Introduction to Windows

In this topic, we are going to learn about the Introduction to Windows.

Microsoft Windows is a multitasking operating system developed by

Microsoft Corporation which uses Graphical User Interface to interact

with the users. Microsoft was originally named “Traf-O-Data” in 1972,

was renamed as “Micro-soft” in November 1975, then “Microsoft” on

November 26, 1976. Microsoft entered the marketplace in August 1981

by releasing version 1.0 of the operating system Microsoft DOS (MS-

DOS), a 16-bit command-line operating system. Bill Gates and Paul

Allen founded Microsoft and windows operating system has been its

primary product

Windows is a graphical operating system developed by Microsoft. It

allows users to view and store files, run the software, play games, watch

videos, and provides a way to connect to the internet. It was released for

both home computing and professional works.

In this Introduction to Windows, we will also clear you about the latest

OS release of Windows is “Windows 10” which was launched in the

year 2015.

Editions of Windows

Microsoft has produced several editions of Windows, starting with

Windows XP. These versions have the same core operating system, but
some versions included advance features with an additional cost. There
are two most common editions of Windows:

o Windows Home

o Windows Professional

Windows Home

Windows Home is basic edition of Windows. It offers all the

fundamental functions of Windows, such as browsing the web,
connecting to the Internet, playing video games, using office software,
watching videos. Furthermore, it is less expensive and comes pre-
installed with many new computers.

Windows Professional
Windows Professional is also known as Window Pro or win Pro. It is an
enhanced edition of Windows, which is beneficial for power users and
small to medium-size businesses. It contains all features of Windows
Home as well as the following:

o Remote Desktop: Windows Professional editions allow users to

create a remote desktop connection. It provides users the option to
connect with another computer remotely, including share the
control of its mouse, keyboard, and view display. It is mainly
accessed with the help of port 3389. Additionally, we can also use
the TeamViewer or VNC application to create a remote desktop
connection.
o Trusted Boot: It provides security as encrypting to the boot loader
and protects the computer from rootkits (Collection of software
tools that allow users to enter another computer through an
unauthorized way known as rootkits).
o Bitlocker: It allows users to encrypt a storage drive by using AES
(Advanced Encryption Standard) algorithm. This feature is present
in Windows 7, and Windows Vista (Only ultimate and Enterprise
versions), including Windows Server 2008.

In a nutshell, below is how Microsoft windows evolved over time:

  Windows 1.0 – Nov 1985

 Windows 2.0 – Dec 1987

 Windows 3.0 – May 1990

 Windows 95 – Aug 1995

 Windows 98 – June 1998

 Windows ME – Sep 2000

 Windows XP – Oct 2001

 Windows Vista – Nov 2006

 Windows 7 – July 2009

 Windows 8.0 – Oct 2012

 Windows 8.1 – Oct 2013

 Windows 10 – July 2015

Main Components of Windows

After learning about the Introduction to Windows, we are now going to

study about the main components of Windows. The main components of

the Windows Operating System are the following:

 Configuration and maintenance

 User interface

 Applications and utilities

 Windows Server components

 File systems

 Core components

 Services

 DirectX

 Networking

 Scripting and command-line

 Kernel

 NET Framework

 Security

 Deprecated components and apps

 APIs
When coming to GUI components, we have the following as the main

components:

 Desktop
It is the very first screen that you will see once the windows start. Here you will

see “My Computer”, “My Documents”, “Start Menu”, “Recycle Bin”, and the

shortcuts of any applications that you might have created.

 Taskbar
At the bottom, you will see a row which is known as the taskbar. It has the

currently running applications, you can also pin applications that you

frequently use by using an option Pin to Taskbar”.

 Start Menu
This is located in the bottom left corner of Windows OS GUI. This is the place

where the user can search for any setting and for any application for their use.
Users can uninstall or repair applications from the control panel. The user can

do a lot of activities just by searching through the start menu.

 My Computer
When you double click on “My Computer” menu, it will let you navigate

between your different computer drives and the control panel tools. You can

see and manage the contents that are inside your drive.

