Tom's APlus Quick Manual

7/31/2019 Tom's APlus Quick Manual

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Honest TomsHardware and Software Notes

Tom McLaughlinb-admin, mct, mcse, mcsa, a+, network+, security+, ctt+

www.tomax7.com or www.digitalsmiles.com

DigitalSmiles Inc.


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Honest Tom's A+ Hardware Notes email:[email protected]

Central Processor Unit (CPU)- The math coprocessor deals with floating-point numeric operations.- Protected mode is a processor feature that allows two or more programs run without interfering with one-another.

- Superscaler - Two chips inside: one for parallel processing and the other for fault tolerance.- Intel Atom low-power x86 microprocessors (Silverthorne and Diamondville).- Core i7 "Bloomfield" (45 nm) are the new Quad Core CPUs.- Merom-L (ultra-low-voltage, 65 nm)- Penryn (Apple iMac specific, 45 nm) E8135, E8235, E8335, and E8435.

Cache:- L1 and L3 - Internal Cache- L2 - External Cache on board, Northbridge. Part of Front Side Bus (FSB) the golden triangle- Southbridge looks after AGP and PCI slots- FSB CPU, RAM, Northbridge

CPU Connectivity:

- Socket 7 Earlier Pentium CPUs ZIF contact connector- Socket 8 - Pentium Pro 387-pin- Slot 1 - Pentium II 242 SEC contact connector- Slot A - AMD processor, same with Socket A.- ZIF Socket - Zero Insertion Force- Socket 370 - Pentium III and Celeron - Front Bus Frequencies: 66, 100 and 133 MHz- Socket 423 - Pentium IV (OLGA) - Front Bus Speed: 100 MHz FSB- Socket 478 - Pentium IV (FC-PGA2)-Front Bus Frequencies: 400MHz-800MHz (100MHz-200MHzQDR)- LGA - Land Grid Array - 775 Balls.

Sockets: Socket 1 - 169 pin holes PGA LIF socket. Socket 2 - 238 pin holes PGA ZIF socket. Slot 1 - 242 leads. SEC slot. Slot 2 - 330 leads. SEC slot. Socket 370 - 370 pin holes SPGA ZIF socket. Socket 418 - 418 pin holes SPGA ZIF socket, this socket was never released. Slot A - 242 leads. SEC slot. Socket A - 462 (actually 453) pin holes ZIF socket. Socket 423 - 423 pin holes SPGA ZIF socket. Socket 478 - 478 pin holes FC-PGA2 ZIF socket.

Socket T - 775 balls (30x33) FC-LGA4 socket. Socket 775 - 775 balls (30x33) FC-LGA6 socket. Socket 603 - 603 pin holes (31x25) PGA ZIF socket. Socket 604 - 604 pin holes (31x25) PGA ZIF socket. PAC418 - 418 pin holes (2x(19x6)) VLIF socket.

PAC611 - 611 pin holes (25x28) VLIF socket. Socket 754 - 754 pin holes (29x29) PGA ZIF socket. Socket 940 - 940 pin holes (31x31) PGA ZIF socket. Socket AM2 - 940 pin holes (31x31) PGA ZIF socket. Micro-FCBGA for Single Core Notebooks FCBGA6 or Socket M or Socket P are for Core 2 Duo Socket B - LGA 1366 for i7s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_2_microprocessors

Copyright 2009 DigitalSmiles Inc. 2
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_2_microprocessorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_2_microprocessorsmailto:[email protected]://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_2_microprocessors


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MemoryROM (Read-Only Memory):

- ROM is a form of non-volatile memory.- Contains both POST and SETUP.

RAM (Random Access Memory):- RAM is volatile memory and does not retain data without power.- RAM contains any active application, including the operating system.

NVRAM (Non-Volatile Memory):- Can maintain data without the use of power.

HMA (or high memory area) is the first 64K of extended memory.VRAM Video RAM- Conventional memory is the first 640K of memory.- Upper memory is the memory between 640K and 1024K.- UMA used to load DOS drivers to allow applications more conventional memory.- Extended memory is the memory above 1024K.- Expanded memory is addressed in pages of 16K.

General DRAM packaging formats- DRAM chip (Integrated Circuit or IC)- Dual in-line Package (DIP)

- DRAM (memory) modules- Single In-line Pin Package (SIPP)- Single In-line Memory Module (SIMM)- Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM)- Rambus In-line Memory Module (RIMM), technically DIMMs but called RIMMs due to proprietary slot.- Small outline DIMM (SO-DIMM). Smaller version of DIMM used in laptops. Comes in 72 pins (32-bit), 144pins (64-bit) and 200 pins (72-bit) .- Small outline RIMM (SO-RIMM). Smaller version of the RIMM used in laptops.- Stacked RAM chips use two RAM wafers that are stacked on top of each other. This allows a largemodule (eg:512mb or 1Gig SO-DIMM) manufactured using cheaper low density wafers. Stacked chipsdraw more power.- DIP 18-pin (DRAM chip, usually pre-FPRAM)- SIPP (usually FPRAM)

- SIMM 30-pin (usually FPRAM)- SIMM 72-pin (so-called "PS/2 SIMM", usually EDO RAM)- DIMM 168-pin (SDRAM)- DIMM 184-pin (DDR SDRAM)- DIMM 240-pin (DDR2 SDRAM)- DIMM 240-pin (DDR3 SDRAM or double-data-rate three synchronous dynamic random access memory)

Power Settings:S1 is the simplest energy-saving state, often used in older systems whose drivers or hardware won'tbehave well with more sophisticated levels of power management. A system at the S1 power level simplyshuts down the hard drive(s) and monitor, but leaves everything else running normally.

