Introduction to Windows

In this section you will look at another type of operating system – MS-WINDOWS, which helps you to interact with the system easily and to perform a complex task with little knowledge of operating system or memorized commands. MS-WINDOWS is a popular package supporting graphical user interface (GUI). MS-WINDOWS provides features supporting Modern User Interface concept such as desktop metaphor, which makes computer available to the majority of people who are either novice or non-programmers.

History of Windows

Microsoft operating systems for desk top and laptop PCs can be divided into three families:

1. MS-DOS based Windows
2. Consumer Windows 95/98/ME
3. Windows NT

MS-DOS based Windows

Originally MS-DOS and other operating systems for early microcomputer system were all based on users typing in commands from the keyboard. In 1985, when Microsoft decided to build a successor to MS-DOS, it was strongly influenced by the success of the Macintosh. At that time, Microsoft decided to give MS-DOS a graphical user interface (shell), pronounced “gooey”, complete with Windows, icons, menus and mouse, that it is called Windows, which ran on top of MS-DOS. Windows 1.0 was released in 1985 for Intel 286 processors.

Windows 2.0 was designed for the 286 and 386 and released in 1987. But it had certain limitations and was not even much better. Finally Windows 3.0 released in 1990 for the protected mode of Intel 386. Windows 3.0 and its successors 3.1 and 3.11 were huge commercial successes. You will be surprised to know that none of the early versions of Windows were true operating systems because they were layered on top of MS-DOS, which primarily support for the disk system. Development of this terminates at version 3.11.

Before the further discussion of Windows let us briefly study about GUI.

Graphical User Interface

Common features of GUI include:

1. secondary user input devices, such as a mouse
2. point and shoot functionality with screen menus
3. windows that graphically display what the computer is doing
4. icons that represent files, directories and other applications
5. dialog boxes, buttons, check boxes, sliders and many other graphical metaphores

In GUI environment many applications can share the screen as well.  You can control the arrangement and size of the windows. But note that at any time, you can interact with one window – the “active window”. You can switch back and forth between the applications. The GUI processes the sequence in object-oriented fashion. You select an object, and then the action to apply to the object.

Thus you can say that GUI is a graphical model of user interface which provides the users with an object-oriented, multitasking, graphical interface using common and defined user interface components.

Consumer Windows 95/98/ME

The earlier version of MS-Windows, that is “Windows 3.1” sits between the user and DOS, providing you with a graphical user interface with which you interact with the computer. It is just a “shell”. However the later versions of Windows, such Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows ME are operating systems by themselves and not just an interface sitting between the user and DOS.

Windows 95 was released in August 1995 and was derived from original Windows (upgraded from, and compatible with 3.1/3.11) but with support for 32-bit applications and MS-DOS free. However Windows 95 was not a full 32-bit  program because it contained old 16-bit assembly code as well as 32-bit code and it still used the MS-DOS file system. The only change to the file system was the addition of long file names in place of the 8+3 character file names allowed in MS-DOS. While being independent of MS-DOS, MS-DOS applications are executed directly using modified MS-DOS code and hence can execute any programs written for MS-DOS. It used MS-DOS system only foe booting and running old MS-DOS programs.

Therefore together Windows 95 and the new version of MS-DOS 7.0 contained most of the features of a full blown operating system including virtual memory, process management and multiprogramming.

In June 1988, a slightly modified version of this, called Windows 98, was released. Actually Windows 98 was not very different from Windows 95. The main difference was the user interface – which integrated the desktop and the Internet more closely. Nevertheless both Windows 95 and 98 still contain a large amount of 16-bit Intel assembly language. After some time in 2000 (millenium year). Microsoft released Windows Me (Windows Millenium Edition), a minor revision of Windows 98. It overcomes some limitation of Windows 98 and added some new features. One interesting new feature was the ability to restore the computer to its previous setting after a misconfiguration.

Windows NT

Windows NT (Windows New Technology) was fully 32-bit windows compatible operating system. The very first version, called Windows NT 3.1, was released in 1993. From the beginning Windows NT was designed to be portable because it was almost written entirely in C. This was designed to match the so-called popular operating system of that time 16-bit Windows 3.1system. No doubt Windows NT 3.1 was far superior that Windows 3.1 system. But unfortunately Windows NT 3.1 failed to grasp the market.

