Windows XP Basic

Windows XP Basic

The Operating System

The Operating System (OS) is the most important program that runs on a computer. It performs basic tasks like recognizing input from the keyboard, sending images to the display, keeping track of files, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers. The OS you use is what truly defines your computing experience. Some are designed to simplify the computing experience as much as possible while others are complex, offering a wide range of features and customization.

Since there is no OS that can satisfy every user's needs you have to find the one that's right for you. This guide will give you an idea of the operating system choices available for personal computers today.

With Windows ME and 2000 just getting established in the marketplace it might seem strange that Microsoft has introduced a new operating system; but they believe XP is a product that will redefine what people think of Windows.

XP retains features introduced in ME while adding many new ones. For example it will enable you to control your device drivers in a more precise fashion. If you install a new driver for one of your peripherals and the device malfunctions, you can roll back that individual driver to a previous state without having to uninstall or restart.

The "Last Good Configuration" tool logs your system configuration every time you successfully boot your PC, and if something bad happens, you can revert back to your last good configuration. With Automatic System Recovery (ASR) you can recover your system settings if you change something by mistake. XP also has protection to keep importantsystem files safe.

In addition to all of the improvements found in ME's help section, a new option calledInteractive Support lets you link directly to sources for tech support. By clicking on theRemote Assistance Tool you can create a peer-to-peer connection that, with your permission, allows another Windows XP user to take over your system and solve problems.

XP is a very quick OS. The system boots up and applications launch faster in XP than any previous Windows release. Benchmark tests indicate that on average XP is 36% faster than Windows 98 SE and equivalent to Windows 2000 in performance. Standby and Hibernationmodes have been improved to quickly resume operation so you can leave your PC on, consuming minimal power.

Windows XP has a wide range of entertainment features and multimedia support designed to fully integrate digital media into the PC. Features include the ability to convert music tracks into digital audio, burn music CD's, listen to radio stations from across the planet and watch DVD movies on your PC. All of these functions have been integrated into one program, Windows Media Player, with an all new interface and playback facilities.

If you are a PC gamer, you've most likely been using Windows 98/Me even though Windows 2000 offers higher performance. Because of its game/hardware compatibility, ease of use and product support, Windows 98/Me was the OS geared towards gamers. Windows XP offers the best of both worlds: the performance and security of Windows 2000 and the game/hardware compatibility and support of Windows 98/Me.

Windows XP Basic   The Windows   All the windows have the same structure; don't worry if you are not familiarized with it because we will explain it next.   The window above is the one that opens when you click on My Computer.   The structure of this window is very similar to the others.   For Animated Presentation (With Voice)Click Here.         Windows XP Basic   Handling Mouse and Keyboard   All the windows are formed by:   The title bar   The title bar contains the name of the program you are working with (Notepad) and in some cases the name of the opened document (aulaclic) also appears. In the top right corner we can find the minimize, maximize/restore, and close buttons.   The minimize button shrinks the window it turns it into a button located in the WindowsXP task bar.     The maximize amplifies the size of the window to the whole screen     The restore button restores the window to its original state.     The close button closes the window. If we' ve modified the document, we are asked if we want to save the changes before closing.     The Menu Bar   The menu bar has the program functions organized in menus. For example, when we click on File, the different operations that can be performed with files are displayed. All the operations that the program allows us to do are located within the different menus of this bar   To open a menu with the keyboard, you need to press the Alt key plus the underlined letter of the menu you want to open. For example: Alt+F opens the menu File. In no letter is underlined, press Alt key   If on a menu an option appears with a small arrow pointing to the right it means that that option contains other options. If you want to open the menu related to that option, you only need to maintain the option highlighted for a few seconds and the menu will appear     If on a menu you find an option that contains three dots. (For Example: Sharing and Security...) it means that the option needs more information to be executed; normally a dialog box will open in which you can place that information     The Tool Bar   The Tool Bar contains icons to immediatelly execute some of the most often used commands. These commands can also be executed from the menu bar.     The Scroll Bar   The Scroll Bars allow us to move through out the page in a quick and simple manner. Simply drag the bar with the mouse or click on the arrows. There are bars to move along the width of the page and bars to move along the height of the page. The little square with dots on the right is used to change the size of the window. Simply click and drag.     The Status Bar   The Status Bar is used to give the user certain information.This information varies depending on the window that is opened at the time.   For Example: In this case it tells us that we have 3.75 GB free space on the disk, and that the total size of the disk is 19.5 GB.   This bar is not shown by default in Windows XP. You can activate or disactivate it from the menu View --> Status Bar.