S2 offers greater power savings because it not only powers down the monitor and drives, it also cuts power

to the CPU and its cache. Confusingly, this level also is sometimes called sleep or standby.

S3 is a deeper power-savings mode that shuts down almost everything except for the barest trickle ofpower needed to keep the contents of RAM from fading away and to listen for a wake-up action. In a way,you can think of S3 as a "suspend to RAM" state..

S4 is fundamentally different from levels S1 to S3. It's hibernation, where the system stops all activity, justas if you had shut it off. But S4 is also different from the simple power-off of level S5 because, beforepowering down, the S4 hibernation system writes the contents of RAM and some CPU settings to a specialfile on your hard drive (often called something like "hiberfil.sys").



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PC PortsParallel ports:

- 25 Pin female, "D" connector (IEEE-1284 cable)- Sends and receives 8 bits of data at a time

Serial ports:- 25 Pin male, "D" connector or 9 Pin male, "D" connector- Sends and receives 1 bit of data at a time

Video:- HDA 15 pin female, 3 rows of pins.-XGA

Cables and Connectors:- Tape, removable, hard, and optical drives along with scanners can all use SCSI connections.- Up to seven devices can be chained off of a SCSI port.- 18 feet is the maximum length that a SCSI-1 cable can support.- Most external SCSI devices have 50,68, 84 pin female ports.- Most Controller Cards are set to SCSI ID 7.- Null modem cables (serial cables) are used to transmit data between 2 DTE devices.- 15 feet (3m) is the maximum length that a serial (RS-232) cable should be.- Phone lines (few network) cables use RJ11 connectors. Connector resembles a small phone jack.- Twisted pair cables use RJ45 connectors. Connector resembles a fat phone jack.

COM Ports:- COM1 and COM3 use IRQ4.- COM2 and COM4 use IRQ3.- The majority of PC's have only 2 COM port connectors.IRQ (Interrupt Requests)

IRQ 1 KeyboardIRQ 2(9) Video CardIRQ 3 Com2, Com4IRQ 4 Com1, Com3IRQ 5 LPT2 or legacy sound cardIRQ 6 Floppy Disk Controller IRQ 7 Parallel Port (LPT1)

IRQ 8 Real-time clock

IRQ 9 Redirected IRQ2 BridgeIRQ 10 Available SCSIIRQ 11 Available USBIRQ 12 PS/2 MouseIRQ 13 Math Coprocessor IRQ 14 Hard Disk Controller 1IRQ 15 Hard Disk Controller 2

I/O PortsCOM1 3F8HCOM2 2F8HCOM3 3E8HCOM4 2E8HLPT1 378HLPT2 278H

Video CardsAGP 1x -A 32-bit channel operating at 66 MHz resulting in a maximum data rate of 266 megabytes persecond (MB/s), doubled from the 133 MB/s transfer rate of PCI bus 33 MHz / 32-bit; 3.3 V signaling.

AGP 2x -A 32-bit channel operating at 66 MHz double pumped to an effective 133 MHz resulting in amaximum data rate of 533 MB/s; signaling voltages the same as AGP 1x;

AGP 4x -A 32-bit channel operating at 66 MHz quad pumped to an effective 266 MHz resulting in amaximum data rate of 1066 MB/s (1 GB/s); 1.5 V signaling;

AGP 8x -A 32-bit channel operating at 66 MHz, strobing eight times per clock, delivering an effective 533MHz resulting in a maximum data rate of 2133 MB/s (2 GB/s); 0.8 V signaling.



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PCI Express - Abbreviated officially with PCIe (PCI-E is also often used) and should not be mistaken forPCI-X, PCI Express was formerly known as Arapaho or 3GIO for 3rd Generation I/O. PCIe transfers data at250 MB/s per lane. With a maximum of 32 lanes, PCIe allows for a total combined transfer rate of 8 GB/s.[1]To put these figures into perspective, a single lane has nearly twice the data rate of normal PCI, a four laneslot has a comparable data rate to the fastest version of PCI-X, and an eight lane slot has a data ratecomparable to the fastest version of AGP. The full duplex point to point nature of PCIe should furtherimprove its advantage over PCI, particularly in systems with many devices.

PCI-X (Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended) is a computer bus and expansion card standarddesigned to supersede PCI. It is essentially a faster version of PCI, running at twice the speed, and isotherwise similar in physical implementation and basic design. It has itself been replaced in modern designsby the similar-sounding PCI Express, which features a very different logical design.- PCI-X was developed jointly by IBM, HP, and Compaq. PCI-X is a revision to the PCI standard thatdoubles the clock speed (from 66 MHz to 133 MHz) and hence the amount of data exchanged between thecomputer processor and peripherals. Standard PCI supports up to 64-bit at 66 MHz (though anything above32-bit at 33 MHz is only seen in high end systems) and additional bus standards move 32 bits at 66 MHz or64 bits at 33 MHz

Drives- A cluster is a group of sectors. Sectors are aligned in tracks and shown as pie shaped.

