Week 8 Tech Journal: Chapter 14 Notes - Zacham17/my-tech-journal GitHub Wiki

These are notes that I took on the assigned sections of Chapter 14 in the A+ Textbook for week 8. This section contained information about operating systems, and the software of Operating Systems.

32-Bit VS. 64-Bit Operating Systems:

  • The main difference between 32 and 64 bit OSs is the type of processors that can be supported
  • A 64-bit processor has multiple cores, and more cores means more processing power.
  • A 32-bit OS can only run programs and drivers that are made specifically for 32-bit OSs
  • A 64-bit OS can run programs and drivers that are made for both 32-bit and 64-bit OSs
  • A 32-bit windows computer can only view 4GB of RAM
  • A 64-bit Windows computer can view up to 2048 GB of RAM
  • 64-bit device drivers must be digitally signed to used on a 64-bit windows computer
  • There is kernel protection in 64-bit OSs

End-of-Life Concerns:

  • End of Life: Software can reach ‘end of life’, which can mean the end of support from the vendor or the end of the software’s usefulness.
  • There can be issues when using a software that has reached its end of life
  • Some of the issues include:
    • Security Threats: The OS can become more vulnerable to security threats
    • Software Incompatibility: New applications may not be compatible with older operating systems
    • Compliance Issues
    • Operating Costs: Fixing bugs in older software can cost a lot, so sometimes software is no longer being maintained after it reaches its end of life.
    • Performance and Reliability can decrease upon software reaching its end of life.

Update Concerns:

  • Updating can cause potential issues such as:
    • Insufficient Hardware: Hardware may not be sufficient to run the newly updated software
    • Setup errors and freezes: could be caused by insufficient disk space, RAM, or drivers
    • Driver Issues: divers may not be up to date to work with the updated software
    • Application Incompatibilities: Older applications may not work with updated OS
    • Data Loss: Backing up data can prevent the loss of data. It is a good idea to back up data before doing an update.

Compatibility Concerns:

  • Software Compatibility: refers to whether a particular application must be used with a specific CPU architecture. Compatibility can also be the ability of software to run on one or more operating systems or version of operating systems
  • Forward Compatibility(Upward Compatibility): a system should be able to accept input intended for a later version and is meant to allow older devices to recognize when data has been generated for new devices.
  • Backward Compatibility: the new system can still process data from the older software
  • Extensible Softwareis software that can be upgraded easily
  • File Type: defined by the application that created it, or what application can open the file

Filenames and Extensions:

  • Files are stored in folders(aka directories)
  • Subfolder(Subdirectory): A folder within a folder
  • Library: An automatic grouping for saving files
  • Extension: Added to a filename and can be two or more letters. Filename and extension are separated by a dot
  • Extensions are correlated with applications that can run files with the extension
  • There are very many different file extensions and each one denotes a different file type.

Introduction to Windows Control Panel Utilities:

  • Control Panel: configures all aspects of Windows; can be accessed from start button menu and in other ways. It contains many settings which can be changed.
  • You can also search for control panel in the Windows search bar.
  • Control Panel Categories Include:
    • System and Security - contains options to manage system and security
    • Network and Internet - contains internet and network options
    • Hardware and Sound - Contains options to manage hardware and sound devices
    • Programs - Provides options to manage Programs on the PC
    • Mobile PC - Contains options for laptops
    • User Accounts and Family Safety - Provides options to manage accounts and parental control
    • Appearance and Personalization - Change the appearance of and personalize your system
    • Clock, Language, and Region - Settings for date/time and the region and language
    • Additional Options - Contains special utilities that are specific to the system.
  • Each category has more options contained within them. There are a lot of options and they can all be reached by accessing the control panel.

Windows Registry:

  • Registry: a database in which every software and hardware configuration is stored
  • User Profile: contains configuration settings specific to a user; this is different between each user
  • The registry loads into RAM on startup
  • The registry is split into five subtrees
    • Hkey_Local_Machine: Global HArdware Configuration
    • HKey_Users: Keeps track of individual users and their preferences
    • Hkey_Current_User: Holds a specific user’s configuration
    • Hkey_Current_Config: Information about the hardware profile that is used when the computer first boots
    • Hkey_Classes_Root: Holds file associations and file links
  • You can edit the registry with Regedit