ITCNA1-12

Chapter 10
Configuring Windows
Configuring Windows:
Objectives
• Configure Windows user settings.
• Configure Windows system settings.
Configure Windows user
settings:
Configure Windows user settings.
• A computer requires an operating system (OS) to function.
• The OS provides the interface between the hardware, application
programs, and the user.
• The OS handles many of the basic system functions, such as
interaction with the system hardware and input/output.
• In this topic, you will use the Windows Settings and Control Panel
interfaces plus file management tools to configure user and
desktop options on computers running Windows 10 and Windows
11.
Configure Windows user
settings:
Windows Interfaces
• An OS is made up of kernel files and device drivers to interface with
the hardware plus programs to provide a user interface and
configuration tools.
• The earliest operating systems for PCs, such as Microsoft’s Disk
Operating System (DOS), used a command-line user interface or
simple menu systems.
• Windows and software applications for Windows were marked by the
use of a graphical user interface (GUI).
• This helped to make computers easier to use by non-technical staff
and home users.
• The GUI desktop style favoured by a particular OS or OS version is a
powerful factor in determining customer preferences for one OS over
another.
Configure Windows user
settings:
Windows Interfaces
• You need to explore the following user configuration settings during a practical
class:
• Windows 10 Desktop
• Windows 11 Desktop
Windows Settings and Control Panel
• The Windows Settings app and Control Panel are the two main interfaces for
administering Windows.
• Administering an OS means configuring options, setting up user accounts, and
adding and removing devices and software.
• All Windows configuration data is ultimately held in a database called the
registry.
• Windows Settings and Control Panel contain graphical pages and applets for
modifying these configuration settings.
• You need to explore the following user configuration settings during a practical
class:
• Windows settings
• Control Panel
Configure Windows user
settings:
Accounts Settings
• A user account controls access to the computer. Each account can be
assigned rights or privileges to make OS configuration changes. Accounts
can also be assigned permissions on files, folders, and printers.
• A user account is protected by authenticating the account owner.
Authentication means that the person must provide some data that is
known or held only by the account owner to gain access to the account.
• Each user account is associated with a profile. The profile contains default
folders for personal documents, pictures, videos, and music. Software
applications might also write configuration information to the profile.
• The first user of the computer is configured as the default administrator
account. An administrator account has privileges to change any aspect of
the system configuration. Additional accounts are usually configured as
standard users. Standard users have privileges on their profile only, rather
than the whole computer.
Configure Windows user
settings:
Privacy Settings
• Privacy settings govern what usage data Windows is permitted to collect
and what device functions are enabled and for which apps.
• There are multiple settings toggles to determine what data collection and
app permissions are allowed:
• Data collection allows Microsoft to process usage telemetry. It affects use
of speech and input personalization, language settings, general
diagnostics, and activity history.
• App permissions allow or deny access to devices such as the location
service, camera, and microphone and to user data such as contacts,
calendar items, email, and files.
Configure Windows user
settings:
Desktop Settings
• The desktop can be configured to use locale settings and personalized
to adjust its appearance.
Time & Language Settings
• The Time & Language settings pages are used for two main purposes:
• Set the correct date/time and time zone.
• Keeping the PC synchronized to an accurate time source is important
for processes such as authentication and backup.
• Set region options for appropriate spelling and localization, keyboard
input method, and speech recognition.
• Optionally, multiple languages can be enabled.
• The active language is toggled using an icon in the notification area (or
START+SPACE).
Configure Windows user
settings:
Desktop Settings
Personalization Settings
• The Personalization settings allow you to select and
customize themes, which set the appearance of the
desktop environment.
• Theme settings include the desktop wallpaper, screen
saver, colour scheme, font size, and properties for the Start
menu and taskbar.
Configure Windows user
settings:
Ease of Access Settings
• Ease of Access settings configure input and output options to best
suit each user.
• There are three main settings groups:
• Vision configures options for cursor indicators, high-contrast and
colour-filter modes, and the Magnifier zoom tool. Additionally, the
Narrator tool can be used to enable audio descriptions of the
current selection.
• Hearing configures options for volume, mono sound mixing, visual
notifications, and closed-captioning.
• Interaction configures options for keyboard and mouse usability.
The user can also enable speech- and eye-controlled input
methods.
Configure Windows user
settings:
File Explorer
• File management is a critical part of using a computer.
• As a computer support professional, you will often have to
assist users with locating files.
• In Windows, file management is performed using the File
Explorer app.
• File Explorer enables you to open, copy, move, rename,
view, and delete files and folders.
