Operating System
An operating system does two things:
1) It manages the hardware and software resources of the computer system.
2) It provides a stable, consistent way for applications to deal with the hardware. Operating System comparison chart: Vista, XP, Mac and Linux Operating Systems Tutorials and Tips - Google Web Directory Site with screen shots and technical support. How Stuff Works - How Operating Systems Work site and follow some of the subtopics listed on this page to learn more about operating systems. Operating Systems. The Computer Hope Newsletter pro5:51 PM 10/07/2006vides excellent overviews and histories of different OS OSdata.com provides extensive coverage "comparing and contrasting operating systems". Beginners could start with: an overview of "Kinds of Operating Systems" and move on to view Summary Tables of characteristics of different operating systems
The Webopedia site provides a very extensive list of links that relate to various aspects of operating systems-operating systems terminology. Mac & Apple History can be found at LowEndMac. Graphical User Interfaces - See screen shots of various user interfaces presented by different operating systems. "Living Without Microsoft"- promotes the notion of operating systems other than Microsoft. Review of Operating Systems site. Something like a thousand links The Open Source Movement - an alternative to monopolization of the internet, communications, the economy, and life!
Plugins
Software interacts with other software to handle different kinds of multimedia files. Your internet experience will be enhanced if you have the necessary plugins for your software.
Helpdrivers.com answers your questions on how to find, download and install the correct driver for your Operating System and hardware. This is still a free service from this site.
Drivers interface between the operating system and the hardware devices that make up a computer to enable all the components to understand each other and work together. If you purchase a camera, scanner, video card or printer you will need to install drivers.
Although operating systems already include controllers for the most commonly used peripherals on the market, the manufacturers modify them from time to time to improve their performance.
Products are sold with drivers that often contain faults, and these can destabilise the operating system. As a result, the manufacturers usually improve and rectify errors in previous versions and also add new functions. It is easy to realise the vital importance of keeping these files up-to-date in order to achieve better performance.
Much of the instability of our operating systems is due to defects in installed drivers.
Always scan decompressed files for viruses prior to installation. Follow these steps for downloading applications, plug-ins, games or any other software from the Internet.
Files must be decompressed prior to installation. For this function you will need decompression software. Check the Decompression FAQ for more information and Shareware.com for software.
Files with a .sea or .exe extension are self-extracting files for the Macintosh and Windows. They don't require additional software to run. You simply click on the file to launch it.
1. Create a Temporary Files folder by opening Windows Explorer, highlighting your hard drive (typically the c: drive), then selecting File/New/Folder.
2. When the folder appears, name it Temporary Files.
Once you locate the software you want to download, click on the link to begin the download process.
3. You will be asked where to save the file. Locate the Temporary Files folder on your hard drive and double click on it to open it.
4. Click SAVE
5. After the download is finished, you have to install the software.
6. Close all programs that are running, except Windows Explorer.
7. Find the file you downloaded and double click on it.
A series of installation screens direct you through the process.
New application programs are usually installed in the Program files folder. Plug-ins are usually installed in the appropriate browser folder.
After the software is installed you can delete the file in your Temporary Files folder to free up space on your hard drive.
Sooner or later you will lose all the information and files you have saved on your computer.
The single most cost effective and time saving precaution you can take is to SAVE COPIES OF YOUR FILES.
Why? Because ...
* The disk drive you use for backups will fail for mechanical reasons.
* Your computer is stolen. Laptops are particularly vulnerable.
* Your computer is destroyed by fire, floods or other disasters.
* A power surge fries your machine - use a surge protector with a financial guarantee.
* An employee accidentally or intentionally erases key data.
* A virus infects your system.
* Your hard drive crashes. Sooner or later it will; the only question is when.
Computer files can be restored in the event of a crash, but it will cost you several hundred or even thousands of dollars. In the meantime, you may be lost without essential data. Use the software links at the top of the page to investigate backup options for your operating system.
Many sites make files available for both Windows and Macintosh operating systems. Your browser has the ability to identify and display some, but not all of them, and new ones appear all the time. You need to know about the most common Internet file formats in order to understand what they do.
Graphics: .gif Graphics Interchange Format .png Portable Network Graphics - open format .jpg is short for JPEG
Video: .AVI .RAM .MPG short for MPEG .MOV .QT for QuickTime
Sound: .MP3 .AIFF (for Mac) .AU for Mac and UNIX .WAV for the PC .RA for Real Audio
Plain Text (ASCII) Files
.html/.htm
The language in which Web documents are authored. This file type requires a web browser for viewing.
.txt A plain (ASCII) text file. File Type: ASCII These files can be viewed with a word processor like Microsoft Word or a simple text editor like Simple Text or BBEdit for the Mac. For the PC you can use Notepad or Wordpad that come with the Windows operating system.
Formatted Documents
.doc A common PC format for formatted text files. Although you may occasionally come across files with this extension that are not text documents, usually they are documents that were created using Microsoft Word, Open Office, Star Office or WordPerfect for Windows.
.odt Open document format, used notably by Star Office and its free equivalent, Open Office
.pdf Portable Document Format, a proprietary format developed by Adobe Systems, Inc. that allows formatted documents (including brochures or other documents containing artwork) to be transferred over the Internet so they look the same on any computer.
This file type requires a PDF reader to view files and can be downloaded from Adobe or Foxit.
Most word-processing software will convert documents to PDF.
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