 Recycle Bin
When you delete an item from any of your drives by making use of “delete”

button or even by simply clicking right clicking and selecting “delete” option, it

is not deleted completely, instead, it is moved to “Recycle Bin” folder of

Windows. You can recover your content if you have deleted it by mistake from

here or if you choose to delete the items from here, it will get deleted

permanently. Should you wish to delete the item in first go itself without

moving it to recycle bin, you can use the key “Shift+Del”

Features of Windows
As we learned about Introduction to Windows in the above section, so let’s

explore the main Features of Windows:

 Windows Search: We can have numerous files and contents located on

our system and sometimes we may run out of memory about the exact

location of our file. Windows Search is a search function included with

Windows that allows the user to search their entire computer

 Windows File Transfer: We may have the need to transfer in or transfer

out the files and contents from our machine to other devices such as
 other computers or mobiles and tablets. We can do this by using an

Easy Transfer Cable, CDs or DVDs, a USB flash drive, wireless Bluetooth,

a network folder, or an external hard disk.

 Windows Updates: Windows includes an automatic update feature with

the intended purpose of keeping its operating system safe and up-to-

date.

 Windows taskbar: At the bottom most part of your windows, you will

see a row which is known as the taskbar. It has the currently running

applications, you can also pin applications that you frequently use by

using an option Pin to Taskbar”. The taskbar is the main navigation tool

for Windows

 Remote Desktop Connection: This feature of windows allows you to

connect to another system and work remotely on another system.

Windows Applications
Windows consists of the following components:

• Desktop:

The desktop is the very first screen we see after windows start. Here, we
can see folders like My Computer, Documents, etc. It is the main working
area of many of your computer operations. You keep your special files on
the desktop so you can access them easily and it gives access to other
important functionalities as well such as search bar, taskbar, and file
explorer.

• Taskbar:

The taskbar is a simple row at the very bottom of the screen where all
currently opened files or applications are listed. It helps you select what
you want to keep opened and what you want to close.

• Start Menu:

By clicking the start menu, in the bottom left corner of the screen, a
vertical window consisting of the recently opened applications and saved
locations will pop-up. Although the Start Menu was a major component of
Windows before Windows 8, It was removed from Windows 8 and then
brought back in Windows 10.

• Maximize/Minimize/Close Buttons:

These buttons are located at the top right corner of our opened
documents, and the area used to close, minimize or maximize the
document window. They help us jump from one task to another fast and
let us decide either we want to close an application or resize it’s area on
the screen or just hide it for a few moments.

• My Computer:

When we double click on My Computer, We find ourselves looking at a

window where we can navigate between Computer Drives and Control
Panel tools. It also gives us access to different drives on our computer
and the data which lies in those drives.

• My Computer Right Click Menu:

When we right-click on My Computer or any other file or folder, We get a
menu where we can look into different options related to that specific file,
for example, Properties, etc.

• Recycle Bin:

When we delete a file or folder, It goes into the Recycle Bin from where It
can either be restored or permanently deleted from the Computer. Once,
a file or folder is deleted from the Recycle Bin, It is very difficult to
recover it again. Therefore, the utility of the recycle bin is very essential
to use properly if you deal with important documents and files on a day to
day basis.

• Shortcut:

A shortcut creates a button or icon which typically is located on the

Desktop. By clicking on this Shortcut, We can quickly open the document
or application of which it is a shortcut. It helps us save the tedious task of
going to the main directory again and again and saves our time.

• Mouse Functions:

The mouse is an input device which is essential in the working of a

computer. It performs several important functions on Windows like
Scrolling, Right and Left Clicks, etc. It performs another very important
function of modern windows which is pointing towards different things
and giving special instructions whenever needed.

• Highlight:

When we have opened a document, we can easily highlight the required

portion of our document by using Mouse. It is essential for documents
and helps keep track of useful information.

• Copy/Cut/Paste:

These options are one of the most essential components of Windows.

The copy is used to copy a portion of a document from one document to
another or a file or folder from one location to another. The paste is used
to paste the copied item on the desired location. While Cut is used to
move an item to our desired location in the Computer.

