Windows NT (New Technology) 4.0 represents a significant breakthrough in operating system technology.
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It is fast, dependable, and secure.
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Yet, it has all the user-friendly features of Windows 95.
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You will find that it enables you to perform all of your day-to-day computing tasks with ease.
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Many of NT's advances are of immediate benefit to the end-user.
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NT provides true "multitasking" - you can run several applications at the same time.
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You could be updating a database, while your word processor is printing in the background, and your spreadsheet program is doing a complex calculation.
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And, unlike previous operating systems, NT lets you multitask safely - no application can accidentally interfere with another, or with the system.
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NT also removes most of the restrictions on the kind of computer you can use.
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It can comfortably handle the ever-increasing memory and storage specifications of new PCs.
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It can also work on different kinds of processor, and it can work on a computer with more than one processor.
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The processor is the "brain" of your computer. The standard PC uses a single Intel X86 processor.
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You can run most standard Windows applications on NT.
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NT allows you to run a number of programs or applications at the same time without worrying about your system crashing.
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For instance, you could have a word processor, a spreadsheet, and a scheduler running concurrently.
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You can move from one application to another without having to shut any of them down.
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There are a few of the older DOS-based programs that can compromise the integrity of your system.
NT does not allow you to run these applications.
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Another important feature for the end-user is NT's "modular architecture".
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NT's modular design makes it easy to add new features and services without disrupting existing services.
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In addition, you can also run applications written for other operating systems.
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For example, you can run programs that were created for an Apple Macintosh on your NT workstation.
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For details on how to run applications written for other operating systems, see the CBT Systems course ^RWindows NT 4.0: Running Applications^r.
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Windows NT can be used as a single, stand-alone workstation or as part of a network.
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You may have heard the terms "NT Workstation" and "NT Server". You are most likely to be working on the workstation version of NT.
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One of the main differences between NT 4.0 and its predecessors is that it has the Windows 95 interface.
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An example of a networking function is resource sharing.
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Applications such as word processors, spreadsheets, and database programs can be shared among many users.
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You can also share hardware such as hard drives and printers.
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If you work on a network, you are very likely to come across the terms "workgroup" and "domain".
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A workgroup is a collection of computers grouped together for a common purpose, such as sharing a departmental hard disk or a laser printer, or exchanging files.
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There is no central control of resources.
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A domain is also a collection of interconnected computers. However it is more highly organized.
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In a domain, the flow of data between the computers is centrally controlled.
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This is usually done from one or more NT Servers, and managed by a professional network administrator.
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A workgroup can suffice in small organizations.
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However, if you are working in a medium-to-large organization, it is most likely that your computer is a member of a domain.
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Each domain or workgroup will have a unique name.
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Whether you work in a domain or workgroup, NT is designed to enable you to perform a wide range of networking tasks, easily and securely.
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For more on NT's features, see the CBT Systems course ^RWindows NT 4.0: Basic Configuration^r.
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Getting your computer up and running after you turn on the power is called the boot process.
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It includes everything from the time that the power-on test routines begin until the time you can start to use the computer.
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As with all computers, when you switch on your NT workstation, you have to wait a while as the system boots up.
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An NT workstation is seldom switched off because it is usually part of a network of resources.
The exceptions to this are during hardware repair, power failures, and - sometimes - reconfiguration of the network.
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As the computer boots up, it goes through several phases.
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One of the early phases is selecting an operating system.
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You are given a period of time to move the highlight bar over the operating system of your choice.
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You use the up and down arrow keys to do this. You press ^UEnter^u to confirm your choice.
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If you don't make a choice the system defaults to the highlighted operating system.
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Once the operating system has been chosen, the system runs some checks and then starts loading and configuring your operating system.
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Very soon after this, the Windows NT banner screen will appear.
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For more detailed information on the boot sequence, see the CBT Systems course ^RWindows NT 4.0: Troubleshooting and Optimization^r.
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Mandatory logon ensures that unauthorized users are unable to access the system in your absence.
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On completion of the boot sequence, you will be asked to begin the logon process.
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For the purposes of this training, you will be known to the system as a Personnel Manager called Alex Sato.
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You work on a computer with the name WORKSTATION201 which is part of DOMAIN2.
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Your username is AlexS.
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The Begin Logon box asks you to press ^UCtrl+Alt+Delete^u to log on.
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Pressing and holding the ^UCtrl+Alt+Delete^u keys in sequence displays the Logon Information dialog box.
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The Logon Information box always defaults to the last user who logged on. This will most often be your name.
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However, if someone else uses your workstation, that person's name will remain at the User name field until you change it.