- The seek time is the time that is takes the head to reach the needed track.- The latency period is the time that it takes the sector to move under the head.-The access time is the overall time it takes a hard drive to find data.- The data transfer rate is how fast the hard drive sends data to the PC.- FORMAT /S is the fastest way to make a bootable disk. The /S switch tells FORMAT to copy system bootfiles.- FDD (Floppy Disk Controllers) controllers use DMA channel 2 in most cases, First DMA available is 4.- HDI = Head to Disk Interference- CD, CD-ROM, DVD: Read only storage, WORM, used for mass distribution of digital information- CD-R, DVD-R, DVD+R: Write once unique storage, used for tertiary and off-line storage- CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM: Rewritable disks. The +/- indicates both standards.- Blu-ray - blue-violet laser used to read and write a shorter wavelength (405 nm) 25GB vs DVD 4.7GB.- HD DVD - 15GB and dual 30GB.

Disc BD-ROM HD-DVD ROM 3X DVD ROM DVD ROM

Laser wavelength 405 Nm 405 Nm 650 Nm 650 Nm

Numerical aperture 0.85 0.65 0.6 0.6

Storage capacity single layer 25 GB 15 GB 4.7 GB 4.7 GB

Storage capacity dual layer 50 GB 30 GB 8.5 GB 8.5 GB

Playback time on two layers(Standard Definition)

23 hours 13.8 hours N/A 4 hours

Playback time on two layers(High Definition)

9 hours 5.4 hours 2 hours -

Maximum data transfer rate 54.0 Mbit/s 36.55 Mbit/s 36.55 Mbit/s 11.08 Mbit/s

Power Supplies

Yellow: +12Blue: -12Red: +5Orange: 3.3

White: -5Voltage for motor: +/- 12 voltsVoltage for circuitry: +/- 5 volts



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System BoardsCommon form factors include AT, Baby AT, ATX, Mini ATX, LPX, Mini LPX and NLX.

- ATX System Board: 90 degrees, CPU closer to Power Fan, Soft Power, PS/2, onboard connectors- microATX is a small PC motherboard standard, with a maximum size of 9.69.6

Expansion Buses:- PCI - ransfer rate of532 MB/s compared to PCI-X is 1.06 GB/s. 32-bit or 64-bit bus width- PCI-X - doubles clock speed from 66 MHz to 133 MHz- PCIe - 250 MB/s per lane. With a maximum of 32 lanes and a combined transfer rate of 8 GB/s- USB - 127 Devices, 7 per hub- HyperTransport (not HyerThreading)- CSI (Common System Interface expected in 2008 to replace FSB)- AGP (being phased out)- VLB (outdated)- ISA (outdated)- EISA (outdated)- Bus Mastering allows a controller connected to the bus to communicate directly with other devices on thebus without going through the CPU

- SATA 1 or SATA/150 run at 1.5 Gbit/s.- SATA 3.0 Gbit/s run at 2.4 Gbit/s or 300 MB/s for the wire- USB 2.0 can theoretically operate at 480 Mbits/s, 5Volts, 5 Meters with a max of 30Meters, 5 Hubs.- FireWire 1394a can transfer data between devices at 400 Mbit/s and 4.5 meters (about 15 feet).- FireWire 1394b transfer rate of 786.432 Mbit/s up to 100 meters between devices.

The most significant technical differences between FireWire and USB include the following:1. A USB network use a tiered-star topology, while FireWire networks use a repeater-based topology.

2. A USB uses a "speak-when-spoken-to" protocol; peripherals cannot communicate with the host unlessthe host specifically requests communication. A FireWire device can communicate with any other node atany time, subject to network conditions.3. A USB network relies on a single host at the top of the tree to control the network. In a FireWire network,any capable node can control the network.

These and other differences reflect the differing design goals of the two buses: USB was designed forsimplicity and low cost, while FireWire was designed for high performance, particularly in time-sensitiveapplications such as audio and video.



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PCMCIAType 1 3.3mm MemoryType 2 5mm Modems, Network cardsType 3 10.5mmHard DisksSocket Services - BIOS level software interface for hardware information.Card Services - I/O, IRQ hardware interface with computers.CIS (Card ID Structure) - Cards describe themselves to other devices.PCMCIA cards use very little power and can be hot-swapped.

PrintersLaser Printers:The order of processes in a laser printer is: Crystal Clear Water Doesnt Taste Funny1. Cleaning 2. Charging 3. Writing 4. Developing 5. Transferring 6. FusingThe primary corona has the highest negative charge in a printer.

Always check where the leading edge of paper is when troubleshooting paper jams, because it can indicatewhich printer part is causing the jam.- The photoconductive drum in a laser printer is charged negatively, and loses its charge when light hits it.The transfer corona can cause the print to be too light.- The ozone filter needs to be replaced on laser printers when performing preventative maintenance.- For dark spots on a page with a laser printer, it indicates loose toner particles. Running extra paper

through will usually resolve it.- Paper comes out in bunches or smears high humidity.

Dot Matrix:A tight ribbon can cause flecks and smudges on the paper. Missing or broken printhead pins causesincomplete characters. Never lubricate the printhead on a printer. If the print density is erratic, then there isprobably an error with the ribbon advance.

Modem CommandsCommand Function

ATA AnswerATD DialATDL Redial

ATH Hangs up modemATH(1) Hang up (seconds)ATZ Resets the modem, (comma) Pause

Networking- Coaxial, twisted pair, and fiber optic cables are all used in networking.- A token ring network passes packets of data called tokens to each station in a network.- LAN - Local Area Network WAN - Wide Area Network MAN - Metropolitan Area Network- Fiber-Optic - Cables designed for high transfer rates over large distances; carry light pulsesignals through glass core at speeds of between 100Mbps - 200,000Mbps.- Ethernet use coaxial and twisted pair wiring, and can support speeds of 10mbps -100mpbs.- 10Base5 - 10 Mbps transfer rate with coaxial wire.

