Basic Operating System Overview

• Operating System = software that coordinates the interaction between hardware and software applications (including user/computer interactions)
• OS can be a Graphical User Interface (GUI), command based interface, or both (most common)
• OS uses commands/functions for both the user and computer to understand

Managing Windows Files and Folders

• Technicians create, delete, and move files/folders. These tasks need to be done quickly, without error. They also need to know what file/folder to manipulate, where they are located, and where they should end up
• Drives are represented by a letter followed by a colon
• Every filename is given an extension to determine the file type. These come at the end of the file name and is separated by a period (EX. text_file.txt)

Windows Control Panel Utilities

• Control Panels configure every aspect of Windows and can be accessed from the Start Menu Button.

Editing the Windows Registry

• Sometimes you can't use the Control Panel and to make a change to the OS is to change the registry directory
• registries are divided into 32 and 64 bit keys

Backing Up Data

• Make sure to backup your data. Data is usually stored in a cloud (such as OneDrive, DropBox, Google Drive, etc.)

Recovering the Windows OS

• If a computer is performing poorly and the OS tools do not fix the problem, you may need to repair, replace or uninstall the OS
• The steps to recover the OS is determined by environment of the computer and the useable system backups

Common methods to recover an OS are:

• Reinstall the OS
• Optical Disks
• Hard drive (DO NOT store files on the same hard drive as the OS)
• Network Location
• System Image Recovery (when booting the system)
• Windows Recovery Disk
• Recovery Partition, or Host Protected Area (HPA)