Windows operating system is a series of operating software and graphical users interface systems produced by Microsoft.

It has a variety of components. Below are short notes of some of them: Hard drive maintenance:- The basic maintenance of computers running Windows operating systems perform many tasks such as installing operating system updates, checking the computer hard drive for errors, backing up personal files and other data, disk cleaning of files from the computer that are no longer needed as well as defragmenting the computer hard drive to improve performance.(Maran, 2001) It is recommended that one should regularly perform basic hard disk maintenance on their computer and in this case, using the disk clean-up and disk defragmentation as follows; Disk Cleanup:- Disk Cleanup is a utility designed to help a user clean up redundant data that is clogging up their computers hard drive (McFedries, 2002). When a computer is used for tasks such as internet browsing, program installations and data creation it stores data on a hard drive space. A lot of this data is not needed again at times, so it lags there taking up space on the hard disk drive. According to Simpson (2005), among the types of data that can be cleaned up by running Disk Clean-up include: Downloaded program files; When one accesses websites on the internet, certain sites need particular programs installed to allow the user to access them properly. Most of the time these programs are not needed again, but just sit there in the computer. Examples include pop-ups and animations. Temporary Internet files; Once the internet is accessed, a computer will start to store the websites you have viewed with images from those pages. This is done to allow the websites to download quicker in future because you have some of the information of that site on your computer. It's the unneeded yet accumulating files like these that need to be cleaned up. Temporary files; These are created when new programs are installed on a computer and as one writes documents and the like. For example, creating back ups of files incase a computer is shut-down unexpectedly. These temporary files will stay on your computer even though they are not needed after you have saved your files properly. Recycling bin; When you delete a file on a computer, you may not actually realise that the file is still stored on the computer in the Recycling bin. This is done as a fail-safe incase you accidentally delete the wrong file. Log files; As the computer runs, in the background it is doing a lot that you are unaware of. As these programs start and shut-down and in some cases fail, they create logs for computer technicians to help diagnose the problem.

Basing from Honeycutt (2005)'s brief, to run a Disk Cleanup, one has to follow the basic steps as below:

On your desktop click the Start button on the bottom left of your screen. The Start Menu will now load up. While there, find the button called All Programs and click on it. The programs menu will now open. Continue to find the menu option called Accessories and place the mouse cursor on it. The accessories menu will now open and then find the System Tools menu and also place the mouse cursor on it. The system tools menu will now open. Find the Disk Cleanup button and click on it. A Disk Cleanup window will now open stating that it must calculate how much space you will be able to free up on your hard drive. This can take a couple of minutes so just let it run. You can press the Cancel button at anytime if you do not wish to wait any longer. Once the calculating has been finished a new window will now open called Disk Cleanup for (C:). The (C:) means you are running the Disk Cleanup on the hard drive with the letter C. If you have more than one hard drive, Disk Cleanup can be used on them as well.

You will now be given a list of different files as explained above that can be deleted safely to increase disk space. To select which sort of files should be deleted, click the white boxes next to each item in the Files to Delete list so that a tick appears in the box. Once you have selected which files you want to delete, press the OK button. A new window called Disk Cleanup for (C:) will appear, asking if you are sure you want to perform these actions. Click the YES button to continue. If you do not want to continue, just press the NO button. A another new window called Disk Cleanup will now open. It will have a status bar showing its progress as it goes through the ticked items for deletion. Once the Disk Cleanup utility has finished, the Disk Cleanup window will close and you have now finished the hard disk cleanup. If it is going longer than 15 minutes and the computer appears locked up, it is best to restart the computer. Disk defragmentation:- This may refer to a process of consolidating fragmented files on your computer's hard disk. It does this by physically organizing the contents of the mass storage device used to store files into the smallest number of fragments. (Becky, 2005) The basic factor to disk subsystem performance is file fragmentation, a process in which a file is divided into multiple pieces and scattered throughout the disk. File fragmentation is not caused by a bug in the operating system but rather, it is a strategy that allows files to be saved to areas on disk that would otherwise be inaccessible. Disk defragmenting benefits a computer system because the system uses fewer resources and