- 10BaseT - 10 Mbps transfer rate, baseband transmission, with twisted pair wire.- 100BaseT - 100 Mbps transfer rate, baseband transmission, with twisted pair wire.- 100BaseTX Two Pairs of Wires, 100BaseT4 Four pairs of wires or Eight in total.- 100BaseFL Fiber Optic.



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Honest Toms A+ Windows Notes

Windows Hardware Requirements- Before beginning any installation, you should always check the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL)

Windows XP hardware requirements:

- 233 MHz minimum required (single or dual processor system);- 64 MB minimum supported- 1.5 gigabytes (GB) of available hard disk space- XP Home supports 1 CPU, Professional supports 2

Windows 2003 Server hardware requirements:- 133-MHz processor required- 128 MB of RAM required 4GB max- 1.25 to 2 GB of disk space.- Windows 2003 Web supports 2 CPU, Standard (4), Enterprise (8), Datacenter (8-64)

Windows 2003 Business Edition:- 750 MHz- 512 MB- 16 GB of available hard disk space

Windows Vista system requirementsVista Capable Vista Premium ReadyProcessor 800 MHz[37] 1 GHzMemory 512 MB 1 GBGraphics card DirectX 9.0 DirectX 9.0 capable and WDDM 1.0 driver supportGraphics memory 32 MB 128 MBHDD capacity 20 GB 40 GBHDD free space 15GB 15 GBOther drives DVD-ROM DVD-ROM

Windows 7 is NT 6.1 and has same hardware requirements as Vista.

Filing Systems - The following are common hard disk configurations:- Partition - A partition is a portion of a physical hard disk. A partition can be primary or extended- Primary Partition - This is a bootable partition. One primary partition can be made active.- Extended Partition - An extended partition is made from the free space on a hard disk and can be brokendown into smaller logical drives. There can only be one of these per hard disk.- Logical Drive - These are a primary partition or portions of an extended partition that are assigned a driveletter.- Volume - This is a disk or part of a disk that is combined with space from the same or another disk tocreate one larger volume. This volume can be formatted and assigned a drive letter like a logical drive, butcan span more than one hard disk. A volume set can be extended without starting over, however to make itsmaller, the set must be deleted and re-created.

When discussing Windows file systems you need to understand what File Allocation Tables (FAT) are.- FAT is a table that an operating system maintains in order to map the clusters (the smallest unit ofstorage) that a file has been stored in. When files are written to a hard disk, the files are stored in one ormore clusters that may be spread out all over the hard disk. The table allows Windows to find the "pieces"of your file and reassemble them when you wish to open it.

- FAT32 - Created to allow more efficient use of hard drive space and allowed for partitions up to 8GB using4KB cluster sizes. In order to format a drive as FAT32, the "Large disk Support" must be enabled whenstarting FDISK. FAT32 is not compatible with older versions of Windows including Windows 95A and NT. InWindows 9.x, the CVT1.EXE can be used to convert FAT16 partitions to FAT32.



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- NTFS4 - NTFS4 is the file system used by Windows NT that provides increased security and reliabilityover other file systems. On an NTFS partition, you can't boot from a DOS boot disk - this is one of thesecurity features of NTFS. Additionally, a floppy disk cannot be formatted as NTFS.

- NTFS5 - This is the native file system for Windows 2000. NTFS 5.1 For XP and NTFS 5.2 for 2003.

NTFS5 has many new features as follows:- Encrypted File System(EFS) - Windows 2K NTFS volumes have the ability to encrypt data on the disk.- CIPHER.EXE is a command line utility that allows for bulk or scripted file encryption.- Disk Quotas - Provides the ability to set space limitations on users on a per volume basis.- Defragmentation - Windows 2K now includes a disk defragmenter that can be used on NTFS partitions.- Volume Mount Points - Provides the ability to add new volumes to the file system without having to assigna drive letter to them. This feature is only available on an NTFS partition using dynamic volumes.- Compression - In Windows 2000 files, folders and entire drives can be compressed by right clicking on theitem to be compressed and selecting "properties" and then "advanced".- The CONVERT.EXE utility can be used to convert a FAT32 partition to NTFS. (Convert d: /fs:ntfs)- HPFS - Stands for High Performance File System and is used with OS/2 operating systems. This filesystem can only be accessed by Windows NT 3.51 and OS/2.- Windows 9x operating systems also employ VFAT which is a protected-mode FAT file system thatprevents DOS and the BIOS from accessing resources. VFAT is the replacement for SMARTDRV.SYS and

uses a driver called VCACHE.

- NTFS6 - This is the native file system for Windows Vista. Windows 7 is supposedly 6.1.

In Windows NT4, 2000, XP, 2003 profile files are called NTUSER. In W2K and XP it is found in Document& Settings/Username, in Vista, it is found in USERS folder.