The first major upgrade to NT came with NT 4.0 in 1996. This operating system had the power, security, and reliability of the new operating system. This system was also highly portable because most parts of its code was  still in C, but a small amount of C++ in the user-interface part. One of the major plus point of Windows NT over Windows 95/98 is that it supports multiprocessor system

In this article you will study Windows 98.

The important features of Windows are:

1. It provides you a graphical user interface.
2. It allows you to work with more than one program. You can have several applications in progress at the same time, each one being run in its own window (a window is a rectangular area on the screen in which you view an application or a document).
3. You can simultaneously view multiple programs on your screen.
4. Windows provides a full set of features to manage the windows, such as move, open, close, change the active window, etc.
5. In Windows you need to set up all computer resources only once and are available to as set up to all programs being run under Windows.
6. You can even transfer your data between application clipboard, that is any type of data can be transferred from one window to another with the clipboard.
7. Windows comes with a set of utility programs and accessories which you need.

Before the detail discussion of Windows, let us study the structure of a Window.

Structure of a Window

A window has title bar, control menu box, maximize/minimize buttons and window boarder, and within window you may have some most familiar items, such as menu bar, horizontal/vertical scroll bar, option buttons, command buttons, check boxes and list boxes. Figure-7.5 shows the types of components you may find in a typical window.

Title Bar – Title bar shows the name of the application, document, or a folder name, which is opened by the user. You can open more than one application in windows. However it is highlighted for the currently active window. You can use it to move the window by dragging it with the mouse.

Control Menu Box – Control menu box is just a small box to the upper left corner of each window. Clicking on it opens the Control Menu box , which has options such as restore, move, size, minimize, maximize and close.

Maximize/Minimize Buttons – The maximize button is used enlarge the active window so that it fills the entire desktop and the minimize button will reduce the window to an icon and arranges it on the desktop. Remember that clicking on the minimize button will not quit the application.

Restore Button – The maximize button is replaced by the restore button. Once you minimize the window you can enlarge it by clicking on this button. As you do this, it returns the window to its previous size.

Window Boarder – It is just the outside edge of the window. You can easily resize it by lengthening or shortening the boarder of a window.

Menu Bar – The menu bar is the bar below the title bar. It lists you the available menus, such as File, Edit, Search, etc. Each of these menu names has options under it. Since each menu contains a list of actions or commands and when you select a menu option, some type of action takes place, such as execution of a command, getting a dialog box where you have to perform some action or choose an option.

Scroll Bars – Scroll bars are used to move through a document or a list of actions when the entire document or list does not fit in the window. Scroll bars are of two types – horizontal bar and vertical bar. On the top of the vertical scroll bar, there is a small button with an “up” arrow and at the other end there is a button with a “down” arrow and between these two arrows there is a scroll bar with a small rectangle called an elevator or a scroll box. The horizontal scroll bar works similarly for left or right viewing of the windows contents.

Figure (a)

Insertion Point – Insertion point is a flashing vertical bar that marks the place where you type something – a name, date, etc.

Mouse Pointer – An arrow used for pointing items is mouse pointer. It appears only when the mouse is installed on the computer system.

Client Area –  Client area is the area inside the window, which is under application control.

Dialog Boxes – Dialog boxes provide another mechanism besides pop-up menu and menu bars to obtain the information from the user. Dialog boxes usually contain command buttons, option buttons, text box, list box, etc.

Command Buttons, Option Buttons and Check Boxes – Command button is used when you need an immediate action. The OK or Cancel buttons are command buttons. Option buttons are used to represent a group of mutually exclusive options. You can select only one option at a time. The selected option button contains a black dot within itself. A check box presents non-exclusive options, that is, more than one option can be selected at a time. Selected check boxes contain an X.

Windows 98 Environment

Let us study about Windows 98 vision by Microsoft. For starting Windows 98, simply switch on your computer and you will come directly to Windows 98 screen, as shown in figure-(c). When Windows 98 is started, the first thing that we see is the desktop (metaphore). We can change the setting of the desktop as you like.

Icons

Icons are just small pictures. There are several icons on the desktop, which are located on the left side of your desktop. Each icon represents an object, such as a program or a folder.

Task Bar and Start Button

The task bar, containing the Start button, is used to quickly start a program or to find a file. The task bar and the Start button are always visible. By default, when Windows is running, both features are always available on your desktop, no matter how many windows you have opened. However you can make several settings to your taskbar, such as Always on top, Auto hide, Show small icons in Start menu and Show Clock. Buttons on the task bar show you which windows are opened by you, even if some windows are minimized or hidden beneath another window. However you can easily switch to a different window by clicking its taskbar button.