takes less time to retrieve a contiguous file than one that is fragmented. Few fragments require fewer disk inputs and outputs, which results in less disk-head movement. Therefore, a file in one piece will take less time to read than a file in 10 pieces and the like. However, disk defragmentation becomes more difficult as the number of fragmented files increases. When fragmented files accumulate on the hard drives, it can cause severe issues such as an inability to boot the system.(Murray, 2002) Since defragmenting the hard drive once will not stop the problem permanently, it must be done periodically to improve the performance of a system. For better results, one should exit all other programs before beginning disk defragmentation; It may take up to a couple of hours to run, depending on the volume size and available system resources. Also turn off any power saver modes before starting to defragment because the system may either go into hibernation or suspend before the defragmentation has completed. (Ogletree, 2002) Finally, reboot after defragmentation has finished and the computer will start normally. However, one must be logged in as an administrator or a member of the admin-group to run defragmenter program. According to Simpson (2005), the following procedure explains how to defragment the hard drive:

Firstly, to open disk defragmenter, click Start , point to All Programs , point to Accessories then System tools , and click Disk defragmenter. That being done, the disk defragmenter window will appear, by a click, it will highlight the volume that you want to defragment, which in most cases is the primary hard drive, the C: drive. Before you defragment, click the Analyse button and once the analysis is completed, then you may choose to click the Defragment button and wait for the defragmentation tool to finish (this may take a long time). A status indicator tracks the progress of the defragmentation process and displays a notice when the process is complete. It usually, displays a repeated message Drive Contents Have Changed. And therefore, disk defragmentation concluded.

It is also recommended here to restart the computer, so as to effect the changes made. Opening files:- A computer file is a block of arbitrary information, or resource for storing information, which is available to a computer program.(O'brien, 2000) A file is durable in the sense that it remains available for programs to use after the current program has finished. Computer files can be considered as the modern counterpart of paper documents which traditionally were kept in offices' and libraries' files (Harvey, 2004). Windows is a rare operating system with several ways to open a file when working in it's environment. Steps or procedures are to be followed in order to achieve this and below are three different ways to open a file in

Windows; Opening a file from within a program:- Citing McFedries(2002)'s lecture on file usability, basically the program used should have a top toolbar with an item called file at the far left and then the explained steps are done as follows; First one has to open an application say Word, then click File in the top toolbar. From the list that appears, select the open option. Once the open dialog box appears, at the top of it is a label Look in. Click the arrow on the right to navigate to the folder where the file is kept. A list of files and folders within the selected folder will appear. If the desired file is not seen, then it's wise to change the file types list below the file name box to show All Files. If the previous step is successful, click the file name from the middle box that you wish to open. The file name should appear in the box beside File name. Finally, click Open. The program associated with that file type should startup then and the file will open. Opening file from the My Documents folder:- On the desktop, there is an icon named My Documents and to open a file here, one may use the simple procedures to reach the desired result as briefly explained below; Locate the icon My Documents on the desktop and double click it. The windows explorer tool will open showing a list of files and folders within your My Documents folder. If the file is in a folder within My Documents, then click the folder name to move into or expose the files in that particular folder. Once in the correct folder, click on the file you wish to open and here to either double or single click a file to open it will depend on how the user's computer is set up. If a single left click does not open the file, then double click it quickly to open.(O'brien, 2000) Opening file from Windows Explorer:- It's usually a long process according to (Spence, 2001) when opening files in this way but nevertheless it can be done if the user follows the following steps Firstly once the user is here, at the bottom left corner of your desktop the is a button called Start. If you right click the Start button, a new divided window will open showing folders on the left and files on the right. Using the scroll bar in the middle of the new window, scroll and navigate to the folder where the file you want to open is stored that. Once you have located the file, left click it. But like other files, whether you have to click or double click will depend on how your computer is setup. Finally, the program associated with that file type will open then your file will be opened.