Windows NT Structure- Windows XP is a 32 bit operating systems that run in 2 different modes which are kernel(protected) anduser. Applications use Application Program Interfaces (APIs) to pass threads between the 2 modes. Usermode provides no direct access to the system's hardware.- Multiple execution threads are supported for each process- Memory Protection - each Win32 application is separated and protected from other applications

- 2GB non-segmented address spaces are assigned to each application- NT/2000 supports DOS applications via VDMs (Virtual DOS Machines). A VDM is a Win32 application thatcreates an environment where DOS applications can run. It does this by making the NT Workstationresemble a DOS environment and tricks the DOS applications into thinking that they have unrestrictedaccess to the computer's hardware. NT can only support DOS applications that use VDDs (Virtual DeviceDrivers) to intercept the applications calls to the computer's hardware.- NT/2000 also supports Win16 applications with the use of a DOS application called WOW (Windows onWindows). WOW runs within a VDM that runs as a 32-bit process. If a Win16 application crashes it will onlycorrupt the WOW, but will not affect the rest of the NT operating system.

The boot files used by NTx:- BOOT.INI - Specifies boot defaults, operating system locations, settings and menu selections.- BOOTSECT.DOS - A file located in the system partition that allows the option to boot into another

operating system such as Win98 or DOS.- NTDETECT.COM - Hardware detection program that is located on the root of the system partition.- NTLDR - File that loads the operating system and is located on the root of the system partition.- NTOSKRNL.EXE - The executable file.- OSLOADER.EXE - This is the OS loader for RISC based systems.- NTBOOTDD.SYS - File used when the system or boot partition is located on a SCSI drive and the BIOS isdisabled.The registry editors included with Windows NT/2000 include Regedt32 and Regedit. For Windows XP theyare combined into REGEDIT.



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Differences between Windows XP Home and Windows XP Professional EditionsWindows XP Home Edition

Contains basic support for security among multiple users.

Built-in support for peer-to-peer networking, but only for up to five computers.

The backup utility is not installed by default, but is included on the CD.

Windows XP Professional Edition Includes extended support for security between multiple users on the same machine.

Better support for peer-to-peer networking, plus support for joining a "Windows NT domain."

The backup utility is installed by default.

The following features are not present in Windows XP Home Edition.

Administrative Tools (Start Menu andControl Panel)

Users and Group Addition in ComputerManagement Window

Multi-processor support

Remote Desktop

Automated System Recovery (ASR)

Dynamic Disk Support Internet Information Services/Personal Web

Server

NTFS Encryption Utility

File-level access control

Domain membership - Home Edition cannotlogon to an Active Directory.

IntelliMirror

Roaming profiles

Client-side caching

Network Monitor

Offline Files and Folders

Sysprep

RIS deployments.

64-bit Edition

The user interface for IPSecurity (IPSec)

SNMP

SAP Agent

Client Service for NetWare

Boot Configuration Manager

DriverQuery

Group Policy Refresh Utility

Multi-lingual User Interface (MUI) add-on

OpenFiles

Performance Log Manager

Scheduled Tasks Console

Security Template Utility

Taskkill

Tasklist

Telnet Administrator

Dynamic Disks, Fax.

Vista Flavours:

Home Basic - bad scene, barebones no areoglass.

Home Premium good movie editing and viewing,along with picture filing.

Vista Business made for road warriors on laptops,but no BITLOCKER.

Vista Ultimate Everything you see in the TV adsand got sued over...

Vista Enterprise - is available exclusively toMicrosoft Software Assurance customers.



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Microsoft Windows Vista Notes

Windows Vista introduces a breakthrough user experience and is designed to help you feel confident inyour ability to view, find, and organize information and to control your computing experience.

The visual sophistication of Windows Vista helps streamline your computing experience by refining common

window elements so you can better focus on the content on the screen rather than on how to access it. Thedesktop experience is more informative, intuitive, and helpful. And new tools bring better clarity to theinformation on your computer, so you can see what your files contain without opening them, findapplications and files instantly, navigate efficiently among open windows, and use wizards and dialog boxesmore confidently.

Ease of use

When you start using Windows Vista, you willrecognize familiar elements such as the Start menu,which is now faster, more streamlined, and morehelpful than in previous versions of Windows. TheStart menu features integrated desktop searchthrough a new feature called Quick Search which

can help you find and launch almost anything onyour PC. Just type in a word, a name, or a phrase,and Quick Search can find the right file for you. Butmore than that, the new start menu makes it veryeasy for you to navigate across all of the installedapplications on your PC. Eliminating the slowperforming, cascading "All Programs" view, the newstart menu can help you get something started fasterthan ever.

Desktop Search

With Windows Vista, you no longer have toremember where you store every file. Instead, to finda file, you need to only remember something about it,such as a word contained within a document, theartist of a song, or the date a picture was taken.Powerful, integrated desktop search capabilities helpyou find just about anything on your computerquickly, without having to search for it by browsingthrough folders. For example, in the new Start Menu,it is as simple as typing a word, a phrase, a property,or any part of a file name into the embedded QuickSearch box to instantly find the file that you want.

To make searching even more efficient, Windows Vista enables you to add or edit file properties or dataassociated with a file, like a keyword on a document, the artist of a song, or the event where a picture wastaken, to make it easier for you to find in the future. For example, you could add a "graduation" keyword tophotos taken at a graduation ceremony when you save them to your computer. Later, just search for"graduation" in the Quick Search box in the start menu or the Windows Photo Gallery, and all thegraduation-related pictures will be displayed.



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Windows Aero

Windows Vista is the first Windowsoperating system that has a user

experience that can gracefully scale to thehardware capabilities of the computer it isinstalled on. All computers that meetminimal hardware requirements will seethe Windows Vista Basic user experience,which provides the benefits of the refinedinterface features already mentioned.

