Reading Journal 6 - Shadowsarespooky/TechJournal GitHub Wiki

Chapter 16

Computer Management Console

The console that most of a technician's tools are, there are three general sets of tools; System Tools, Storage, and Services and Applications. System Tools includes Task Scheduler, Event Viewer, Shared Folders, Local Users and Groups, Performance, and Device Manager. Storage has only the Disk Management Tool. Services and Applications can has multiple options and tools, the most common Telephony, WMI Control, Services, and Indexing Service.

Managing Services And Applications

In the Services window, a service(application) can be started, the Properties can be looked at, the General tab can be opened to start, stop, pause, resume, or disable a service on a computer Only when you are logged in as Administer. Finally the Recovery tab can be used to see when a service has failed and request for help.

Overview of the Windows Boot Process

When Windows is booted, devices have an order that they are booted up in, and some that aren't unless instructed to do so. There a bunch of methods for boot options. The most common being Internal Hard Drive Partition, but others including USB or Netboot. Every operating system have has start up files or system files that allow the computer to boot. Windows has two main areas of %systemroot% and %systemdrive%, as different computers can have different active partions, which usually is C:.

Recovery Console

**There a section called System Restore, I did not see one for Recovery Console. The system Restore program can take a snapshot of the system and it backs up the registry system files. If you suspect the registry is corrupt, or that a virus has affected the system, you can go a snapshot from yesterday and restore the system to what it was before the problem happened. Windows uses Shadow Copy tech which creates an image instead of monitoring the system files.

Advanced Boot Options/Startup Settings Menu

This menu has a list of options for the need of troubleshooting Windows reboot problems, which includes Last Known Good Configuration, Safe Mode, Windows Recovery Environment, and Start Up Repair. The list varies depending on the version of Windows. Safe Mode is good to use when the computer stalls, slows down or several errors may be recurring. Safe Mode lets you access configuration files to make changes. Last Known Good Configuration is used when installing new device and drivers that may not be working properly.

System Configuration Utility

The msconfig command, used to troubleshoot Windows startup problems by disabling startup programs one at a time or all at once. It is use to reduce the risk of making typing errors, deleting files, and other mistakes a technician may make. There is a General tab that has three startups, Normal, Diagnostic, and Selective. Normal is the default, it has all the device drivers and services load normally. The Diagnostic is used for troubleshooting, as it boots the system boots in Safe Mode. Selective startup is another form for troubleshooting, as you choose which files are on boot when the system restarts. The divide and conquer method helps narrow down the problematic file. The Boot tab has several options to boot the computer into. Services and Startup is used to see certain applications such as antivirus program and printer, and disable or enable. The Startup tab enables you to enable and disable Windows-based startup programs. The Tools tab launches apps such a Task Manager or Performance Monitor.

Task Manager

Used to display the applications that are loaded into memory, processes that are running, processor usage, and memory details.

Pick one of these tools available in the System Management console (Task Scheduler, Event Viewer, Shared Folders). Do you think you would find it useful when doing your day-to-day computing tasks? Why or why not? I think I would use Task Scheduler, as I can plan what apps to use and which ones are currently running. It seems to be the one to use a daily basis for computers that may need to log when they perform a certain task.

What is the usefulness of a tool like Windows Task Manager? Have you ever used this tool in the past, and for what purposes? The usefulness of Windows Task Manager is very great. I have used it in the past to stop programs that did not respond or started to work improperly. Sometimes when I play a video games, and I go to save and it won't close after saving, I have to exit to Task Manager and close it there.