drives to FAT32 without formatting the partition.
  • It also supports many peripherals devices (MX, USE, DVD).

 

Windows ME

An upgraded version from Windows 98 (Millennium Edition) launched in June 2000, but it has been historically plagued with programming errors which may be frustrating for home users.

 

Features

  • It is designed for single CPU or SMP 32-bit Intel X86 computer.
  • It supports 8 or more CPU (the maximum 32 CPU).
  • The minimum internal storage is 64MB and maximum 4GB.
  • It introduced Multilingual User Interface (MUI).

 

 

Windows XP

It is an OS produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers. Microsoft released Windows XP on 25th October, 2001.

Some versions of Windows XP are as follows

  • Windows XP Home edition is a version made for home users.
  • Windows XP Professional is made for business users.

 

Features

It has various users with independent profiles.

It has 3.75 GB free space on the disk and that the total size of the disk is 19.5 GB.

At least 64 MB of RAM internal storage.

It provides 1.5 GB of available space on the hard disk.

It includes video adapter and monitor with Super VGA \[\left( 800\times 600 \right)~\]or higher resolution.

It supports sound card, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM drive, speakers or headphones.

 

Windows Vista

It is an operating system by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs and media center PCs. It was released worldwide on 30th January, 2007.

 

Features

  • It can be installed Pentium 4, higher, 512MB RAM, 32 MB video card and 40 GB hard disk.
  • It enhances the features of visual style.

 

Windows 7

It is an OS released by Microsoft on 22nd July, 2009. It is an upgrade of Windows XP and Vista. It does not include some standard applications like Windows Movie Maker, Windows Mail, etc.

 

Features

  • It supports 64-bit processor.
  • It provides touch, speech, handwriting recognition.
  • It supports a playback of media in MP4, MOV.
  • It includes Windows Bio-metric framework.
  • It provides multiple firewall.

 

Windows 8

It is a part of Windows NT family as personal OS developed by Microsoft and released on 1st August, 2012.

 

Features

  • It is a 64-bit logical CPU.
  • It supports 64 TB Dynamic Virtual Disk.
  • It provides 3D Graphic supports and Internet Explorer-10.
  • It enhances feature of NTML-5 is assumed.
  • It is based on Microsoft's 'Metro design language5.
  • It supports new emerging technology like USB 3.0, cloud computing.

 

Windows 10

It is a personal computer operating system developed and released by Microsoft as part of the Windows NT family of operating system. The first version of the operating system entered a public beta testing process in October 2014, leading upto its consumer released on 29 July, 2015.

 

Features

  • It is easy to used social media sites like Facebook, Twitter.
  • Windows 10 will also include a "game DVR" mode to allow recordings of the last 30 seconds of play, all better for the social gaming.
  • Windows 10 interface to adapt based on the hardware it is running on.

 

Tit-Bits

  • Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) provides a compare documents combining information from several different application programs such as graphs, charts, music, video, clipart, etc.
  • To shut down the computer, we need to click Start and then select Shut down key.
  • Bill Gates is the chairman of Microsoft.

 

Desktop

When we turn ON the computer then the first screen, which will be display on the computer is known as desktop.

The background image of desktop is called wallpaper. A small arrow or blinking symbol, moving on the desktop, is called cursor.

Desktop contains Start menu, Task bar, icons, gadgets, etc.

Some important components of desktop are organised as follow

 

Icons

A small image of a program, shown on the desktop with program name is known as icon. Icons are small pictures that represent files, folders, programs and other items.

Users can open these programs by double click on the icons. If you move an icon on your desktop, this is called 'dragging' and after releasing it, it will be called 'dropping.'

Some of the icons displayed on the desktop are as follows

(a) Computer It is the most important icon on the desktop, which contains icons of document folders, hard disk's partition, each removable disk drive, e.g. floppy disk, CD, DVD, etc. It also allows the users to access drives, printers, removable disk or other system applications. It is the main part of our Windows where all the programs and software backup are stored.

(b) Recycle Bin It is also a form of icon on the desktop, which contains deleted files, folders or shortcuts. If we delete a file or folder then it goes to recycle bin. From recycle bin, we can restore the deleted files or folders on proper place. It is like a dustbin of the computer.

Once the recycle bin is empty then we won't be able to restore those files and folders again.

(c) Network It consists of all network connections, which make possible to connect the computer from Intranet.

(d) Documents This folder contains all your files which you have created and saved in it. This folder contains all types of file format Word processor. Spreadsheet, PowerPoint, image, etc.

 

Task Bar

Initially, the long horizontal box at the bottom of our desktop is known as Task bar.

When we open a program or any window, then the button of that program will be displayed on the task bar.

(a) Middle Section of the taskbar contains the button of programs or documents which are currently being used by the user.

(b) Notification and the right end of the task bar, consists of clock-date and time, icons of certain programs, computer setting, sound and icons of removable disk, i.e. pen drive.

 

Start Menu

This menu is the main gateway of our computer's program such as files, folders and settings. Start menu also contains most recently opened program.

Start menu have following options

(a) Program It contains a list of installed programs. When we installed any software, it automatically shows in this menu.

(b) Favourites It is a collection of book marked Web pages.

(c) Documents It shows a list of most recently opened documents.

(d) Setting It includes Control Panel, Printers, Taskbar, etc.

(e) Find It searches for specific files or folders.

(f) Log Off It provides a password to protect from unauthorised access.

(g) Turn Off (Shut down) to shut down or restart the system.