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Suppose, for example, that user JanM was the last person to log on.
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To change the username you highlight JanM.
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Then you overtype your own username.
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You then move the cursor to the Password field and type your password.
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In a corporate setting, passwords are usually assigned to users by the Network Administrator.
If you are working on your own stand-alone computer, you will have assigned a password to your system when you installed NT.
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NT will recognize passwords only when they are typed exactly as they were first registered.
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In other words, NT passwords are case-sensitive.
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For instance, if a password is registered as ^RlmnOP6Qrs^r, the system will reject ^RLmnOP6Qrs^r.
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NT allows passwords of up to 14 characters in length.
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Your password may also contain a mixture of letters, numbers, and symbols.
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A series of asterisks is displayed as you type your password.
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This stops someone peeking over your shoulder and reading your password off the screen.
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Before you enter your password, you will need to check that you are logging on to the correct workgroup, domain, or workstation.
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Logging on to a workstation means that you are in stand-alone mode.
In other words, you are not connected to a network.
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When you click the ^UDomain^u field, a drop-down menu is displayed.
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Here you choose ^UDOMAIN2^u.
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Then you wait a moment while the system logs you on.
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Once successfully logged on, the system presents you with the Welcome screen.
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This screen presents a different tip about NT each time you log on.
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These tips can be very useful when you first start using NT.
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The Welcome screen gives you an opportunity to familiarize yourself with some basic information before you begin working in NT.
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The ^UWhat's New^u button opens a help file detailing the differences between NT 4.0 and previous versions.
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The main difference between NT 4.0 and its predecessors is that it has the Windows 95 interface.
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If you don't want to see the Welcome screen each time you log on, you can disable it by clicking on the check box in the lower left-hand corner.
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The check mark will no longer be displayed.
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You click the ^UClose^u button to begin working with NT.
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When NT is first installed, your desktop may have up to six icons displayed along the left side of the screen. These are
ò ^UMy Computer^u
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ò ^UNetwork Neighborhood^u
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ò ^UInbox^u
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ò ^UInternet Explorer^u
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ò ^URecycle Bin^u
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ò ^UMy Briefcase^u
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When you click the ^UMy^u ^UComputer^u icon it displays various resources available to your computer.
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The icons displayed include a letter which represent each storage medium on your computer:
ò floppy disk drives
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ò hard disk drives
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ò CD-ROM drives
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Double-clicking on any of the device icons will display a list of the folders and files stored in the device.
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If your computer is set up to use a network directory service, you can double-click the ^UNetwork Neighborhood^u icon to view the computers in your workgroup or domain.
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If your computer is set up to use Windows messaging, you can double-click the ^UInbox^u icon to send and receive email messages.
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The ^UInternet Explorer^u icon is your gateway to the Internet as well as to web pages on your local network.
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The ^URecycle Bin^u is a temporary storage area for deleted files.
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You can use it to retrieve files deleted in error.
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The deleted files are not actually removed from your hard disk until you empty the ^URecycle Bin^u.
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It is important to empty the ^URecycle^u ^UBin^u regularly to free disk space.
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If you access files using two different computers, such as a laptop and a main computer, you can use ^UMy^u ^UBriefcase^u to keep your files updated and synchronized.
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You will find this a very useful function if you work on one computer at work and another at home.
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You use the ^UStart^u button to
ò run programs
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ò open documents
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ò change system settings
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ò find items on your computer
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ò get Help
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When you highlight certain options in the ^UStart^u menu, they expand into fuller menus.
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The options that expand are marked with an arrowhead.
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The Taskbar runs across the bottom of the screen.
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When you are working with various applications, you use the Taskbar to switch between applications.
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You can also switch between tasks with the ^UAlt+Tab^u key combination.
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Although you will seldom need to turn your computer off or reset it, always remember to shut NT down first.
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Shutting NT down saves the current configuration and ensures that all your work is saved to the hard disk.
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If you forget to save changes to documents, NT prompts you to save the changes.
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You click the ^UShut^u ^UDown^u option in the ^UStart^u menu.
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NT offers you three options in the Shut Down Windows dialog box:
ò Shut down the computer?
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ò Restart the computer?
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ò Close all programs and
log on as a different
user?
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If you decide to shut down the computer NT lets you know when you should turn your computer off.
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Only then is it safe to do so.
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For the most part, the ^UStart^u button is the point of departure in NT.
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When you want to run an installed program or application in NT, you click the ^UStart^u button.
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You can also run Windows or DOS-based programs by selecting ^UStart-Run^u, entering the path to the program, and clicking OK.