Saving files:- Save can be defined as to copy data from a temporary area to a more permanent storage medium.(Leonhard, 2007) When you edit a file with a word processor, for instance, the word processor copies the entire file, or portions of the file, into an area of main memory called a buffer. Regular Save command, stores the data back to the file and folder it originally came from. It differs from the save as in the file menu of most applications that causes a copy of the current document to be created."Save As" lets the user make a copy of the file in a different folder or make a copy with a different name.(Maran, 2001) To save files, Windows has a dialog box that features in either a graphics program or a word processing and the like. This has a "file name" box where you type the file name, a "Save In" box at the top of the dialog box, where you select the folder and drive in which to save the file and a "Save As Type" box where you can choose the format in which to save the file. To actually save the files in Windows operating system according to Harvey(2004), the user is required to follow some of these steps or procedures as explained below; When it comes to saving a file, take the time to read the dialog box. First, choose where you want to store your document. To select where to save your file, click the little arrow at the right of the Save In box to move through folders, drives and the desktop. You can also double-click on folders in the folder and file list to open them. Once you've chosen where you're going to store your file, choose a name for the file and type it into the "File Name" box. If a user wants to select a different file type from the usual one their program uses, the drop-down list provided should be selected. Then, click the "OK" or "Save" button and it's done. Deleting files:- To delete is a way of removing a file from a computer's file system.(Miller, 2007) When you delete a file in Windows operating system, it goes into the recycle bin. The recycle bin temporarily stores the files until you decide to really delete them, or restore them. One may not always know the significance of all the files on your computer. Sometimes Windows uses files for a specific purpose and then retains them in a folder designated for temporary files. Alternatively, you may have previously installed Windows components that you are no longer using. For a variety of reasons, including running out of space on your hard drive, you may want to reduce the number of files on your disk, or create more free space, if it can be done without harming any of your programs.(Miller, 2010). By default, Windows will automatically 'empty' the recycle bin when the contents reach 10% of hard drive's total storage space. Once any file is removed from current directory, be it from the desktop or others, any user can manually empty the recycle bin or restore the deleted file(s). Everything from your private documents to Internet history files, from movies and music you downloaded to emails, all information can be easily

recovered. For instance, when you delete files from a disk on your computer, Windows does not erase the contents of these files from the disk; it only deletes references to these files from files system tables. The contents of all deleted files remain on the disk and can be easily restored using any recovery utility. Basing from Plumley's (2001) views, to completely delete these files, you will need to find the "Recycle Bin" icon on your desktop and right-click on it with your mouse button. On the menu that appears, select the "Empty Recycle Bin" button and a message will appear asking you to confirm that you really want to delete all the files in the recycle bin. If you're sure, choose the "YES" button. And in the case of restoring the files, you may right click to select the Restore button and the files will be restored onto the desktop. Windows Explorer:- Windows Explorer provides a fast, easy way to view, copy, delete, move, and more., the folders and files found on all of your disk drives. It is important to note that the Windows Explorer application is different from Internet Explorer. Windows Explorer gives one access to manipulate files on their computer, while Internet Explorer allows you to connect to other computers via the World Wide Web. Windows explorer to be acknowledgedly accessed one might need to be logged on as an administrator or belong to the administrators group in order to perform some tasks. (Lambert, 2010) Basing this concept entirely on Fehily's (2005) analogy, Windows Explorer displays the hierarchical structure of files, folders, and drives on a computer. It also shows any network drives that have been mapped to drive letters on a computer. Using Windows Explorer, you can copy, move, rename, and search for files and folders. For example, you can open a folder that contains a file you want to copy or move, and then drag the file to another folder or drive. All this can be done with the use of Windows Explorer. It is also unique among programs in some ways as follows; There is no need to go through the Start menu to start Windows Explorer. You may only have to open any folder, and Windows Explorer starts automatically. Unlike most programs, Windows Explorer doesn't show its own name in the title bar. Rather, it shows the name of the folder who's contents are currently displayed in the main pane. It should however be noted that there are two Windows programs that have the word "Explorer" in their names. Windows Explorer, which is a program that allows you to explore the contents of your own computer. And the Internet Explorer; A program that allows you to explore Web pages outside of your computer on the Internet. Internet Explorer is actually a Web browser. It cannot be used to explore the contents of a computer but rather the Windows Explorer instead is used.