Live taskbar thumbnails

Resting the mouse pointer over a taskbaritem displays a live thumbnail of thewindow, showing the content of thatwindow. The live thumbnail is displayedwhether the window is minimized or not,and whether the content of the window is adocument, photo, or even a running videoor process

See thumbnail views of the items in your taskbar by resting your mouse pointer on them.Windows Vista provides two entirely newfeatures to manage windows: WindowsFlip and Windows Flip 3D. Flip allows youto flip through open windows (by using

Alt+Tab), providing a live thumbnail ofeach window, rather than just a genericicon and file name

Ease of Access

XP Accessibility section now called Ease of Access

Major improvements in Windows Vista include:

* Improved magnification capabilities in Microsoft Magnifier.* Improved text-to-speech capabilities in Microsoft Narrator.* The new Speech Recognition experience that lets you interact with your computer by voice.



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User Access ControlWindows Vista also builds upon the User Account Protection initiativeby default, limiting Internet Explorerto just enough permission to browse the Web, but not enough to modify your files or settingskeeping yourPC safer from Web-based attacks. Vista allows users to run programs under a lesser privileged, non-administrator account. In the long run, this will be much safer.

Many people call User Access Protection and others call it User Access Control or User Account Control.

Enable or Disable UAP/UAC:

1. Click Start2. Click Control Panel3. Select System and Maintenance4. Click Administrative Tools5. Double-click System Configuration6. Click Continue (if prompted)7. Select the Tools tab in the System Configuration window8. Here you can choose Disable UAP or Enable UAP from the bottom of the listbox9. Click Launch10. Reboot to see effect

Gadgets

Gadgets are mini-applications with a wide variety of possible uses. Gadgets can connect to Web services todeliver weather information, news updates, traffic maps, Internet radio streams, and slideshows of onlinephoto albums. Gadgets can also integrate with your applications to streamline your interaction with them.For example, a gadget can give you an at-a-glance view of all your online instant messaging contacts, theday view from your calendar, or an easy way to control your media player. Of course, gadgets can alsohave any number of dedicated purposes. They can be calculators, games, sticky notes, and more.

Windows Sidebar is a pane on the side of theWindows Vista desktop that organizes gadgetsand makes them easy to access. Windows

Sidebar is the perfect complement to widescreenmonitors and also works seamlessly on standarddisplays. You can easily customize WindowsSidebar to suit how you want to interact with itwhether you want it always on top or restingbelow maximized windows. You can also movegadgets off the Windows Sidebar and place themanywhere on your desktop.

Sleep ModeSleep is commonly known as Standby in Windows system or S3 in ACPI. In Sleep mode, the power supply

to non-essential and non-critical component is withheld, and most system operation is shutdown andstopped. All data in physical memory (RAM module) is still kept in internal memory, and whole system isplace in stand-by mode, which can be woke up and used almost immediately. In Sleep mode, the powerload reduces considerably, saving a lot of energy. However, the power must not be cut off, and must becontinue to supply to the computer. Once out of power, the system will have to start again just like a newlyboot computer just started from power off state.

Windows Vista has also has built-in Hybrid Sleep mode which ensure that system state is preserved whenthere is power lost.



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Hibernate, or S4 in ACPI, meanwhile will save the data in physical memory to hard disk drive (HDD), andthen power off the computer. In Hibernate mode, a file named hiberfil.sys which has the same file size asthe amount of system memory will be created on the local disk. When user wants to use the computeragain, the computer will boot up and load back the state at the last hibernation. The advantage ofHibernation mode is that no power is wasted for maximum saving of power. In Hibernation dormancy, noelectricity is consumed by system. The disadvantage of Hibernate is that after a period of time, there mayhave fragmentation of file. Users will need to defragment the volume that stores the hibernation filefrequently.

More info: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/10/12/what-is-the-differences-between-sleep-standby-and-hibernate-in-vista/

On laptop PCs, you can enter the Sleep state by pressing the Power button or closing the laptop lid. Yourdata is saved to memory, letting you resume use faster. As battery power winds down, Windows Vistaquickly transitions the data to disk to help keep the data safe. Windows Vista lets you resume use of yourcomputer more quickly and reliably than previous versions of Windows.

Network Center

Check your connection status, see your networkvisually, or troubleshoot a connection problem in theNetwork Center.

Easily connect to your workplace from home using theNetwork Center.

Windows Vista puts you in control of your networkexperience with the Network Centerthe centralplace for all your networking needs. Network Centerinforms you about the network your computer isconnected to and verifies whether it can successfullyreach the Internet.

It even presents this information in a summary in theNetwork Map so you can immediately see yourconnectivity to the network and Internet.

If a PC on the network loses Internet connectivity,you can graphically see that the link is down, and

then use Network Diagnostics to help determine thecause of the problem and get a suggestion for asolution.

Network Center also allows you to quickly connect toother available networks, or create entirely newconnections.

You can view and configure your most importantnetwork settings in one place. And for less frequentlyaccessed settings, Network Center provides directlinks so you can easily find what you're looking for.