Configure Windows user
settings:
File Explorer
System Objects
• In Windows, access to data files is typically mediated by system
objects.
• These are shown in the left-hand navigation pane in File Explorer.
Configure Windows user
settings:
File Explorer
Some of the main system objects are:
• User account—Contains personal data folders belonging to the
signed-in account profile.
• OneDrive—If you sign into the computer with a Microsoft
account, this shows the files and folders saved to your cloud
storage service on the Internet.
• This PC—Also contains the personal folders from the profile but
also the fixed disks and removable storage drives attached to the
PC.
• Network—Contains computers, shared folders, and shared
printers available over the network.
• Recycle Bin—Provides an option for recovering files and folders
that have been marked for deletion.
Configure Windows user
settings:
Drives and Folders
• While the system objects represent logical storage areas, the actual
data files are written to disk drives.
• Within the This PC object, drives are referred to by letters and
optional labels.
• A “drive” can be a single physical disk or a partition on a disk, a shared
network folder mapped to a drive letter, or a removable disc.
• By convention, the A: drive is the floppy disk (very rarely seen these
days) and the C: drive is the partition on the primary fixed disk holding
the Windows installation.
• Every drive contains a directory called the root directory.
• The root directory is represented by the backslash ( \ ).
• For example, the root directory of the C: drive is C:\.
• Below the root directory is a hierarchy of subdirectories, referred to in
Windows as folders.
• Each directory can contain subfolders and files.
Configure Windows user
settings:
System Files
• System files are the files that are required for the operating system to
function.
• The root directory of a typical Windows installation normally contains
the following folders to separate system files from user data files:
• Windows—The system root, containing drivers, logs, add-in
applications, system and configuration files (notably the System32
subdirectory), fonts, and so on.
• Program Files/Program Files (x86)—Subdirectories for installed
applications software. In 64-bit versions of Windows, a Program Files
(x86) folder is created to store 32-bit applications.
• Users—Storage for users’ profile settings and data. Each user has a
folder named after their user account. This subfolder contains
NTUSER.DAT (registry data) plus subfolders for personal data files. The
profile folder also contains hidden subfolders used to store application
settings and customizations, favourite links, shortcuts, and temporary
files.
Configure Windows user
settings:
File Explorer Options and Indexing Options
File Explorer Options
• The File Explorer Options applet in Control Panel governs
how Explorer shows folders and files.
• On the General tab, you can set options for the layout of
Explorer windows and switch between the single-click and
double-click styles of opening shortcuts.
Configure Windows user
settings:
File Explorer Options and Indexing Options
• On the View tab, among many other options, you can configure the
following settings:
• Hide extensions for known file types—Windows files are identified by a
three- or four-character extension following the final period in the file
name. The file extension can be used to associate a file type with a
software application. Overtyping the file extension (when renaming a
file) can make it difficult to open, so extensions are normally hidden
from view.
• Hidden files and folders—A file or folder can be marked as “Hidden”
through its file attributes. Files marked as hidden are not shown by
default but can be revealed by setting the “Show hidden files, folders,
and drives” option.
• Hide protected operating system files—This configures files marked with
the System attribute as hidden. It is worth noting that in Windows,
File/Resource Protection prevents users (even administrative users) from
deleting these files anyway.
Configure Windows user
settings:
File Explorer Options and Indexing Options
Indexing Options
• You can configure file search behaviour on the Search tab of the File
Explorer Options dialog.
• Search is also governed by settings configured in the Indexing
Options applet.
• This allows you to define indexed locations and rebuild the index.
• Indexed locations can include both folders and email data stores.
• A corrupted index is a common cause of search problems.
Configure Windows system
settings:
System Settings
• The System Settings page in the Settings app presents options for
configuring input and output devices, power, remote desktop,
notifications, and clipboard (data copying).
• There is also an About page listing key hardware and OS version
information.
• The bottom of this page contains links to related settings.
• These shortcuts access configuration pages for the BitLocker disk
encryption product, system protection, and advanced system settings.
• Advanced settings allow configuration of:
• Performance options to configure desktop visual effects for best
appearance or best performance, manually configure virtual memory
(paging), and operation mode.
• The computer can be set to favour performance of either foreground
or background processes.
• A desktop PC should always be left optimized for foreground
processes.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Update and Security Settings

• The Update & Security settings provide a single interface to manage a

secure and reliable computing environment:
• Patch management is an important maintenance task to ensure that
PCs operate reliably and securely.
• A patch or update is a file containing replacement system or
application code.