The hard disk is home to many folders. Most of them are system folders and program folders that contain files used by Windows and other programs on a computer. In addition to all those system and program folders, Windows has three folders set aside for users' personal use. The three folders that Windows creates for the user are named "My Documents", "My Music" and "My Pictures". They get their names from the fact that one may choose to use them as follows: My Music: with this, you may use the folder to store music you copy to your computers. My Pictures: Use this folder to store pictures, such as those you get from a camera or scanner or those downloaded from the Internet. My Documents: This folder is used to store other types of documents you save, such as typed text or power-point slides made. The icons that represent folders that are currently closed tend to have a Manila-look-alike file folder emblem as symbol of their icon. Windows Explorer can be accessed following a simple procedure as below; One has to begin by clicking the Windows Start button at the bottom left corner of their computer and then select the Programs button. While here, point to select the Accessories button and finally click on Windows Explorer to open and if you have any folders or files to act upon, then you may proceed to do so. Creating shortcuts:- According to Silverman, (2005), this works only with program shortcuts on the desktop or the start menu. However, it should be noted that this feature does not work if the desktop shortcut is a shortcut to another shortcut. To create a keyboard shortcut, one has to make a few steps to get there; You will have to right-click the desktop shortcut, and then click the properties option. On the shortcut tab, click in the shortcut key box. Press the keyboard combination that you want to use to start the program. The shortcut combination must consist of one character (a letter, number, or symbol) plus at least two of the following three keys: CTRL, ALT, and SHIFT. Then you may click on the OK. General keyboard shortcuts are so many and among them include; CTRL+C (Copy) , CTRL+X (Cut) , CTRL+V (Paste) , CTRL+Z (Undo) , DELETE (Delete) SHIFT+DELETE (Delete the selected item permanently without placing the item in the recycle bin) , CTRL while dragging an item (Copy the selected item) , CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item (Create a shortcut to the selected item) File management:- Is a tool that provides the ability to create, enter, change, query and produce reports on one file at a time. A file may mean one document, one image, one something. Folders contain files but files cannot contain folders. Files are represented by various icons that indicate which program is used to open them. (Ashdown, 2000)

A file extension usually are the two or three or four letters after the dot in a filename. A filename refers to the name of a file that includes or not include its file extension. A folder refers to a division of a drive into which you put files or other folders. The file extension indicates what kind of file it is. Some common file extensions include; .doc for Microsoft Word document, .wpd for WordPerfect Document, .txt for plain text document, .html for a plain text document with added code that enables it to be read on the World Wide Web, .jpg for an image file and also .exe for an executable file which implies an application of software. According to Long, (2004), there are three ways of managing files in Windows operating systems. These are explained as follows; Managing files from within a program :- When a user chooses File Save As from within a program such as Microsoft Word, a dialogue box appears with three important features, namely; The Save in (near the top of the box) . It has dropdown box that brings up your computers directory structure, to allow you to choose where to save your file. The File name (near the bottom of the box) which allows you to type in a name for your file. The Save as type (at the bottom of the box) has dropdown box allows you to choose a format (type) for your file. The default file format will appear with the default file extension. Using My Computer option :- By double-clicking on the My Computer icon, which should be located in the upper left-hand corner of a computer desktop, will open a window labelled My Computer. From within this window, the user can open, move, copy, and delete files; you can also create, move, copy, and delete folders. By double- clicking on any folder icon also opens My Computer, but you will see the contents of that directory rather than the contents of your computer. Notably; At the upper level of the directory structure are the drives, differentiated by letters: such as A:\ for a floppy disk drive , C:\ being your hard disk , D:\ is the Zip, CD, or DVD drive , J:\ is the Home Directory. This drive only appears when you have logged in to your home directory. Go to "View" at the top of the window to change the way files and folders are displayed within the window. Using Windows Explorer :- In Windows Explorer, the entire directory structure is always available at all times in the left-hand pane. In this respect it differs from My Computer. Another difference between using Windows Explorer and My Computer in file managing is that Windows Explorer allows you to drag-and-drop files and folders with the mouse.

References
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