7.

An Operating System, Microsoft Windows Operating System,

Folder on the desktop, File name and extensions

An Operating System, or OS, is low-level software that enables a user and higher-level application
software to interact with a computer’s hardware and the data and other programs stored on the
computer. ¾ An OS performs basic tasks, such as recognizing input from the keyboard, sending
output to the display screen, keeping track of files and directories on the disk, and controlling
peripheral devices such as printers.
An Operating System (OS) is a system software that controls the internal activities of the computer
hardware and provides an interface to communicate between hardware and user. All application
software need an Operating system to run.
An Operating System (OS) is the software that controls all the resources of a computer system. For
example it:
1. Assigns the needed hardware to programs
2. Schedules programs for execution on the processor
3. Allocates the memory required for each program
4. Assigns the necessary input and output devices
5. Manages the data and program files stored in secondary storage
6. Maintains file directories and provides access to the data in the files
7. Interacts with the users
Multiprogramming is the capacity of a computer to executing several programs concurrently on the
same processor by having one of the programs using the processor while others are performing input
or output.
Multiprogramming requires that the active parts of the programs competing for the processor be
available in main memory. Virtual memory is the seemingly expanded capacity of the main memory
of the computer, and achieved by keeping in the main memory only the immediately needed parts of
programs, with the complete programs kept in secondary storage.
An Operating System is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources
and provides common services for computer programs. The operating system is a component of the
system software in a computer system. Application programs usually require an operating system to
function. An Operating System is the most important software that runs on a computer. The
operating system basically runs the computer and allows other programs to run as well. It manages
the computer's memory, processes, and all of its software and hardware. Every general-purpose
computer must have an operating system to run other programs. For large systems, the operating
system has even greater responsibilities and powers. The operating system is also responsible for
security, ensuring that unauthorized users do not access the system. It also allows the users to
communicate with the computer. Without an operating system a computer is useless.
The operating system does all the basic things that a computer needs to do, such as recognizing
inputs from the mouse or the keyboard. It keeps track of where all the files are on the computer. It
allocates resources to the various programs that are running and it prevents unauthorized access to
the computer.
An operating system allows your computer to manage software and perform essential tasks. It is also

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a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that allows you to visually interact with your computer's
functions in a logical, fun and easy way.
The most popular operating system today is Microsoft Windows operating system. Macintosh
computers have their own operating system, the most recent of which is called Mac OS X.
Classification of Operating systems1:

Multi-user - allows two or more users to run programs at the same time. Some operating systems
permit hundreds or even thousands of concurrent users.
Multiprocessing - supports running a program on more than one CPU.
Multitasking - allows more than one program to run concurrently.
Multithreading - allows different parts of a single program to run concurrently.
Real time - the computer may partly analyze the data in real time (computer must respond as
rapidly as required by the user, responds to input have to be instantly). General-purpose operating
systems, such as DOS and UNIX are not real-time.
The Operating System's Job. You've probably heard the phrase boot your computer (restart), but do
you know what that means? Booting is the process that occurs when you press the power button to
turn your computer on. During this process (which may take a minute or two), the computer does
several things:
 It runs tests to make sure everything is working correctly.
 It checks for new hardware.
Types of Operating Systems. For PCs the most popular operating systems is Microsoft Windows,
but others are available, such as DOS, Apple Mac OS, Unix and Linux.

9. Microsoft Windows Operating System

Windows is the most popular operating system in the world. Microsoft created the Windows
operating system in the mid-1980s. Over the years, there have been many different versions of
Windows, but now the most popular ones are Windows 7 and 10.
Manage of Windows. Windows is managed with the mouse, alternative way is a keyboard. On the
screen the mouse usually has the form arrow pointing to the left that moves on the screen by the
mouse.
Actions using the mouse:
Clicking - short press the mouse button (on default - left);
Double click - double short press the mouse button with a small interval between presses;
Tug - move the mouse holding down the left button.