• The replacement file fixes some sort of coding problem
in the original file.
• The fix could be made to improve reliability, security, or performance.
• Security apps detect and block threats to the computer system and
data, such as viruses and other malware in files and unauthorized
network traffic.
• ACTIVITY: Critically discuss and evaluate Windows update and
Windows Security
Configure Windows system
settings:
Device Settings
• Most Windows-compatible hardware devices use Plug and Play.
• This means that Windows automatically detects when a new
device is connected, locates drivers for it, and installs and
configures it with minimal user input.
• In some cases, you may need to install the hardware vendor’s
driver before connecting the device.
• The vendor usually provides a setup program to accomplish this.
• More typically, device drivers are supplied via Windows Update.
• Several interfaces are used to perform hardware device
configuration and management:
• The System settings pages contain options for configuring Display
and Sound devices.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Device Settings
• The Devices settings pages contain options for input devices
(mice, keyboards, and touch), print/scan devices, and adding and
managing other peripherals attached over Bluetooth or USB.
• Phone settings allow a smartphone to be linked to the computer.
• The Devices and Printers applet in Control Panel provides an
interface for adding devices manually and shortcuts to the
configuration pages for connected devices.
• Device Manager provides an advanced management console
interface for managing both system and peripheral devices.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Display and Sound Settings
The principal Display configuration settings are:
• Scale—A large high-resolution screen can use quite small font
sizes for the user interface. Scaling makes the system use
proportionally larger fonts.
• Colour—When the computer is used for graphics design, the
monitor must be calibrated to ensure that colours match what the
designer intends.
• Multiple displays—If the desktop is extended over multiple
screens, the relative positions should be set correctly so that the
cursor moves between them in a predictable pattern.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Display and Sound Settings
The principal Display configuration settings are: (Continues)
• Multiple displays—If the desktop is extended over multiple
screens, the relative positions should be set correctly so that the
cursor moves between them in a predictable pattern.
• Resolution and refresh rate—Most computers are now used with
TFT or OLED display screens. These screens are really designed to
be used only at their native resolution and refresh rate. Windows
should detect this and configure itself appropriately, but they can
be manually adjusted if necessary.
• Use the Sound applet in Settings or in Control Panel to choose
input (microphone) and output (headphones/speakers) devices
and to set and test audio levels.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Power Options
• Power management allows Windows to selectively reduce or turn
off the power supplied to hardware components.
• The computer can be configured to enter a power-saving mode
automatically; for example, if there is no use of an input device for
a set period.
• This is important to avoid wasting energy when the computer is
on but not being used and to maximize run-time when on battery
power.
• The user can also put the computer into a power-saving state
rather than shutting down.
• The Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)
specification is designed to ensure software and hardware
compatibility for different power-saving modes.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Power Options
• There are several levels of ACPI power mode, starting with S0
(powered on) and ending with S5 (soft power off) and G3
(mechanically powered off). In between these are different kinds
of power-saving modes:
• Standby/Suspend to RAM—Cuts power to most devices (for
example, the CPU, monitor, disk drives, and peripherals) but
maintains power to the memory. This is also referred to as ACPI
modes S1–S3.
• Hibernate/Suspend to Disk—Saves any open but unsaved file data
in memory to disk (as hiberfil.sys in the root of the boot volume)
and then turns the computer off. This is also referred to as ACPI
mode S4.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Apps, Programs, and Features
• Windows supports several types of installable software:
• Windows Features are components of the operating system that
can be enabled or disabled.
• For example, the Hyper-V virtualization platform can be installed
as an optional feature in supported Windows editions.
• Store apps are installed via the Microsoft Store.
• Store apps can be transferred between any Windows device
where the user signs in with that Microsoft account.
• Unlike desktop applications, store apps run in a restrictive
sandbox.
• This sandbox is designed to prevent a store app from making
system-wide changes and prevent a faulty store app from
“crashing” the whole OS or interfering with other apps and
applications.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Apps, Programs, and Features
• This extra level of protection means that users with only standard
permissions are allowed to install store apps.
• Installing a store app does not require confirmation with UAC or
computer administrator-level privileges.
• Desktop apps are installed by running a setup program or MSI
installer. These apps require administrator privileges to install.
• Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) allows the installation of a
Linux distribution and the use of Linux applications.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Apps Settings
• In the Settings app, the Apps group is used to view and remove
installed apps and Windows Features.
• You can also configure which app should act as the default for
opening, editing, and printing particular file types and manage
which apps run at startup.