• Toolbar:

The toolbar is a simple row where we can see different options to

customize the look of our opened window. It has two types, Formatting
Toolbar, and Standard Toolbar. The standard toolbar consists of options
like new documents, save a document, etc. While Formatting Toolbar
consists of options like font size, font type, etc.

• Drag/Drop:

Dragging an object means to move an object (file or folder) from one

location to another and when we reach our desired location, then we can
drop the object to that location. It is one of the most used features of
windows as you have to move files from one location to another.

• File Extensions:

File extensions are used to define the type of the file. For example an
image file will have an extension of .jpg, .jpeg and a Word document will
have an extension .docx, .xls, .txt etc. You could have different types of
extensions and these extensions help you decide the type of software
that will be used to access these files.

• Multitasking:

The term Multitasking means to run more than one file or application on
Windows at the same time. It is a very important component of Windows
which saves our time as well as allow us to perform more tasks at the
same time.

• Virtual Keyboard:

A virtual keyboard is a software through which we can see a keyboard on

our screen and use it by our Mouse. It is mostly used in the cases when
your keyboard is not working properly or you use windows on a touch
device.

• Disk Drives:

Disk Drives are drives used to store applications and files. Hard Drives
and Floppy Drives are used for this purpose. They are very important for
your instructions as well as your hardware to work properly.

• Defragmenting Hard Drives:

Defragmenting a Drive means to erase all the data from that drive. It is
also another important component of windows as users need to clean up
their hard drives from time to time and it also comes as a built-in utility.

1. Control Panel: Windows provides a Control Panel feature that includes many

tools to configure and manage the resources on their computer. For example,
users can change settings for audio, video, printers, mouse, keyboard, network
connections, date and time, power saving options, user accounts, installed
 applications, etc.

2. Cortana: Windows 10 introduced a feature named Cortana, which is able to

accept voice commands. It can perform various tasks such as it can answers your
questions, search data on your computer, online purchases, set reminders, and
appointments, etc. Furthermore, it acts like other voice-activated services such as
Google Assistant, Alexa, or Siri, including one more benefit of searching the
information on your computer. To open the Cortana in Windows 10,
 press Window key + S.

3. File Explorer: It is also known as Windows Explorer, which displays your files and
folders on the computer. It allows users to browse the data on the hard drive,
SSD and other inserted removable disks like pen drives and CDs, and you can
manage the content according to the requirements such as delete, rename,
search, and transfer the data.

4. Internet browser: As the internet browser is very important to search for

anything, view pages, online shopping, play games, watch videos, etc. Windows
come with a pre-installed internet browser. in Windows 10, the Edge internet
browser is the default browser. Furthermore, Internet Explorer was the default
 browser in Microsoft Windows from the Windows edition 95 to 8.1 version.

5. Microsoft Paint: Since November 1985, Microsoft Windows comes with pre-

installed Microsoft Paint. It is a simple software to create, view, and edit an image.
It offers several tools to draw an image, crop, resize, and save an image with a
different file extension.

6. Taskbar: Windows comes with a taskbar that displays currently opened

programs, it also allows users to access any specific programs. Additionally, it
includes the notification area on the right side that shows date and time, battery,
 network, volume, and other background running applications.

7. Start menu: Microsoft Windows contains a start menu to the left side of the
taskbar. It displays programs and utilities that are installed on the computer. It
can be simply opened by clicking on the Start menu button or pressing the start
key on the keyboard.

8. Task Manager: Windows includes the task manager feature that provides detail
of the running applications or programs on the computer. You can also check
how much of the system resources, such as RAM, CPU, disk I/O, are being used
by each of the applications.
9. Disk Cleanup: It is used to free up disk space with the help of deleting temporary
or unnecessary files. It also helps to enhance the performance of the computer,
and boost storage space to download the programs and documents. To open
Disk Cleanup, follow the below steps:
o Open the File Explorer by pressing Window + E.
o Then, right-click on any disk drive and select Properties option from the
drop-down list.
o Now, click on the Disk Cleanup.