Microsoft Windows 7 and 10 Operating System

Operating Systems. The most important system software package for any computer is its operating
system. Every computer system runs under the control of an operating system. Operating systems
for computers that are shared by many users are considerably more complex than operating systems
for personal computers.
What Does an Operating System Do?

1 http://www.webopedia.com
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The operating system is the software that controls all the resources of a computer system. For
example it:
1. Assigns the needed hardware to programs
2. Schedules programs for execution on the processor
3. Allocates the memory required for each program
4. Assigns the necessary input and output devices
5. Manages the data and program files stored in secondary storage
6. Maintains file directories and provides access to the data in the files
7. Interacts with the users.
Windows 7 launched by Microsoft on July 22, 2009 and became generally available on October 22,
2009 as an upgrade from Windows XP (2001) or Windows Vista (2007). Windows 2008 was
released at the same time. Windows 7 is an operating system has produced for use on personal
computers. Windows 7 shipped with updated versions of several applications, including Internet
Explorer 8, Windows Media Player, and Windows Media Center. Windows 7 was a major success
for Microsoft. In just six months, over 100 million copies had been sold worldwide, increasing to
over 630 million licenses by July 2012. Microsoft launched Windows 10 in June 2015. Windows 10
is a series of operating systems of Windows NT. Windows 10 has surpassed Windows 7 for the first
time. Windows 7 and 10 are the most widely used version of Windows.
In Windows 7 users can view two windows side by side by using the Aero Snap feature. This
feature automatically sizes or snaps two windows to fit together on the screen, allowing you the
convenience of viewing them next to each other.
Microsoft Windows 7 is designed to:
 Decrease Start up and Shutdown times by 20 seconds
 Go to Sleep and Resume faster
 Use up less memory
 Pop up Search results faster
 Reconnect to your wireless network more quickly
 Recognize USB devices faster
Taskbar of Microsoft Windows 7: The taskbar is more convenient to use, with larger views and
easier access.
 Jump Lists allow you to right-click an icon in the taskbar and
immediately access items like music, videos or webpages you use on
a regular basis.
 Pin allows you to place programs on the taskbar and rearrange
the order of the icons.
 Action Center allows you to control the alerts and pop-ups you
receive regarding maintenance and security.
Search. As soon as you start typing in the
Search bar of the Start Menu, you will
instantly see a list of relevant options
grouped by categories with highlighted
keywords and text. This allows you to
easily scan for the documents, music,
pictures and emails you are looking for.
Changing an account's settings. Once you've created a new
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account, you may want to add a password or make other changes to the account's settings.
To create a password:
1. From the Manage Accounts pane, click the account name or picture.
2. Click Create a password.

3. Type a password in the New password field, and retype it in the Confirm new password field.

4. If you like, you can type a password hint to help you remember your password.
5. Click Create password.
6. To go back to the Manage Accounts pane, click Manage another account.
Account passwords are case sensitive, which means capital and lowercase letters are treated as
different characters. For example, aBc1 is not the same as abc1.
To change your account picture: You can also change the picture for any account. This picture
appears next to the account name and helps you easily identify the account.
1. From the Manage Accounts pane, click the account name or picture.
2. Click Change the picture.
3. Select a picture, or click Browse for more pictures to select one of your own.

Finding files. If you're having a difficult time finding a file, you can find it in one of the places
below:
Recent places: If you recently edited the file you can try looking in the Recent places folder. To
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view the Recent places folder, open Windows Explorer then locate and select Recent places (below
Favorites on the left side of the window). A list of recently used folders and settings will appear.
Try looking in the recently used folders:

Downloads: By default, computer will place downloaded files in a specific folder, known as the
Downloads folder. If you're having trouble finding a file you downloaded from the Internet, such as
a photo attached to an email message the first place you should look the Downloads folder. Open
Windows Explorer, then locate and select Downloads (below Favorites on the left side of the
window). A list of your recently downloaded files will appear.
Default folders: If you don't specify a location when saving a file, Windows will place certain
types of files into default folders. For example, if you're looking for
a Microsoft Word document, you could try looking in the
Documents folder. If you're looking for a photo, try looking in the
Pictures folder. Most of these folders will be accessible on the left
side of the Windows Explorer window.
Recycle Bin: If a file deleted by mistake, it may still be in the
Recycle Bin. Double click the Recycle Bin icon on the desktop to
open it. Find the file, click and drag it back to the desktop or to a
different folder.
Searching for files. If you recently downloaded a few photos that were attached to an email
message, but now you're not sure where these files are on your computer. If you're struggling to
find a file, you can always search for it.
Click the Start button, type the file name or keywords and press Enter. The search results will
appear. Simply click a file or folder to open it.

