COMPUTER SCIENCE – 11

Chapter 7
Windows Operating System
Contents
• Operating System
• User Interface
• Evolution of the Windows operating system
• Features of Windows 2000
• Objects of Windows Operating System
• Working with Mouse
• Working with Keyboard
• Using Clipboard
• Disk Management Utility
• File Management & Windows Explorer
• Disk Partition
• Control Printing Jobs
Operating System
Q.1 Define an operating system. What are the main purposes of operating
system?
 Operating System (OS)
• OS  set of system programs that controls & coordinates the overall
operations of a computer system
• Provides an interface for user to interact with computer
• Computer needs an OS to do work
• Without OS, computer is like a car with no fuel
 
• Purposes of Operating System
• Manages all hardware & software
• Provides a platform on which applications run on computer in a suitable and well-
organized way
User Interface
Q.2 What is user interface? Discuss different types of operating systems on the
basis of user interface.
 User Interface
• Used to interact with computer to perform various tasks
• Example of interfacing  user gives commands and data to computer
• OS  provides an interface for user to interact with computer
• Input devices (keyboard & mouse)  commonly used for giving commands to
computer
• Types of OS based on User Interface
• Graphical User Interface Operating System
• Command Line Operating System
 Types of OS
1. Graphical User Interface Operating System
• Provides commands in graphical form to communicate with computer
• In GUI  presented in form of icons (i.e. small images)
• application programs, commands, disk drives, files, etc.
• Command given by clicking with a pointing device (mouse) on icon or picture
• Also provides window, menus, buttons, and other graphical objects to give
commands
• Users do not need to memorize commands
• Easier to learn & use
• Attractive & user-friendly
• Examples  Windows, Linux, and Solaris
• Microsoft Windows  most commonly used GUI
 Types of OS
2. Command Line Operating System
• Provides a command prompt on computer screen for user to communicate
with computer
• User communicates by typing commands through keyboard
• Users have to memorize commands & its rules
• Difficult to learn and use
• Examples:
• DOS (Disk Operating System)
• UNIX
 Feature Command Line OS GUI OS
Interfacing • Command prompt • Provides commands in graphical form
• User gives commands by typing on • User gives commands by clicking with pointing
keyboard device (mouse) on icon
• Users have to memorize commands & its • Users have not to memorize commands
rules