Network Center also makes it easy to connect yourworkplace network from home.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/10/12/what-is-the-differences-between-sleep-standby-and-hibernate-in-vista/http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/10/12/what-is-the-differences-between-sleep-standby-and-hibernate-in-vista/http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/10/12/what-is-the-differences-between-sleep-standby-and-hibernate-in-vista/http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/10/12/what-is-the-differences-between-sleep-standby-and-hibernate-in-vista/


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Troubleshooting

Emergency Repair Disks commands:Win9x Control Panel/Add RemoveNT4 At the Command Line RDISKW2K ERD Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Backup

XP ASR - Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/Backup

Creating Boot Disks- DOS (1) boot disks are created by using the command format a: /s.- Windows 9X, (1) Add/Remove Programs in control panel, select the "Startup Disk" tab.- Windows NT4 (3) boot disks can be made from the i386 folder using the WINNT.EXE /OX command.- Windows 2000 (4) from the installation CD, Bootdisk folder, MAKEBOOT.EXE utility.- Windows XP (6) use the CD-Rom to boot up or go to Microsoft Website to create boot disks..

Windows Issues- Windows Protection Errors - Typically caused by the type or speed of the RAM installed in the system.- Bad or Missing COMMAND.COM - This means that the OS is unable to locate the file COMMAND.COM.To fix this problem use the make sure that the necessary boot files are located on the hard drive. If not, bootwith the startup disk and enter the command SYS C:\ which will copy the system files to the harddrive(Windows 9x only).- HIMEM.SYS not loaded - Check the CONFIG.SYS file and make sure that the line- Device=C:\HIMEM.SYS exists and that the path specified to the file is where the file actually is.- Operating system not found - A common cause of this error is booting a system with a non-bootable floppyin the floppy drive- Short beeps indicate RAM or Video. Usually Video has numbered short long beeps.

Printing IssuesPrint Spooler is stalled - Go to the spool folder which is located in C:\Path to system files\spool\printersdirectory and delete all files in this location and resend any incomplete print jobs.- Incorrect print drivers - Having an incorrect driver can cause any number of problems from pages comingout as garbled ASCII text to not having access to the full range of features available for that printer. Driverscan be updated by going to the Printers control panel, right clicking on the printer and select properties.

- Out of memory - Print jobs have to be spooled to hard disk space. If there is not enough hard disk spaceavailable this error will occur. Try freeing up hard drive space or move the spool folder to a drive with morefree space.

Other Troubleshooting ToolsCOMMAND Windows 9x command line windowCMD Windows NT4, 2K, XP command line windowREGEDIT 16 bit registry editor, Windows 2000 uses both.REGEDT32 32 bit registry editor, Windows XP uses both but shows only one screen layout.DEVICE MANAGER hardware managerMSCONFIG Windows configuration tool. Know difference between Win98 and XP version. 2K none.MSINFO - Used to view installed devices and drivers. - Windows 9x and MSINFO32 in W2K or XP.DRWATSON - Will generate an error log when certain types of errors occur. Windows 3.x/9x/NT/2000

GPEDIT.MSC Group Editor tool for Windows XPCHKDSK Check DiskCMDCONS Command Console installation

ASD.EXE - Automatic Skip Driver Agent identifies devices that can cause Windows 98 or Windows Me tostop responding (hang) when you start your computer, and then disables them so that they are bypassedwhen you next restart your computer.



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TYPES OF BACKUP: Backup command: ntbackup. Know the different paths to Backup Windows.- Full - copies all files and marks them as being backed up.- Incremental - copies only files created/changed since last full backup, marks them as being backed up.- Differential - copies only files created/changed since last full backup, doesnt mark them.- Daily - copies only files created/changed today, doesnt mark them as being backed up.

Viruses malicious programming.There are several different categories of viruses as follows:Trojan Horse - These are files that claim to be something desirable but are destructive and cause loss ortheft of data. Trojans are different from viruses as they do not replicate themselves like viruses do.Worms - These are programs that replicate themselves from system to system without the use of a hostfile.Boot sector viruses - Boot sector viruses infect the system area of a disk known as the boot record.Master boot record viruses - Master boot record viruses are memory resident viruses that infect disks inthe same manner as boot sector viruses. The difference between these two virus types is where the viralcode is located. These can often be fixed by using FDISK /MBR.

NetworkingIPX/SPX - The fastest routable protocol and is used on Novell Netware networks.TCP/IP - TCP/IP open source protocol as it is the foundation for communication over the internet.

NETBEUI - The NetBios Extended User Interface is a non-routable protocol using NETBIOS.NETBIOS User friendly names to IP addresses in a local network.HTTP - Exchanging files and multimedia over the Internet. HTTPS (SSL) it the secure version. Port 80SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and is used to reliably send mail over the Internet. Port 25POP3 - Post Office Protocol and is used for the receiving of email. Port 110Computers are given unique names to help identify them on the network. In Windows 9x the computername can be up to 15 characters long and cannot use spaces. In Windows 2000/XP, the name can be up to63 characters and should only contain letters, numbers and hyphens.

Name Servers- Name servers such as WINS and DNS are used to make finding resources on large network easierwithout having to memorize IP addresses. They provide a more "friendly" way of locating things.- WINS is used to register NetBIOS names & resolve to IP addresses for both local and remote hosts.

- Internet Service Provider (ISP) who provides your connection to the Internet (eg: Shaw, Telus).- DHCP Dynamic Host Control Protocol Provides IP addresses to computers.- Root Level Domains - The top of the tree.- Top Level Domains - These are divided into different categories. Com, net, mil, edu, org and gov are themost common.- Second Level Domains - These domains make up the rest of networks as all sub-domains are categorizedunder this heading. So if you visit Intel's site, you are visiting the sub-domain intel.com.- Hosts - Hosts are the final level in the hierarchy as they are the individual computers that occupy orcomprise a domain and are where the web pages are located.- Nodes Computers in a network

Odds-n-Ends- System Restore needs 12% of HD

- EPP (one way) and ECP (two way) cables- Boot.ini /sos- NTBootDD SCSI- Recover consol /cmdcons- winnt32 /checkupgradeonly- MMC- When copying NTFS to FAT32 the long filenames and attributes are kept- %username% is the default setting to enter user names in a string command.