Desktop of Windows OS
The main folder of the Windows OS is a desktop. When computer has finished starting up, the
screen what you see is called the desktop. There are icons such as folders, disks, programs, etc. If
icon has an arrow, it's shortcut icon. The shortcut is a link to the object. Double clicking on the icon
or the shortcut opens a window of the object.
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The main elements of the Desktop are:

1. My computer – explorer of Windows,
2. Recycle bin – for keep deleting or accidentally deleting files,
3. Internet Explorer – A web browser is the tool for the access the World Wide Web.
Depending on what kind of operating system you have, the desktop will look different, but it
generally consists of menus at the bottom, top or sides of the screen, with the rest of the screen
containing a desktop background (or wallpaper). The desktop background area can also contain any
files, applications or shortcuts that you want to have quick access to.
Taskbar. A taskbar located at the bottom of the screen first introduced with Microsoft Windows 95
and found in all the versions of Windows that followed. The Taskbar allows the user to locate and
launch programs through the Start button or view any program that is currently open. It is an
element of a graphical user interface which has various purposes. Lots of computer users just leave
their desktop with the default windows settings, but if you want your computer to be more various
options click customization. To get to make changes:
 Right-click on an empty area of your desktop,
 Click Properties.
Recycle Bin. Windows OS use a Recycle Bin (or Trash can) to prevent you from accidentally
deleting files. When you delete a file, it is simply moved to the Recycle Bin. If you change your
mind, you can move the file back to its original location. If you're sure want to permanently delete
the file, you will need to click to Empty the Recycle Bin.
To Delete a File on a PC:

1. Click and drag the file onto the Recycle Bin icon on the Desktop. Alternatively, you can
select the file and then press the Delete key.
2. To empty the trash, right-click the Recycle Bin icon and select Empty Recycle Bin. All files
in the Recycle Bin will be permanently deleted.
To recover files from the Recycle Bin2. When you delete a file from your computer, it's actually just
moved to the Recycle Bin, where it's temporarily stored until the Recycle Bin is emptied. This gives
you an opportunity to recover accidentally deleted files and restore them to their original locations:
1. Open the Recycle Bin by double-clicking the Recycle Bin on the desktop.
2. To restore a file, click it, and then, on the toolbar, click Restore this item. To restore all of the
files on the toolbar, click Restore all items.
The files will be restored to their original locations on computer.

Folder on the desktop, File name and extensions

In computer a folder is the virtual location for applications, documents, data or other sub-folders.
Folders help in storing and organizing files and data in the computer.

2 http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows
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A folder that is placed within another folder is named subfolder.