Control • Provides full access to computer resources • Offers better control of a file system &
computer resources
• Often users have to use command line to
complete a specific task
Ease • Difficult to learn and use • Easy to learn and use.
Multitasking  • Many command-line OS allow multitasking • Provides facility to open multiple programs
• But difficult to view multiple things at a each in a separate window
time • Enables user to view & to manipulate multiple
things at a time
Speed • Faster than GUI to perform different tasks • Easier to use
• Slower to perform different tasks
Scripting • Enables user to easily script a sequence of • Enables user to create shortcuts or other
commands to perform a task similar actions to complete a task
• Does not provide facility of scripting a
sequence of commands to perform a task
Evolution of the Windows
Operating System
Q.4Describe the evolution of the Windows operating system.
 Evolution of the Windows Operating System
• Windows  developed by Microsoft Corporation
• Provides a GUI
• Widely used in businesses, educational institutes, and research organizations
• First successful series of Windows  Windows 3.x series (Windows products 3.0, 3.1, 3.11, etc.)
• Windows 3.x  not an OS
• Operating environment providing a GUI
• Operated under the DOS OS
• In 1995  Microsoft released Windows 95
• Complete OS for personal computers
• In 1998  Windows 98 released
• Improved version of Windows 95
• Windows NT (New Technology)
• Added networking features
• All later versions are based on NT Technology
• Later versions  Windows 2000 (server and professional), Windows XP (XP  experience),
Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10, etc.
Features of Windows 2000
Q.5Discuss different features of the Windows 2000 operating system.
 Features of Windows 2000
1- Graphical User Interface
• Ease of use
• Simply clicks graphical objects (such as icons or buttons) to perform different tasks
2- Multitasking
• Loading multiple programs into memory & executing them at same time
• Multitasking OS  Windows 2000
• User can execute multiple tasks at same time
• Example: print document + editing another document and so on
3- Multiprocessing
• Multiple processors work together simultaneously (at the same time) to complete a specific task
• Some OS have features of multiprocessing
• Windows 2000  supports multiprocessing
• OS divides main task into different small tasks
• Each processor  assigned a specific small task
• Processors work on different small tasks simultaneously
• Main task completed in a very short interval of time
 Features of Windows 2000
4- Multi-user
• Windows 2000  multi-user OS
• Allows multiple users to use same computer at same time
5- Plug and Play
• Plug and play  OS automatically detect & configure new devices on
connection
• Also install appropriate device drivers
• Windows 2000  plug and play feature
• Automatically detects new hardware device & installs appropriate driver
6- Networking
• Provides features for establishing, maintaining, & troubleshooting a network.
 Features of Windows 2000
7- Utility Programs
• Various built-in utility programs
• Used for services of hardware & software
• Also used to solve different problems of users
8- Supporting Latest I/O Devices
• Windows 2000  support latest I/O devices
• Devices  multimedia devices, smart cards, wireless devices, and many
others
Objects of Windows Operating
System
Q.6Discuss different objects of Windows operating system.
 Objects of Windows Operating System
1- Desktop
• On-screen work area
• application windows, icons, menus, & dialog boxes appear
• Main object ; Entering point in Windows
• First object appears when Windows loaded successfully
• Contains icons of different applications & resources
• Icons allow user to interact with computer to perform different operations
2- My Computer
• Special icon on desktop  used for interfacing with computer
• Enables user to see easily what is on his/her computer
• User access everything  hardware devices, disk drives, and files and folders, etc.
3- Recycle Bin
• Special folder on hard disk
• Contains deleted files & folders
• When delete a file or folder  not removed permanently
• Transferred (moved) to Recycle Bin
• Can be restored to their original location
• Can delete files & folders permanently from Recycle Bin
 Objects of Windows Operating System
4- My Documents
• Automatically created when Windows installed
• "My Documents" folder as default folder in many Windows-based applications
• Windows-based applications  MS Word, MS Excel, MS Access, etc.
5- My Network Places
• Icon on desktop; contains icons of computers, printers, and other network
devices connected to network
• Used to access computers, shared devices, and folders connected to network
6- Windows Explorer
• Acts as File Manager
• Provides an efficient way of locating & managing files
• Provides most efficient way to manage computer resources
 Objects of Windows Operating System
7- Internet Explorer
• Web browser
• Part of Microsoft Windows OS
• Used to access information on Internet
8- Window
• Basic building block of all graphical objects in Microsoft Windows
• Each application program opens in its own window
• Consists of different icons, menus, toolbars, etc.
9- Control Panel
• Special folder  contains Administrative Tools (system software)
• To perform system management tasks such as
• installing/uninstalling hardware devices & programs
• managing system resources
• sharing printers
• setting up date and time etc.
 Objects of Windows Operating System
10- Start Button
• Located at leftmost side of taskbar
• Gateway to access most of programs installed on computer
• Start button clicked Start menu appears
• Tasks of Start button
• starting any program/application
• opening or searching documents
• changing Windows settings
• getting help of Windows
• managing files/folders etc.
Working with Mouse
Q.7How is the mouse used in Windows environment? Describe various events of
the mouse.
 Working with Mouse
• Commonly used input device
• Windows loaded successfully  arrow appears, mouse pointer
• Moves in mouse direction
• By default, two buttons  left & right
• Left button  primary mouse button
• Wheel on top of mouse
Mouse Events
• Left Click
• Left mouse button pressed  trigger left click event