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IEEE 802 Specifications802.1 Internetworking802.2 LLC (Logical Link Control)802.3 CSMA/CD - Ethernet802.4 Token Bus LAN802.5 Token Ring LAN802.6 MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)802.7 Broadband Technical Advisory Group802.8 Fiber-Optic Technical Advisory Group802.9 Integrated Voice/Data Networks802.10 Network Security802.11 Wireless Networks802.12 Demand Priority Access LAN, 100 Base VG - AnyLAN802.15 Wireless personal area networks (WPANs)802.16 Metropolitan area networks (MANs)Wi-Fi Ensures compatibility among 802.11b and interoperability certification by Wi-Fi Alliance

802.11a Enhancement to 802.11 that applies to wireless ATM systems Used in access hubs

Enhanced data speed Frequency range 5.725 GHz to 5.850 GHz802.11b Enhancement to 802.11 that employs complementary code keying (CCK) High data speed Low susceptibility to multipath-propagation interference Frequency range 2.400 GHz to 2.4835 GHz802.11d Enhancement to 802.11 that allows for global Roaming Attributes similar to 802.11b Particulars can be set at Media Access Control (MAC) layer802.11e Enhancement to 802.11 that includes Quality of Service (QoS) features

Facilitates prioritization of data, voice, and video transmissions802.11g Enhancement to 802.11 that offers wireless transmission over relatively short distances Operates at up to 54 megabits per second (Mbps)802.11h Enhancement to 802.11a that resolves interference issues Dynamic frequency selection (DFS) Transmit power control (TPC)802.11i Enhancement to 802.11 that offers additional security for WLAN applications802.11j Japanese regulatory extensions to 802.11a specification Frequency range 4.9 GHz to 5.0 GHz

802.11k Radio resource measurements for networks using 802.11 family specifications802.11m Maintenance of 802.11 family specifications Corrections and amendments to existing documentation802.11x Generic term for 802.11 family specifications under development General term for all 802.11 family specifications



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TCP Command Line Utilitiesarp-Arp.exe is used to resolve an IP address to its hardware (MAC address).-a - View the contents of the local ARP cache table-s - Add a static Arp entry for frequent accessed hosts-d - Delete a entry

ipconfig - The ipconfig is a command line tool for NT that shows how the computer's IP stack

/all - Extra information is revealed; IP host name, DNS, WINS server/release - If DHCP is enabled, you release the lease with this switch./renew - The renew switch will update and renew DHCP lease information from the DHCP Server.

winipcfg - The winipcfg is a GUI version for Windows 95 ipconfig

netstat - The netstat tool displays protocol statistics and the state of current TCP/IP connectionsNETSTAT [-a] [-e] [-n] [-s] [-p proto] [-r] [interval]-a Displays all connections and listening ports.-e Displays Ethernet statistics. This may be combined with the -s

option.-n Displays addresses and port numbers in numerical form.-p proto Shows connections for the protocol specified by proto; proto may be TCP or UDP. If used with the -s

option to displayper-protocol statistics, proto may be TCP, UDP, or IP.

-r Displays the routing table.-s Displays per-protocol statistics. By default, statistics are shown for TCP, UDP and IP; the -p option may

be used to specify a subset of the default.interval Redisplays selected statistics, pausing interval seconds between each display. Press CTRL+C to stop

redisplaying statistics. If omitted, netstat will print the current configuration information once.

nbtstatThe nbtstat checks the state of NetBIOS over TCP/IP connections and returns NetBIOS session and nameresolution statistics. This tool can also be used to update the local NetBIOS name cache.NBTSTAT [-a RemoteName] [-A IP address] [-c] [-n]

[-r] [-R] [-s] [S] [interval] ]-a (adapter status) Lists the remote machine's name table given its name-A (Adapter status) Lists the remote machine's name table given its IP address.-c (cache) Lists the remote name cache including the IP addresses-n (names) Lists local NetBIOS names.-r (resolved) Lists names resolved by broadcast and via WINS

-R (Reload) Purges and reloads the remote cache name table-S (Sessions) Lists sessions table with the destination IP addresses-s (sessions) Lists sessions table converting destination IP addresses to host names via the hosts file.RemoteName Remote host machine name.IP address Dotted decimal representation of the IP address.interval Redisplays selected statistics, pausing interval seconds between each display.

Note: Netstat works for TCP/IP connections, and Nbtstat works for NetBIOS connections.Press Ctrl+C to stop redisplaying statistics.

nslookupThe Nslookup tool is used to trace DNS queries from start to finish

ping- Ping.exe verifies configurations and tests connectivity If you can ping a hostname but cannot connect to ashare point in Explorer, then the LMHOST file does not have an entry for that hostname or WINS is not working.

Conversely, if you CAN connect to a share in Explorer yet cannot ping the hostname, then either the HOST file entryis wrong or DNS is not working.pathping Combination of Ping and Tracert

tracert -The tracert tool shows the route a packet will take over a network from one computer to another.

NetBIOS-problems are due to problems with WINS or LMHOST file.DNS- problems are due to HOST file errors or DNS server problems.



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Just in case

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