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To run a program, you move the pointer to the ^UPrograms^u option.
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Another menu appears to the right of the ^UPrograms^u option.
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The arrowhead to the right of an option indicates that there is a further list of programs or program folders you can access.
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You choose one of the programs already installed on your system, in our case, ^UMicrosoft Word^u.
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You click the program name, ^UMicrosoft Word^u, to execute the program.
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The program appears on screen in its own window.
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You click the ^UMaximize^u button to expand the window to fill the screen.
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You click the ^UMinimize^u button to reduce the window.
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It becomes a button on the Taskbar.
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You will see that many applications have more than one set of buttons for maximizing, minimizing, and closing operations.
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The outer set belongs to the program itself.
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The inner sets belong to work areas within the program.
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Here, for instance, the outside set belongs to Microsoft Word and the inner set control the current Word document.
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Let's suppose that you open a second window by running Microsoft Excel.
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You now want to switch between your open applications.
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You can switch between programs by clicking the appropriate taskbar button.
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You can close an application by clicking the ^UClose^u button.
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You may be more familiar with closing a program by using the ^UExit^u option in its ^UFile^u menu.
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This method is just as effective, if a little more time-consuming.
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If the application you want to close is minimized, you right-click its button on the Taskbar.
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You click the ^UClose^u option at the bottom of the menu and the system closes the program down.
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The Taskbar will no longer display Microsoft Word.
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However, you'll notice that Microsoft Excel is still there because it hasn't yet been closed.
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Windows NT provides a context-sensitive pop-up menu when you right-click any part of your interface.
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This means that the contents of the menu are always relevant to the object you right-click.
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For example, when you right-click a file or folder, the resultant menu shows the most frequently used commands for that file or folder.
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You can also right-click an empty space on the Taskbar or desktop to access context-sensitive pop-up menus.
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Suppose you have Microsoft Office installed on your computer.
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You wish to open PowerPoint to create a presentation for a conference.
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You know that PowerPoint is part of the Microsoft Office suite.
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Whenever you get stuck, either in an application or in NT itself, Help is no more than a mouse-click away.
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The NT Help facilities contain comprehensive, yet simple, information. You can use Help to learn about different features in NT or for assistance in solving problems when they occur.
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You can access online help in a number of ways:
ò through the ^UHelp^u option
on the ^UStart^u menu
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ò by pressing the ^UF1^u key
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ò through a ^UHelp Contents^u
button on the Welcome
screen
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When you open help while not in an application, you will get help for NT in general.
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If you use the ^UHelp^u menu in a program such as Wordpad, Paint, or Microsoft Word, the help you see is specifically for that program.
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This help is provided by the program itself, rather than by NT.
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Once you select ^UHelp^u from the ^UStart^u menu, a list of Help topics appears.
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There are three tabs in the Help facility:
ò ^UContents^u
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ò ^UIndex^u
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ò ^UFind^u
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The Help facility defaults to the ^UIndex^u tab. This displays an alphabetical list of all the available topics.
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You type in the first letters of the word you want to search for - let's try ^RHelp^r.
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Then you double-click the ^UHelp^u topic or press ^UEnter ^uto display the specific help.
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The ^UHelp^u dialog box can remain on screen for as long as you like.
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You can continue to work with it open.
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To return to the Help Topics dialog box,you click the ^UHelp Topics^u button.
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When you click the ^UContents^u tab, you find topics grouped by subject.
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Double-click a subject such as "Introducing Windows NT" to see the topics it contains.
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Then you double-click the title for which you want information.
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Some Help topics contain green underlined text known as hypertext.
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You can click the green text to see a definition of the term.
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You use the ^UFind^u tab to find all the topics that contain a specific word or phrase.
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The first time you use this facility, you will create the list from all the help available on your system.
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It is usually advisable to keep the database size to a minimum.
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The Find Setup Wizard defaults to that selection.
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You click ^UNext^u to create the list.
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You may have to wait a few minutes, while the list is created.
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You then type the word you want to find.
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And, as before, you double-click the specific topic you need.
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To close the ^UHelp^u facility down, you click the ^UClose^u button at the top right of the dialog box.
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You'll find context-sensitive help very useful when running applications.
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There is a question mark button near the upper right-hand corner of many applications.
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When you click this ^UHelp^u symbol, the cursor becomes a question mark.
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Move the question mark to the button you need help on.
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When you click, a dialog box briefly explains the main functions of the button or icon.
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Pressing the ^UF1^u key is another way to get context-sensitive help in anywhere within Windows NT, including many NT applications and applets.
