PC Workshop:
Windows Operating Systemother pages in this section
Getting started with a new computer 98 | XP
Getting Started with Windows 98 | XP
Windows options 98 | XPMaking Windows work
security and privacy | housekeeping
advanced skills and toolsother sections in the PC Workshop
webmaking | business media
collaboration | office productivity | webtop servicesother Ricci Street pages
mba 504 | mba 600
basic skills formthis page
Windows | How to ... | learn more
Some tools are so simple that we call them intuitive. They require more of our muscles than our brains.
For example, we don't have to think about which end of a hammer to hold. We learn how to use a hammer well enough by observation and simple trial-and-error at a very young age. As long as we hold the hammer tightly enough, it will work. If we keep it dry, it should work well for a long, long time. If there's not a proper hammer around when we need one, many other objects will substitute just fine. Professional use is rare, but not particularly difficult. Hammers have frequently been used criminally, for everything from destruction of property to murder.
Let's go through the same thought process for another tool that has been around for a very long time. While hammering is done by other primates, what about sailing? Humanity doesn't have any experience of not using objects as hammers, but sailing must have come as a revolutionary change. Whole economies were based on rowing. Then along came the sail and disrupted everything.
For starters, a sail can't be used by itself; it's part of a system. Without a rudder, a sail is very limited. In addition, a mast and some way to quickly change the position of the sail are very helpful. You could take the smartest man you know and if he doesn't know how to sail, he might as well be in a rowboat. He's not likely to figure it out all by himself.
It's not very intuitive, trying to tack into the wind. Almost always, sailing is a learned skill, taking a lot of time and patience. Notice that I didn't say a "taught" skill, because you learn it only by doing it with guidance from someone who already knows how. Professional use is rare and very difficult; awards are given and national heroes are made. Sailboats are notorious for their facilitation of criminal activity. "Ahoy, matey, aboard the pirate ship!"
Hammering and sailing skills are very transferable, especially if you can get other people to work with you. If you can hammer, you can build a large ship. If you can sail, you can move huge cargoes around the world in that ship. If you can use a computer, you can participate in the information economy by making information and moving it around the world.
Compared to a hammer, computers are hard to learn. The hardware isn't that bad: turn it on, look at the screen, move the mouse. But the software? Yikes! Computers cost a lot of money and, especially, a lot of time. And they certainly have professional and criminal uses.
By analogy, Ricci Street helps you as a professional know where in the WWW to go and how to:
interpret
what you find
communicate with
others
contribute to
communities
learn
manage organizations
online
hold a job and make
money
have fun
To extend that analogy, the Toolkit section of Gizmos, Inc., tries to reduce your cognitive load by making the computer and networks, especially the Internet, disappear so that you can concentrate on people and communicating with them.
And finally to finish that analogy, this Operating System section of the Toolkit helps you to get a grip on your tool, Windows.
The school got your laptop in a generic state designed to suit the lowest common denominator of users. Everything has very safe, conservative settings designed more to minimize returns and tech-support calls than to deliver all the performance of which your laptop is capable.
In addition, it comes to you with preinstalled software ranging from productivity suites to online service subscriptions to chat software, and more. Instead of having a lean, clean new machine, your laptop is already burdened with all manner of software complexities, and set up the way Toshiba and the school's IS&T department wanted rather than the way you might prefer. That's understandable, since they haven't a clue how what you prefer is different from what someone else might prefer.
If you're used to using a networked PC on the job, you probably didn't have any of the freedom you have with these laptops. It might feel scary at first, but you're going to have to just dive in.
Explore and discover. Keep clicking!
Windows 98 or Windows XP (Professional Edition, not Home Edition) is the Microsoft operating system on your laptops. It is the software program that manages the other programs, usually called applications. To help sell successive versions of its OS, Microsoft has regularly integrated some applications into the operating system. This marketing tactic has wiped out products, product categories, and, occasionally, whole companies -- if Microsoft didn't buy them out first. This marketing tactic, called bundling, is also what brought on the current U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit.
Other than varieties of Windows and its predecessor DOS (Disk Operating System), the most popular operating systems include Unix, Novell, and Macintosh. The school network is now using Windows 2000. Ricci Street runs on Linux, an open-source and free variant of Unix.
