Windows Management

Windows XP Management Utilities

Control Panel is the main utility for configuring your computer's setup. You can access the control panel by selecting Start>Settings>Control Panel.

Control Panel Options

Accessibility Options
Allows you to configure options that make Windows more accessible to users with limited sight, hearing and mobility

Add/Hardware
Allows you to install, remove, and troubleshoot your hardware (especially non plug-Plug-play hardware)

Add/Remove Programs
Allows you to change or remove programs that are currently installed in your computer or add or remove windows components

Administrative Tools
Provides Windows XP administrative utilities, including:

Component Services
Computer Management
Data Sources (ODBC)
Event Viewer
Local Security
Performance
Services

Date/Time
Allows you to set date, time and time zone for your computer

Display
Allows you to configure your computer's display, including background, screen saver, appearance, Active Desktop, resolution, colors and visual effects

Folder Options
Allows you to configure folder option, such as general folder properties, file associations and offline files and folders

Fonts
Allows you to manage fonts installed on your computer

Game Controllers
Allows you to add, remove, and configure game controllers, including joysticks and game pads

Internet Options
Allows you to configure Internet Connection properties, security, content settings, and Internet programs

Keyboard
Allows you configure keyboard settings

Mouse
Allows you configure mouse settings

Network Connections and Setup Wizard
Contains settings for network and dial up connections and wizards to create new connections

Phone and Modem Options
Allows you to configure telephone dialing options and modem properties

Power Options
Allows you to configure power schemes, hibernation, APM and UPS options

Printers and Faxes
Allows you to install and manage printers and faxes

Regional and Language Options
Allows you to set regional options, including numbers, currency, time, date and input locales

Scanners and Cameras
Allows you to configure cameras and scanners

Scheduled Tasks
Allows you to configure tasks to be run at specific times or intervals

Sounds and Audio Devices
Allows you to configure sound devices and to assign sound to system events

System
Allows you to configure system properties, including network identification, hardware, user profiles and advanced settings

Taskbar and Start Menu
Allows you to configure the taskbar and the start menu

User Accounts
Provides a simple tool for managing users and passwords

Computer Management
Right Click My Computer>Manage or
Start>Settings>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management

Computer Management provides a single, consolidated tool for managing common management tasks. The interface is organized into 3 main groups:

System Tools - Provides access for managing your computer

Event Viewer – Utility that tracks information about your hardware and software
Performance logs and alerts – Use to configure logs of performance related files and charts
Shared Folders – Utility use to manage shared folders
Device Manager – Utility use to manage your devices
Local users and groups – Utility use to create local users and groups

Managing windows XP User Accounts

Built-in-accounts
Administrator - Is considered God in computer networking has full control rights over the network
Guest - Limited privileges

Local vs. Domain users

Local rights - only to the particular workstation
Domain rights - global rights anywhere within the Domain

Default Local Groups
Administrators - full permissions and privileges
Backup Operators - permission to backup and restore files
Guest - limited privileges
Network Configuration Operators Group - have some admin rights to manage computers
Power Users - less permission than an administrator
Remote Desktop User - Remote desktop administration
Replicator - supports directory replication
Users - end users with limited system access
Help Services - support the computer through the Microsoft Help Services

System Tools

Backup
Backup and Restore Files (Not found in XP home)

Types of Backup

Full Backup - A full backup copies everything

Incremental Backup - An incremental backup is faster to perform than a full backup because it records changes made to files since they were last backup (whether that last backup was full or incremental) Using a system of incremental backups, a user might perform a full backup once each week, with daily incremental backups recording the progressive changes to files
Differential Backup - A differential backup records all the changes made since the last full backup.

Disk Cleanup
A utility, which goes through the system and deletes, unneeded files to free up disk space

Disk Defragmenter
A utility use to make your drives contiguous

Files and Settings Transfer Wizard
Use to transfer files and settings from an old computer to a new computer that came with XP

Maintenance Wizard
Sets up a system maintenance plan

Scheduled tasks
Enables to run tasks automatically

System Information
Finds information on the hardware and software installed in your PC

System Restore
Monitors your computer for changes and creates a restore points that can be used to restore
the computer to a previous configuration