 

Window

The some parts of the Windows are as follow

 

Title Bar

It is located at the top of window or any dialog box, which displays the name of the window or software program. Title bar contains at least three small buttons, Close Button At the right edge of the title bar, there is a square containing a [X] called the Close button. It helps to terminate the running program. Minimize Button It reduces to window to a button on the task bar. It helps to shrink the window. Maximize Button It enlarges the window to occupy the whole desktop. It expands the size of window fit to the desktop.

 

Scroll Bar

It appears at the right (or left) side or at the bottom of the window. A window can display a document, i.e. larger than the window area, so with the help of scroll bar arrow, the user can scroll a document in the window area to bring the view of hidden portion of document. There are two types of scroll bars, i.e. Horizontal scroll bar and Vertical scroll bar.

 

Menu Bar

Each window contains its own menu which performs specific actions when they have been selected.

The menu bar consists of several options as follows

File Menu Contains options like New, Open, Close, Save, Save As and Print, etc.

Edit Menu Contains options like Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste, Clear, etc.

View Menu Like Normal, Toolbar, Print layout, etc

Insert Menu contains options like Header, Footer, etc.

Help Menu for tutorials or helpful information.

 

Dialog Box

When we perform certain operation on your document and click on the Close button without save your document then dialog box will be appear on the screen. Generally, dialog box contains message, Close button, Yes button, No button and Cancel button. It is mainly used to suggest that what to do next.

 

Main Programs inside the Window

 

Notepad

It is a text editor program. Notepad is most commonly used to the edit or view text files. The file format of Notepad files is .txt (text document).

 

To open Click on Start menu \[\to \]All Programs\[\to \]Accessories\[\to \] Notepad

 

 

WordPad                        

It is an another text editor program including some few features such as complex formatting, pictures, etc. The extension of WordPad file is .rtf (rich text format).

 

To open Click on Start menu \[\to \] All Programs\[\to \] Accessories \[\to \] WordPad

 

Paint

It is a drawing program, used to create drawing or edit digital pictures (images). The extension of paint file is .png or. jpg or. bmp.    

            

To open Click on Start menu \[\to \] All Programs \[\to \]Accessories \[\to \]Paint

 

Calculator

It performs addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, etc.

 

To open Click on Start menu \[\to \] All Programs \[\to \]Accessories \[\to \] Calculator 

 

Media Player

Windows media player is an easy-to-use interface to play digital media files, organise digital media collection, burn CDs, etc.

 

To open Click on Start menu \[\to \] All Programs \[\to \]Windows Media Player   

Game

Windows have some games like Chess titans, Hearts, Freecell, Mahjong titans, Purble place, Solitaire, Spider solitaire, etc.

To open Click on Start menu \[\to \] All Programs \[\to \]Games

 

Tit-Bits

Standby It drops the computer into a very low power mode.

Hibernate It is a feature of computer operating systems where the contents of RAM are written to non-volatile storage such as hard disk before powering OFF the computer.

Keyword is a word which occurs in a text more often than we would except to occur by chance alone.

 

Files

These are the collection of data stored on auxiliary storage media. In Windows, files are the basic unit to store data. The name given to a file or document by the user is called file name. Filename is used to identify the type of tile format. Each file has a specific filename and has a file extension that identifies the file type. Some common filename extensions are as follows

.docx

MS -Word document

.rtf   

WordPad document

.txt

Notepad text file

.eml  

E-mail file

.xlsx

Executable file

 

MS-Excel file

 

HTML file (Web page)

.pptx

MS-PowerPoint presentation

   

 

ZIP File ZIP stands for Zone Information Protocol. This is an application that allows for the compression of application files.

Executable File When a file contains instructions that can be carried out by the computer, it is often called an executable file.

 

Folders

These are containers that you can use to store tiles. Folders can also store other folders, i.e. sub-folders. You can create any number of sub-folders and each can hold any number of files and additional sub-folders.

 

Different types of library are as follows

(i) Documents Library It is used to organise and arrange Word processing documents, Spreadsheets, Presentation and other text related files. It is used to store in My Document folder.

(ii) Pictures Library It is used to organize and arrange your digital pictures. By default, it is saved in the Pictures folder.

(iii) Music Library It is used to organise and arrange your digital music, such as songs. etc. By default, it is saved to the Music Library folder.

(iv) Videos Library It is used to organise and arrange your videos, such as clips, recording, etc. By default, it is stored in My Videos folder.

MS-Window Shortcut Keys

                       

Keys

Description

Ctrl + C

Copy

Ctrl + X

Cut

Ctrl + V

Paste

Ctrl + Z

Undo

Delete

Delete

Ctrl + A

Select all

F3

Search for a file or folder

Alt + Enter

View properties for the selected item

Alt + F4

Close the active item, or quit the active program

Alt + Enter

Displays the properties of the selected object

Alt + Spacebar

Opens the shortcut menu for the active window

F2

Rename select item

Ctrl + Right Arrow

Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word

Ctrl + Left Arrow

Move the insetion point to be beginning of the previous word

Ctrl + Down Arrow

Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph

Ctrl + Up Arrow

Move the insertion point the beginning of the previous paragraph

Ctrl + Alt + Del

Restart the computer

Ctrl + Esc

Display the Start menu

F5

Refresh the active window

Esc

Cancel the current task

Window

To display or hide the start menu

Window + D

To display the desktop

Window + M

To minimize all open window

Window + L

To Lock the keyboard

 

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