Start Menu

Click on Start button. Depending upon how your computer is set up, your Start menu may look slightly different from the following illustration.

A cascading menu appears when you click on the option that has a right pointed arrow. Generally the start menu contains menu options, such as Windows update, Programs, Favorites, Documents, Settings, Find, Help, and so on. Your system may have a bit different option.

Manage System in Windows 98

Windows 98 provides a lot of utilities for managing your system. Let us study some important ones.

My Computer

Use My Computer if you want to view the contents of a single folder or drive. Double-click My Computer icon. It opens the window that looks like the figure-(e). This window displays available drives. Double click the icon for the drive that you want to look at. When you double click a drive icon, a window displays the folders contained on that drive. Now you can then double-click a folder to see the files it contain

Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer is used to look at your files in a hierarchical structure. Windows Explorer enables you to browse them in a single window rather than opening drives and folders in separate windows as shown in figure -(f). The left side of its window contains a list of your drives and folders, and the right side displays the contents of a selected folder.

For example, if you want to view your hard disk – Sagar (C:) using Windows explorer, then you will simply Click at Start button, point to Programs, and then click Windows Explorer. And in last click the letter that represents your hard disk, as shown in the left pane. The contents of hard disk – Sagar (C:) appear in the right pane.

System Settings

Windows 98 also provides the facility of changing date setting, time setting, printer setting, network setting, change your desktop background, change the capacity of your recycle bin, change the screen resolution, change the display fonts, configure multimedia services, view or change resource settings for a hardware device, and so on.

Control Panel

To open Control Panel, click the Start button, and then point to Settings. When you point at Settings, it will open a window that contains the icon of Control Panel icon as shown in figure-(g). You can also achieve the same by clicking on the My Computer and then on Control

Add New Hardware

This utility is used to add new hardware to your computer system. This icon is provided in Control Panel. When you double click at this icon it will show you a new window as shown in figure-(h). After clicking at Next it will show you a window that tells you to search for any new plug and Play device on your system. Again when you click at Next, a new window prompts you to search the new device from Windows or from the list of hardware. It is the user who selects it. Once you select this, Windows installs that hardware properly.

Add/Remove Applications

One can easily install and remove programs by using the Add/Remove Programs utility from the Control Panel window. If you want to install an application then click on Install, it will open a new window  . While installing the application, the wizard helps you to complete the process step-by-step. Similarly you can remove an application from your system. If you want to remove a program, select it from the displayed list of applications and programs and click on Add/Remove button.

Date and Time

If you want to update the date and time settings of the system, then select Date/Time icon from the displayed icon. It will open-up the window displaying the current date and time. 

To change the month, click the down arrow in the month field to choose the correct month. Same way you can choose the current year by clicking at year field. You can also set the current time in the same fashion

Fonts

Windows 98 provides a wide range of fonts that can be viewed, added, or deleted from the available font list. When you double click at Fonts icon, a new window is displayed on the screen as shown in . If you want to look at a sample of a font, just double click the icon for the font. However you can also add more than one font by using the combination of Ctrl and Shift keys.

Keyboard

Keyboard icon is used to change the setting of your keyboard. You can easily change the keyboard layout in order to accommodate the special characters and symbols used in different languages.

Mouse

This icon changes setting for your mouse. The setting for the mouse include the button configuration, double-click speed of the mouse, pointer speed and pointer trail, and so on. 

This window shows three tabs – Buttons, Pointers and Motion. These three tabs are for different purposes of settings. For example, if you want to change the appearance of your mouse pointer then follow these steps:

1. Click Pointers tab.
2. To change all your pointers, select any shape of pointer and then click at OK button.

Windows set up provides only a limited set of mouse pointers scheme. However you can even choose the filename of the pointer you want to use Similarly you can adjust the speed of your mouse pointer, turn on the mouse pointer trail, switch over to different model of the installed mouse, and so on.

Printers

The Printers icon adds, removes, changes settings for printers. You can add a new printer to it. To set up a new printer follow these steps:

1. Select Add Printer icon from the Printers window.
2. It will open Add Printer Wizard.
3. Now follow the instructions on the screen.
4. Finally if you want to print a test page, first make sure your printer is on and ready to print.

Note : This is the First Part Of this article, remain information about windows will be in next article.