Programs and Features
• The Programs and Features Control Panel applet is the legacy
software management interface. You can use it to install and
modify desktop applications and Windows Features.
Mail
• The Mail applet in Control Panel is added if the Microsoft Outlook
client email application is installed to the computer. It can be used
to add email accounts/profiles and manage the .OST and .PST data
files used to cache and archive messages.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Apps Settings
Gaming
• The Gaming settings page is used to toggle game mode on and
off.
• Game mode suspends Windows Update and dedicates resources
to supporting the 3-D performance and frame rate of the active
game app rather than other software or background services.
• There are also options for managing captures, in-game
chat/broadcast features, and networking with an Xbox games
console.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Network Settings
• A Windows host can be configured with one or more types of
network adapter.
• Adapter types include Ethernet, Wi-Fi, cellular radio, and virtual
private network (VPN).
• Each adapter must be configured with Internet Protocol (IP)
address information.
• Each network that an adapter is used to connect to must be
assigned a trust profile, such as public, private, or domain.
• The network profile type determines firewall settings.
• A public network is configured with more restrictive firewall
policies than a public or domain network.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Network Settings
• This network status and adapter information is managed via
various configuration utilities:
• Network & Internet is the modern settings app used to view
network status, change the IP address properties of each adapter,
and access other tools.
• Network Connections (ncpa.cpl) is a Control Panel applet for
managing adapter devices, including IP address information.
• Network and Sharing Center is a Control Panel applet that shows
status information.
• Advanced sharing settings is a Control Panel applet that
configures network discovery (allows detection of other hosts on
the network) and enables or disables file and printer sharing.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Network Settings
Windows Defender Firewall
• Windows Defender Firewall determines which processes,
protocols, and hosts are allowed to communicate with the local
computer over the network. The Windows Security settings app
and the applet in Control Panel allow the firewall to be enabled or
disabled. Complex firewall rules can be applied via the Windows
Defender with Advanced Security management console.
Internet Options
• The Internet Options Control Panel applet exposes the
configuration settings for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE)
browser. The Security tab is used to restrict what types of
potentially risky active content are allowed to run. However, IE is
end of life. You are only likely to have to use Internet Options and
IE where there is an internal website that has not been upgraded
to work with a modern browser.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Administrative Tools
• Settings and most Control Panel applets provide interfaces for
managing basic desktop, device, and app configuration
parameters.
• One of the options in Control Panel is the Administrative Tools
shortcut.
• This links to a folder of shortcuts to several advanced
configuration consoles.
• A Microsoft Management Console (MMC) contains one or more
snap-ins that are used to modify advanced settings for a
subsystem, such as disks or users.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Administrative Tools
• The principal consoles available via Administrative Tools are:
• Computer Management (compmgmt.msc)—The default management
console with multiple snap-ins to schedule tasks and configure local
users and groups, disks, services, devices, and so on.
• Defragment and Optimize Drives (dfrgui.exe)—Maintain disk
performance by
• optimizing file storage patterns.
• Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe)—Regain disk capacity by deleting
unwanted files.
• Event Viewer (eventvwr.msc)—Review system, security, and
application logs.
• Local Security Policy (secpol.msc)—View and edit the security
settings.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Administrative Tools
• Resource Monitor (resmon.exe) and Performance Monitoring
(perfmon. msc)—View and log performance statistics.
• Registry Editor (regedit.exe)—Make manual edits to the database
of Windows configuration settings.
• Services console (services.msc)—Start, stop, and pause processes
running in the background.
• Task Scheduler (taskschd.msc)—Run software and scripts
according to calendar or event triggers.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Management Shortcuts
• To access the various administrative interfaces and management
consoles quickly, it is worth learning shortcut methods for opening
them.
• Pressing START+X or right-clicking the Start button shows a
shortcut menu with links to the main management utilities, such
as Device Manager, Computer Management, Command Prompt,
and Windows PowerShell.
• The Instant Search box on the Start menu will execute programs
and configuration options using simple names. Press the START
key, and then simply type the program file name or utility name.
You can also open files or unregistered programs by typing the
path to the file.
Configure Windows system
settings:
Management Shortcuts
• The Run dialog (START+R) can be used to execute a program with
switches that modify the operation of the software.
• The shortcut menus for system objects and notification area icons
contain links to configuration tools.
• For example, the Properties item for This PC opens the System
settings app, while Manage opens the Computer Management
console.
End of Chapter 10.
• Lecturer to complete group discussions / practical
demonstrations in relation to the objectives of this chapter.
• Use the shortcuts shown in this chapter to see how it
assists with management functions.