• Used to select icons, menu commands, or options in a dialog box
• Used to press a button such as Start button and closing, opening or minimizing an application window, etc.
• Right Click
• Right mouse button pressed  trigger right click event
• Used to view properties of an object (file, folder, or desktop)
• Used to display popup menu on screen
• Drag
• Left mouse button is pressed + mouse movement while keeping left button pressed
• Used to select more than one item at a time
• Used to move an object from one location to another
Working with Keyboard
Q.8How is the keyboard used in Windows environment? Describe various events of
the keyboard.
 Working with Keyboard
• Primary input device
• Used for entering text into computer
• Also provides some shortcut methods for performing commands
• In Windows  actions performed with mouse, can also performed with
keyboard
• To select items & command menus  slower process than that of mouse
Keyboard Events
• Actions performed by using keyboard
• Key Down
• Occurs/triggers  when user presses any key
• Key Up
• Triggers  when user releases already pressed key
Using Clipboard
Q.9What is clipboard and its usages?
 Using Clipboard
• Information can easily be transferred
• Transfer text, or images from one application program to other
• Files and folders can be copied or moved
• Clipboard  temporary area of RAM
• Selected information first copied to clipboard
• From clipboard  pasted to another location
• Can make many copies from clipboard
• Information stored is overwritten when new one is copied
• Copy
• Make a copy of selected information to clipboard
• Selected information remains in its original location
• Duplicate copy created in clipboard
• Cut
• This command is used to shift the selected information to the clipboard. The selected information is removed from its
original location.
• Paste
• This command is used to copy the information from the clipboard to another location. The information from the
clipboard can be copied as many times as required.
Disk Management Utility
Q.10 What is disk management utility of Windows?
 Disk Management Utility
• Provides graphical interface  to view status of different disk drives and
perform maintenance on these drives
• User can divide disk into multiple partitions
• Size of drives and file system can be found
• Disk management  indicates which drive contains system partition
File Management & Windows
Explorer
Q.11 What is File Management? Explain the Windows Explorer.
 File Management
• A process of maintaining and organizing files and folders
• File  data and program instructions stored
• Folder  holds files & subfolders
• Windows provides different methods or tools to manage and organize files
and folders
• Popular tools  My Computer & Windows Explorer
• Files are recognized by their extensions
• User opens file  Windows checks file extension
• Database of windows  extensions of registered files stored
• If Windows does not recognize file type
• displays dialog box
• asks to select an appropriate application to view file
 Windows Explorer
• Acts as File Manager
• Provides an efficient way of locating and managing files
• Provides the most efficient way to manage computer resources.
• Many operations can be performed on files and folders using Windows
Explorer
• cut, copy, paste, rename or delete a file or folder
• Shows files and folders in a hierarchical way
• Panes of Windows Explorer
• Left pane
• displays folders, and drives in a tree view shape
• Right pane
• shows detailed view of folder or drives selected in left pane
Disk Partition
Q.12 What is meant by disk Partition? Briefly describe primary and extended
partitions.
 Disk Partition
• Logical division of a hard disk into multiple parts or sections
• Each part of physical disk drive  treated as separate disk drive
• Some OS (Windows & Linux)  require multiple partitions
• Disk partitioning allows for installing & running multiple OS on same
computer
• Types of Disk Partitions
• Primary Partition
• Extended Partition
 Types of Disk Partition
1. Primary Partition
• Partition on which OS is installed  system partition
• Contains OS folders and files
• Windows and other OS boot from primary partition
• May use entire disk or only part of it
• Maximum of 4 primary partitions can be created
2. Extended Partition
• Part of physical hard disk
• One hard disk  one extended partition
• Neither formatted nor assign any drive letter
• Used only for creating multiple logical partitions (logical drives)
• Logical partition  formatted & assigned a unique letter
• In this way, multiple logical hard disk drives can be created
• Data of users  stored on the logical partitions (logical drives)
Control Printing Jobs
Q.13 How printing is controlled in Windows?
Q.14 What is a print queue?
 Control Printing Jobs
• Maintains a printing queue for the jobs (documents) to be printed
• Can share a printer on a network  so that all network users can print their
documents
• Can install multiple printers
• At a time only one of them assigned as default printer
• All jobs are directed to default printer
• If direct a particular job to another printer  specify at time of printing
• Default printer can be changed at any time
• Procedure to change a default printer
• Click Start button on Taskbar  Start menu appear
• Select Printers from Settings  Printers window appear
• Right click on printer to make it as default  popup menu appear
• Click Set as Default Printer option
 Print Queue
• Multiple documents sent to printer  added in queue
• in an order  they are sent
• Print queue  List of documents waiting for printing
• Documents in print queue handled one by one in same order in which added
• View and manage print queue
• Cancel or pause a print job
• However, cannot pause a print job that is already printing
• Order of queue jobs can be rearranged
• Simply drag print job into its new position and then release it
• Procedure to view a print queue
• Double click printer’s icon in Printer folder
• OR When a print job send  printer icon appears in system tray on Taskbar
• Double click on this icon
• Printer window opened showing all documents currently sent to printer
For more details, refers to

PM Series

Computer Science
ICS Part-1

by
CM Aslam, Aqsa Aslam, Mudassir Ahmad & Atif
Mansoor

Publisher: Majeed Sons

22- Urdu Bazar, Lahore