Folders on hard drive store files. These files can be documents, programs, scripts, libraries and any
other kind of computer file you can think of. A folder does not have an extension like a file. Folders
can also store other folders, which may store more files or other folders and so on. a folder
contained within another folder subfolder)
Folders allow people to organize their files in a way that makes sense to them. For example, a
college student might store all her photos in a folder named "Pictures," all her papers in a folder
named "School Work," and all her financial information (including the tens of thousands of dollars
in student loans) in a folder named "Finances." All these folders might reside within a folder called
"My Documents."
The computer's operating system also uses folders to store data such as system files, library files,
and user preferences. Often, the folders that the system uses are locked, meaning users cannot alter
their contents.
The term is most commonly used with graphical user interface operating systems.
Folders in computer science function similarly to real-world physical folders. Folders can store and
organize different types of applications, files or libraries. Folders can also contain other folders,
which in turn could contain other folders or files. Due to the manner in which folders organize and
store data within the file system of the storage media, folders are also known as file directories or
simply directories. There is no limit on the number of folders or sub-folders that can be created.
Upon opening a folder, one can see how the data or files are organized.
Although folders can contain large amounts of data, they do not take up any disk space. The reason
for this is because folders are pointers to file locations within the file system of the computer. Most
operating systems, upon right clicking the folder, provide information on the folder along with its
properties. Folders can also be hidden from users, just as files can.
Folders provide a useful aid in organizing the data found in the system according to the user
preferences. It also helps in searching for data, if properly organized.
Folders allow users to organize their files in a way that makes sense to them. For example, a college
student might store all her photos in a folder named "Pictures," all her papers in a folder named
"Important," and all her financial information in a folder named "Finance." All these folders might
reside within a folder called "My Documents."
The computer's operating system also uses folders to store data such as system files, library files and
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users. Often, the folders that the system uses are locked, meaning users cannot alter their contents.
While folders can store several gigabytes of data, folders themselves hardly take up any space on the
hard drive. This is because the folders are really just pointers to files and other folders, telling the
computer where they are located.
Difference between a File and a Folder. The difference between a file and a folder is that a file
stores data while a folder stores files and other folders. Folders usually take no space in the hard
drive while files can take up to gigabytes of space. This is because the folders are really just pointers
to files and other folders, telling the computer where they are located. The compilation of folders on
your hard drive make up the "directory structure," or overall organization of your hard drive. For
this reason, folders are also referred to as "directories."
A computer uses folders to organize all of the different files and applications that it contains. A
folder looks like a file, except the icon is shaped like a folder. To find a specific file, you will
navigate to the correct folder using a specialized application such as Windows Explorer.

File name and extensions

File is a named place on the disk for data storage. The all information ⎼ programs, documents,
pictures, spreadsheets, etc. are stored in files. Each file has a name and extension (or expansion).
A file extension or file name extension is the ending of a file that helps identify the type of file in
operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows. A file name extension is a set of characters that
helps Windows understand what kind of information is in a file and what program should open it. It
is called an extension because it appears at the end of the file name, following a period. As an
example the file name book.txt has a file extension of ".txt", which is a file name extension
associated with text files. In the file name book.txt, the extension .txt tells Windows that this is a
text file that can be opened by programs associated with that extension, such as Notepad but in the
file name book.rtf a file can be opened by programs, such as WordPad.
Every program that's installed on your computer is designed to open one or more particular file
types, each of which is identified by a file name extension. If you have more than one program on
your computer capable of opening a file type, then one program is set as the default. To change the
program that automatically opens when you double-click a file. When certain files / file-formats
don't open, it's most likely because you don't have the software these particular file-formats were
created with or relate to.
Some files need a certain piece of software to open, and others, such as different graphics file
formats, will open in most any graphics editing software.
Length of a file name depends of the complete path to the file (such as C:\Program
Files\filename.txt). Windows XP limits up to 255 characters, but Windows 7, 8, 10 limit up to 260
characters. This is why you might occasionally get an error when copying a file with a very long file
name to a location that has a longer path than the file's original location.
The extension points to the file type. Expansion is commonly up to a 3-4 characters addition that
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follows the name of a file. Most programs do not exceed four characters. The extension is separated
from the name with a point. In the file name and extension cannot use the following symbols: * ? \ /
|: < > " (asterisk or star, question mark, backslash, slash, vertical bar or pipe, colon, less than,
greater than, apostrophe or quotes). In computer has many different types of files on it, and each one
has its own file extension. A file extension is a three or four letter identifier found at the end of a
file name and following a period. These extensions tell about the characteristics of a file and its use.
If users wish to make windows show the file extensions of every file on the computer by default
skip to the next section.
Viewing the file extension of a single file:
1. Right-click the file.
2. Click Properties.
3. In the Properties window, you should see the "Type of file:" this is the file type and extension. As
can be seen in the example below this file is a txt file with a .txt file extension and in this case opens
with the Text Pad program.
File properties. To view information about a file or folder, right-click it and select Properties. You
can also select the file and press Alt+Enter. The file properties window shows you information like
the type of file, the size of the file, and when you last modified it. If you need this information
often, you can have it displayed in list view columns or icon captions.
The information given on the Basic tab is explained below. There are also Permissions and Open
With tabs. For certain types of files, such as images and videos, there will be an extra tab that
provides information like the dimensions, duration, and codec.