How
Operating Systems Work
by Marshall Brain
Tip | There are almost always two and often three or more ways to do the same thing in Windows.
exploring
the desktop and hard drive
personalizing a PC
managing
files and folders (aka directories)
maintaining privacy and security against hacking and viruses
maintaining a PC, especially disaster planning and
recovery
exploring some advanced system administration skills
Windows Desktop, Windows Explorer, Control Panel, Windows Accessories, text editor, downloads
Tip | You don't need permission to explore and discover.
Explore your desktop -- Windows 98 | Windows XP -- with the mouse and Control Panel. What kind of computer do you have? What's on your desktop? How can you set up Windows so that it starts to work for you?
With Windows Explorer, explore and discover your hard drive -- Windows 98 | Windows XP -- especially the Program Files folder, the default My files folders, and the all-powerful Windows folder. How to get around your PC: explore and discover. Use the Control Panel, the Start Menu, and other shortcuts.
Using the Control Panel, personalize the look and feel of your PC or laptop -- Windows 98 | Windows XP -- especially the screen display. Develop an attitude of explore and discover; right-clicking. Change your folder options and file associations. Display file extensions. Decide whether to use the high-overhead Active Desktop.
Smart file management is the key to reducing cognitive load. Use Windows Explorer and Notepad for organizing, finding, copying, moving, and deleting files. Learn the basic skills of copying, saving, and pasting text and images.
My personal file management system: collaboration, research, web site management, and clutter. What should you do?
In both senses of the word utility, a useful tool and a common public service, you need to decide how safe, secure, and private to keep your computer. Install the tools you need for file compression, security, and virus detection.
Like any complicated machine that's part of a system, your computer needs regular care and maintenance. Use Windows Accessories and System Tools to monitor and optimize your computer.
Tiptoe over the Windows geek line. At work, this is where you are probably supposed to call in the system administrator. At home, this is the line most people don't cross without a personal geek at their side. Learn where geeks gather on the Web and listen in. Proceed at your own risk, but you'll learn a lot of fascinating stuff!
eHow's Operating System Basics -- lots of short specific how-to's, all text, no screen shots
OSNews.com - Exploring the Future of Computing
OSNews.com informs you about the latest news on a vast range of operating systems, from the well-known mainstream OSes, down to small embedded (but also very interesting technically) ones.
Linda's Fun Stuff To Do in Windows
About.com's Focus on Windows
WinPlanet: Installation
and Maintenance
TechWeb's Visual Guide to Windows 98
PuterGeek's Windows 98 section
Get Ready
for Windows Me
by Michael J. Miller
PC Magazine, April 7, 2000
Microsoft
Windows Me
By Edward Mendelson, PC Magazine
September 8, 2000
The name says it all. Microsoft Windows Me -- short for Millennium Edition -- is designed for individual home users, not for business. ... Windows Me is an upgrade of the DOS-based Windows 9x series at heart.
Windows Me is not a new Windows version. The user interface makes the program look like Windows 2000, but its guts are still Windows 9x code. It comes bundled with Windows Media Player 7 and Internet Explorer 5 browser, which you should use even with Windows 98.
As best I can tell, here are the major new features of Window ME compared to Windows 98:
It has a new TCP/IP stack, so it connects to the Internet and runs
the protocols a little more efficiently.
As a safety back-up feature, it can restore the operating system in
the event of a disaster.
It has no easy access to DOS (the old command-line operating system)
For our purposes, the biggest difference is the Windows Movie Maker application. With it, we will be able to record, edit, and organize audio and video. Steven Spielberg, look out!
Microsoft's collection of Windows 98 and Windows XP guides, downloads, and support.
Microsoft's TechNet
a list of Microsoft knowledge base keywords
Fred Langa's at Langa.com.
The Unofficial Guide to PCs from TheNakedPC.com.
Jack Teems' Neat Net Tricks, which often has operating system tips.
Walt Crawford's Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large - no-holds-barred commentary as well as timely bits on the latest PCs and other technologies. Annotated citations from mostly MS Windows-centric sources like PC Magazine, PC World, The Industry Standard and others.
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