Always show file extensions of all files. Users more familiar with computer files and file extensions
may wish to view all computer file extensions to help with locating and browsing files. By looking
at the file extension you can identify the type of software you will need for that particular file.
Windows hides file name extensions to make file names easier to read, but you can choose to make
extensions visible.

To show or hide file name extensions for Windows 7 and 8 users:

1. Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking
Personalization, and then clicking Folder Options.
2. Click the View tab, and then, under Advanced settings, do one of the following:
 To show file name extensions, clear (or uncheck) the Hide extensions for known file types check
box and then click OK.
 To hide file name extensions, select the Hide extensions for known file types check box, and
then click OK.
or

1. Open My Computer
2. Click Tools and click Folder Options or click View and then Options depending on your version
of Windows.
3. In the Folder Options window click View tab
4. Uncheck or select the box that says Hide file extensions for known file types.
Below the type of extensions: Before the file name is the icon that points to the extension (type) of
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file (the letter showing after the "." in the file name):
Picture/graphics files:
.jpeg or.jpg - Joint Photographic Experts Group - image
.bmp - Paint
.cdr - Corel Draw
.cpt - Corel Photo Paint
.psd - Adobe Photo Shop
.tif - Tagged Image File format
.jpg - Joint Photographic Experts Group
.gif - Graphics Interchange Format
.bmp - bitmap
.png - portabl Network Graphics

Movies and animation:

.avi - Audio Video Interleave
Sound
.wav - WAV file
.mp3 - MP3 audio file
.mid or .midi - MIDI audio file
MS Windows program files:
.txt - Plain text file - Notepad file
.rtf - Rich Text Format - MS Wordpad file

An application program files:

.accdp - Microsoft Access File
.doc - MS Word document 97-2003 version
.docx -MS Word document - 2004 and later versions
.dot - MS Word Template - 97-2003 version
.dotx - MS Word Template - 2004 and later
.xls - MS Excel - 97-2003 version
.xlsx -MS Excel - 2004 and later
.pub - MS Publisher file
.mdb - Microsoft Access database file
.ppt - Microsof Powerpoint Presentaion
.pps - Microsof Powerpoint Show
Executable file
.exe - Executable file / program file
Font file extensions
.fnt - Windows font file
.ttf - TrueType font file
Compressed file extensions:
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.rar - RAR file

.zip - Zip compressed file
Other files:
.pdf -Portable Document Format - Opens with Acrobat Reader
.wks - MS Works file
.vsd - MS Visio file
.cap - Microsof Cabinet file
.zip - compressed/archive file
.dot - Windows document template file
.ttf - True Type Font file
Vektor grafik:
.pdf - Portable Document Format
.eps - Encapsulated Postscript
.ai - Adobe Illustrator
.cdr - Corel Draw
Movies and animation:
.gif - Animated gif file
.mpeg/mpg - Moving Picture Experts Group
.mov - Quicktime movie Format
.avi - Audio Video Interleave
.swf - Macromedia Flash file
For extended/full list of File Formats click here:
For change a file name extension: Usually, file name extensions should not be changed because you
might not be able to open or edit the file after doing so. Sometimes, however, changing the file name
extension can be useful such as when you need to change a text file (.txt) to an HTML file (.htm) so
that you can view it in a web browser.
To change a file name extension

1. Make sure that file name extensions are visible.

2. Right-click the file and then click Rename.
3. Delete the file name extension, type the new extension, and then press Enter.
4. Windows will warn you that changing the file name extension might cause the file to stop
working properly. If you are certain that the extension you typed will work with the program you're
using, click Yes to confirm the change.